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Time for OU guard Duke Miles to bounce back

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•01/25/25•

BPrzybylo

Duke Miles5
OU guard Duke Miles. (Alonzo Adams - Imagn Images)

OU head coach Porter Moser used a unique term in describing transfer guard Duke Miles. Yes, Miles can create and can score. Miles, when locked in, might be OU’s best defender.

To Moser, though? Miles is the compass of this OU team. And the compass needs to find his way again. You never know how that transfer adjustment is going to be.

Can score and look great all you want at High Point (and Miles did). Simply a different animal, especially with this year’s SEC.

Some early peaks and valleys for Miles, and OU needs him to get back on track the rest of the way.

“To know who he is,” Moser told SoonerScoop. “It’s important, Duke, know who you are. You can absolutely be our best defender. When you’re being a pit bull defensively. Offensively, we’ve got super confidence knocking down his shots. He’s made big shots for us all year. When he goes into the paint, know who you are. If there’s three guys — every time he plays off two feet, something good happens.

“Understanding who you are, man. When you’re in this league and you get to that rim, it looks different. There’s three elbows above the rim in this league. But I think the thing is, for me with Duke, know who you are. You are our compass, our elite defender. That’s such a huge part of what we need. Don’t hinge on creating everything at the basket. Play off two feet, knock down your shots, and he’s a huge player for us.”

Miles is averaging more than 11 points, two assists and two rebounds per game. In the five SEC games, Miles is just averaging a little more than eight points.

Breaking it down to the last two games? He has 10 points combined, just two assists and a whopping seven turnovers.

Someone who is usually playing around 30 minutes per game has been at 19 in each of the last two contests.

He has to wake back up, and you’re hoping the week off did him a world of good. Miles cannot disappear in SEC play and expect OU to be successful.

We’ll see how Miles bounces back, and whether OU can carry the momentum. The Sooners (14-4, 1-4) are at Arkansas (12-7, 1-5) at 7:30 on Saturday night.

Handling the ultra-rare bye week

“You know, you have one bye week, and you know coming out of here, you’re going to have 13 league games plus postseason, so it was an opportunity. It’s your only opportunity, really, to get that kind of rest, mentally and physically. I was torn because I also look at it as a chance to practice a lot and get better at certain areas and do some things where you don’t have as much times to practice as your preparing. Conflicted, that was my word. But I really chose the recovery, mentally, physically. Just the thing it’s so—you just don’t have this opportunity to give them a handful of days off to do it. When we did practice, we practiced really hard, so it was a balance.” – Moser

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