A Decade Later, Buddy Hield's Mark on Oklahoma Basketball Remains

NORMAN — It didn’t take long for Ryan Spangler to recognize there was something different about Buddy Hield.

Spangler had already spent a season in college, at Gonzaga, before transferring back home to play for Oklahoma in 2012.

He sat out that season but was part of an incoming class that also included Hield and Isaiah Cousins.

The three wound up making up, along with Jordan Woodard who came aboard the next season, the core of the Sooners squad that made the Final Four in 2016.

Hield stood out from the group even then.

“He didn’t have it all together, but I got to sit and watch him,” Spangler said. “But I always thought I worked harder than everybody, and still believe I did — that’s why I have the name I do — but he outworked me. When you look at the hours put into the gym, obviously he has some God-given ability, but nothing he has is because it was given to him.”

That Final Four team will be honored Saturday when the Sooners take on Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center.

At halftime, Hield’s jersey will be lifted to the rafters, joining Alvan Adams, Mookie Blaylock, Blake Griffin, Stacey King and Wayman Tisdale.

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Hield wasn’t exactly an anonymous recruit when he arrived in 2012.

The Freeport, Bahamas, product was a top-20 shooting guard in the country and chose the Sooners over Kansas.

But he wasn’t seen as a player who could take over college basketball either.

Then-Sooners assistant coach Chris Crutchfield recruited Hield out of Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, KS, convincing Hield that it would be better to help build the foundation in Norman rather than join the blue-blood Jayhawks.

As a freshman, Hield averaged 7.8 points and 1.2 steals, shooting just 23.8% from beyond the arc.

One of the first in-game glimpses of the player Hield would grow to be came Jan. 12, 2013 in a Bedlam matchup at Lloyd Noble Center when he had 15 points, going 3 for 5 on 3-pointers, and recording five assists in the Sooners’ 77-68 win.

That team, though, was led by older players like Romero Osby, Steven Pledger and Amath M’Baye.

The Sooners made the NCAA Tournament that season in Lon Kruger’s second season but were bounced in the first round by San Diego State.

The next season, it was time for the young guys to take over.

Oklahoma started the same five every game in 2013-14. Senior Cameron Clark joined Cousins, Hield, Spangler and Woodard.

Hield’s game took a significant step forward.

He averaged 16.5 points and 1.4 steals, shooting 38.6% from beyond the arc.

Hield was 42.7% from distance in Big 12 play.

Against Iowa State on Jan. 11, 2014, Hield hit six 3-pointers to help lift the Sooners to an upset win over the ninth-ranked Cyclones.

The Sooners earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament that season but were bounced by North Dakota State in overtime in a first-round upset.

But the building blocks for the next two seasons were clearly in place.

In 2014-15, Hield was the Big 12 Player of the Year and earned third-team All-America honors after leading the league in scoring with 17.4 points per game and shooting 35.9% from beyond the arc, attempting 7.4 per game.

That season, Oklahoma made a jump forward, earning a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Sooners knocked off Albany and Dayton in the first two round on Columbus, OH, before falling to Denzel Valentine-led Michigan State 62-58 in the Sweet 16 in Syracuse, NY.

Hield was widely expected to leave for the NBA that offseason.

He agonized through the decision, being pulled in both directions.

In April 2015, Hield decided to return, telling Kruger just moments before the pair held a joint press conference to announce the decision.

“I had my mind made up, my decision,” Hield said then. “I was telling people I was going. I was joking around but I really meant it. I just knew it wasn’t the right decision for me. I had to be smart and be wise and make the right choices that I needed to make.”

Hield’s return transformed him from a really good player who would certainly be long remembered into one of the all-time greats in program history.

He scored 30 points in the season opener in November 2015 against Memphis, then dropped three more 30-plus point performances in non-conference play.

The Sooners rocketed up the polls and in early January stood No. 1 in one major poll and No. 2 in the other. Kansas was also No. 1 in one poll and No. 2 in the other.

On Jan. 4, 2016, Hield played the game of his life in Allen Fieldhouse against the Jayhawks, scoring a career-high 46 in the Sooners’ 109-106 triple-overtime loss. He hit eight 3-pointers.

Hield received a roaring ovation from the Kansas faithful after the classic battle.

A little more than a month later, he drained a game-winning 3-pointer in the closing seconds to lift OU to a 63-60 win over Texas.

Hield shot an eye-popping 45.7% from beyond the arc as a senior, averaging 25.0 points per game. He set a program record with 147 3-pointers and his 79 in conference play set a Big 12 record.

The Sooners earned a No. 2 seed in the tournament, beating Cal State Bakersfield and Virginia Commonwealth in Oklahoma CIty and then Texas A&M in Anaheim, CA to move to the brink of the Final Four.

With his idol, Kobe Bryant, in attendance, Hield scored 37 to help OU knock off Oregon 80-68 and advance to the Final Four.

Spangler is proud of the foundation that he, Hield and Cousins — as well as Woodard and Khadeem Lattin — helped build that culminated in that Final Four run.

“I think we set a precedent,” Spangler said. “Our sophomore year when we took the reins of that program … when it came to how we handled ourselves in the classroom, how we handled ourselves in practice, putting the extra work in the gym, it let people know — those younger guys that were on the team — that you either jump on the wagon or you jump off, but this is how we’re gonna do it.”

When he’s asked about Hield now — and the topic isn’t an infrequent one — Spangler doesn’t think about that Kansas game, or Texas, or Oregon, or the near-buzzer beater against West Virginia, or any of the other scintillating on-court moments.

Hield, Spangler and much of the rest of the 2016 Final Four team will gather for lunch Sunday, Kruger will address the current Sooners before the game, and Hield’s place in OU history will be further enshrined when his “24” is raised to the LN rafters.

“He’s a great man,” Spangler said. “Obviously a great basketball player, obviously one of the best shooters in the world, but if you really get to know him — and not a lot of people really do — just the man he is and how he treats people, how he was raised, that’s what stands out to me.

“Never once, from Day One when he stepped on campus to the last day before he got drafted, did he ever treat anybody different when it comes to talking to them, talking to kids, signing autographs. And now, even though he’s been in the league for awhile, he’ll still do anything for anybody, especially those that are close to him.”