'This Place Made me who I am as a Person': Buddy Hield Returns to Lloyd Noble Center for Emotional Ceremony

NORMAN — Over the NBA All-Star break, Buddy Hield was back in The Bahamas, working out with Trey Slate, his teammate for two of his seasons with Oklahoma and his current trainer.

“You know your jersey’s getting retired,” Slate said to Hield. “You know how big that is?”

Hield batted down talk of that for the moment, wanting to save his emotions for when he returned to Norman.

Those emotions bubbled to the surface Saturday, as the Sooners’ 2016 Final Four team held a lunch-time reunion at Jimmy Austin OU Golf Club and through to the night’s festivities around OU’s matchup with Texas A&M where Hield’s number was retired in a halftime ceremony.

As his number was unveiled on the Lloyd Noble Center floor, Hield couldn't contain his emotions looking at the number, and hearing the ovation from the LNC crowd.

Hield’s reaction when he was told his number would be retired was no surprise.

“I was smiling,” Hield said.

Hield having a broad smile across his face is no surprise.

That smile beamed through plenty of moments at the arena, in the practice gym, in the locker room, and anywhere else Hield went during his four seasons as a Sooners star from 2012-16.

“The confidence, the leadership skills, attention to detail, just his positive attitude,” Jordan Woodard, the point guard for much of Hield’s time in Norman, said Saturday. “I think the first thing that comes to mind with Buddy is to live his life on his own, growing up in The Bahamas, coming to Oklahoma and having to find a destiny.”

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Hield certainly found his destiny in Oklahoma, starting 118 games over four seasons and leading the Final Four run in 2016. He still holds OU’s career and single-season records for 3-pointers.

Hield was a star by the time Oklahoma visited Kansas’ famed Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 4, 2016.

After that night, Hield was a legend.

That legend was cemented when Hield’s number 24 was raised to the rafters at LNC.

Hield’s monster game that night more than a decade ago — 46 points, tying an opponent’s record at The Phog, and eight 3-pointers — still stirs memories both with people who were watching at home, those in the stands, and those who were in the thick of it with Hield in that 109-106 triple-overtime loss.

“Just his will to win, the ability to understand that we needed every one of those buckets to compete,” Woodard said. “We needed him to play his best and I love that. I love that understanding he has about basketball.”

There were plenty of other moments during Hield’s career, and more often than not, he came through.

“He didn’t run from the moment,” Lon Kruger, the Sooners’ coach during Hield’s time in Norman, said. “He knew what was expected and the expectations were high because of the value he had on the team and he relished that and enjoyed that and rose to the moment.”

Hield did for the program, for OU fans, and for plenty more from 2012-16.

And the program and the community did for Hield as well.

“Would never trade it for anything in the world,” Hield said. “These years made me who I am. This place made me who I am as a person. As a player, you all know what I did but I grew a lot as a person.”

Hield has been in the NBA for 10 seasons, now playing for the Atlanta Hawks.

But the time in Norman still stands tall.

“I kind of miss the preparation each and every day getting ready for games,” Hield said. “The NBA’s kind of different. It’s always back-to-back and a lot of uncertainty, but here you know what you’re getting and I just miss the preparation. I miss the guys, miss the crowd. It was just a vibe here.”