Moving forward, OU will 'try to clean some things up offensively,' Lon Kruger says

After shooting 39 percent and 4-of-20 from deep, Lon Kruger says Sooners must make better decisions to turn around their offensive woes

The Big 12 Conference slate is grueling, as the Oklahoma Sooners were reminded on Tuesday night.

Failing to win in Bramlage Coliseum against Kansas State for the ninth straight time, the OU offense was stagnant, and struggled to get much going. The Sooners finished the night shooting 39 percent from the field and 4-of-20 from deep.

Outside of Austin Reaves and De’Vion Harmon, no other Sooner scored more than seven points, a recipe for disaster on the road.

“We’ve got to try to clean some things up offensively,” head coach Lon Kruger said during a video press conference on Thursday. “I thought we got into the paint several times and didn’t make good decisions in terms of shot or pass. We’ve got to get the ball moving a little bit more, get it out of our hands a little bit more quickly.”

The ball sticking contributed to OU logging just eight assists, but the Sooners seemed in a funk in transition too. Despite having a plus-3 turnover margin against the Wildcats, Kansas State outscored Oklahoma 15-11 off turnovers, with OU only scoring nine points in transition.

“I think more important that anything is just making good decisions when you’ve got an opportunity to finish,” Kruger said. “When you’ve got an opportunity to drive and kick, we’ve got to make those decisions more quickly and more definitively.

Even Reaves, who poured in 25 points against the Wildcats in the loss, struggled to create for his teammates, dishing out only one assist.

There isn’t any struggle deciding when to attack offensively and when to step back and get his teammates involved however, Reaves said.

Austin Reaves 

Pool photo / Scott Weaver

“I really just do whatever I can do to help the team win, do whatever the other team is letting me do,” he said. “I think we’re a capable group, and on any night there’s five, six, seven guys that could really take over a game. So it’s really just sticking to Coach (Kruger’s) game plan and really just executing the things that we got to do.”

Oklahoma will have a chance to get back on track offensively on Saturday, as they welcome the Oklahoma State Cowboys to the Lloyd Noble Center.

While the Cowboys throw a healthy mix of man and zone defense at opponents, they rank seventh in the Big 12 in defense, allowing 70.5 points per game.

“They’re good with both. They’re good in the man and their zone is very effective,” Kruger said. “I think you just have to have a real good idea of what you want to do and then, you know, be aggressive with it and play with confidence. And again, it always comes down to kind of creating shots for each other and making good plays when you do get into the paint.”

Regardless of the opponent, OU has to work themselves out of their shooting funk in the final three games of the regular season.

“We really haven’t shot it very well for a while,” Kruger said. “So we’ve got to clean that up and do it the next couple of days as best we can in practice.”