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OU, Missouri feeling the inevitable brunt of SEC basketball

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•about 9 hours•

BPrzybylo

Porter Moser39
OU head coach Porter Moser. (Alonzo Adams - Imagn Images)

If you’re OU basketball, you know you can’t avoid it. The word the last couple of years has been no conference has been better, deeper than the Big 12.

It was true. Didn’t always pan out in the NCAA Tournament, but the Big 12 regular season in recent years was ridiculous.

So the SEC upped its game. This is simply absurd. There is no escape for head coach Porter Moser and the Sooners. You can’t hide in the SEC.

Unfortunately, OU has been found out. The 13-0 start has been replaced by a 3-7 record in the SEC and teetering, once again, on that bubble line at 16-7.

All you can do is chuckle at the AP poll released Monday. No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 (tie) Florida, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 8 Texas A&M.

Every game, we know, is a Quad 1 opportunity. A chance to boost that resume. But boy, you have to be tough. Physically, mentally, emotionally. And OU’s opponent Wednesday is in the same boat.

The Sooners are heading to No. 21 Missouri at 8 p.m. on SEC Network. Two teams entering with two-game losing streaks because of their ridiculous schedule last week.

Mizzou lost a tight one at Tennessee last week and a heartbreaking 67-64 defeat at home vs. the Aggies. OU, well, no drama there in a 28-point loss at Auburn and the 18-point home embarrassment vs. the Vols.

Is Mizzou reeling after being so close but so far? Does OU have anything left in its tank, entering its fifth straight game against a ranked foe? Two teams that absolutely do not want to see a three-game losing skid. It would be the second of the SEC season for OU, after the Sooners started conference play 0-4.

The size, the athleticism difference has been on full display in a negative way for OU. You can’t do anything about it now for this season’s team. Simply put, time to dig deep. Deeper than you’ve done before.

“We’ve seen that… that length and athleticism difference. We’ve had it, we’ve won against it,” said Moser after Saturday’s disappointment. “Just gotta be extremely tough. It’s the fight that you have. They’re one of the best screening teams — it’s just screen, screen, screen. You’ve still gotta fight.

“We need depth. I don’t think enough guys that are capable brought everything they had today. And you need multiple depth to play against that size and athleticism differential. You can beat teams that are bigger and more athletic than you. It’s hard. But there’s gotta be a fight through the hard part. There’s a difference in size and length, I get that. But we’ve beat teams like that, and we will continue to.”

One win, that’s the belief. One big victory for OU might get the ball rolling. For guys like Sam Godwin, Duke Miles and Kobe Elvis, have to snap out of the funk.

For Jalon Moore, continue to be that leader. Jeremiah Fears? Get healthy and bring that swag that made the freshman a story of the country.

Play with confidence, play with toughness. Because, well, it’ll only get tougher from here. Time to show what you’re made of and who you are.

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