Oklahoma Turning the Page to the NIT on Tuesday Night

The Sooners must shelve their disappointment in missing the NCAA Tournament as they host Missouri State on Tuesday night.

The Sooners have a tough mental test ahead of them.

Less than 48 hours ago, Porter Moser’s team was laser focused on Selection Sunday, holding out hope that they would see their name on the NCAA Tournament bracket.

Now, Oklahoma will have to focus its attention on the NIT, as the Sooners were named the second team out of the NCAA Tournament field.

Of course the OU team was disappointed about the news, Moser said, but the team just has to the disappointment to the back burner and get ready for a different postseason run.

“It was a gut punch,” Moser said during a Zoom press conference on Monday. “… It was tough. I wasn’t going to tell them not to grieve. It’s OK to grieve. These kids wanted it.

“… But we’ve got a lot to play for. It’s the postseason. There’s a lot of teams that are home. There’s 250 teams that are home. In our first, yeah I wanted to go. I want to go to the NCAA tournament every year. But we’ve got a chance to play postseason.”

As the team turns the page, Jalen Hill said an NIT run can serve a few purposes for the team. Most importantly, Hill said, it can serve as a springboard into next fall.

"We can use all the confidence that we can get heading into next year,” Hill said. “If we can end this season on a good note, I feel like next year we can keep it rolling. We just want to show the committee what they're missing out on. We believe that we should've been in, so we can go and win this whole thing and keep it going."

Up first, the Sooners will host a foe familiar to Moser.

Oklahoma (18-15) welcome the Missouri State Bears (23-10) on Tuesday, who Moser played year after year in the Missouri Valley Conference at Loyola Chicago.

“I’m very familiar with their players,” Moser said. “We played them numerous times. Just really talented, really athletic. They really play hard on both ends.”

Moser is also far from strangers with the Bears’ coach, Dana Ford, as he coached Ford at Illinois State.

“He was a young guy who wanted to get into coaching right out of the gate,” Moser said. “He knew he wanted to coach. He paid his dues.

“… He’s young and energetic. And I think he does a great job.”

Topping Missouri State is the first step in going on an NIT run, something which Moser said can help build the culture and set the stage for his future teams to find postseason success.

“Someone says how are you going to get them up to play? And I understand that,” Moser said. “But man, you’re in the postseason. You’re in the NIT. You win, you win, you win, next thing you know you’re in the Mecca at Madison Square Garden.

“… So we’ve got a lot to play for. We’ve got the NIT. We’re going to go in there, do what we did two weeks ago. Control what we can control, and that’s going to be my march with these guys.”

Tip-off between the Sooners and the Bears is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Lloyd Noble Center, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN. 

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