OU Basketball: No. 25 Oklahoma Prepares to Host No. 6 Kansas
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NORMAN — The Oklahoma Sooners are in the dog days of their Big 12 schedule.
OU’s schedule ranks fifth nationally in opponents' winning percentage (.700, to be exact). Fresh off a 79-62 loss to No. 12 Baylor on Tuesday, the Sooners host No. 6 Kansas on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 3:05 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center.
Senior guard Rivaldo Soares (ankle) and junior forward-center John Hugley IV (knee) are questionable for Saturday but Sooners head coach Porter Moser “would like to think it’s shorter-term.”
That said, Moser will likely dig further into his bench against the Jayhawks, who defeated OU 78-66 in their first go-round in Lawrence a month ago. It will be “all hands on deck” in Norman.
“Maks [Klanjscek] has got to be ready. Kaden [Cooper] has got to be ready. Luke [Northweather] has got to be ready, you know. We’re going to have some different guys in there, and that’s opportunity to step up,” Moser told media Friday afternoon. “There’s always been scenarios where one man goes down, next man up. Now, we’ve got two men down.”
But Moser will roll with the same starting five against Kansas in Norman as he started in Lawrence on Jan. 13: Javian McCollum, Milos Uzan, Otega Oweh, Sam Godwin and Jalen Moore.
“We had our moments in [Lawrence] where we were right there. We actually took the lead in the second half,” Moser said, “so these guys have played them. They know they’re one of the best teams in the country, but it’s not like we haven’t played them. . . Those guys who have played in this game, we’re for sure counting on, a lot, to play well.”
Moser was critical of the Sooners’ inability to affect Baylor at the 3-point line Tuesday night and their inability to stop the Bears in transition.
“We’ve been guarding the 3-point line fairly well. [Baylor] got really hot, but after watching the tape, I thought there were a lot of opportunities we could have played better defense,” Moser said. “I think they turned almost all of our turnovers into baskets ... and so our turnover defense has to be better.”
The Jayhawks rank dead last in the Big 12 with only 6.1 made 3-pointers a game — but second in assist-turnover ratio at 1.77. They committed only two turnovers to OU’s 11 on Feb. 13.
They also outscored the Sooners 46-26 in the paint, an area where Moser will need his players to step up if they want any shot to contend with the conference’s best shooting team.
“I don’t think there’s one recipe [to beat Kansas],” Moser said. “You’ve got to play really well. You’re not going to do it if you don’t play really well. You’ve got to make some shots. You’ve got to rebound. They take care of the ball so well. You better take care of the ball.”
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