OU Basketball: No. 23 Oklahoma's Rebound Starts With 'Better' Defense Against Kansas State

Pressure is mounting on Oklahoma.

The No. 23-ranked Sooners failed to protect their home floor, dropping games to Texas and No. 15 Texas Tech at the Lloyd Noble Center over the past week, and now Porter Moser’s team will have to steal a game on the road.

Tuesday, OU (15-5, 3-4 Big 12) will travel to Manhattan to take on Kansas State (14-6, 4-3) at Bramlage Coliseum.

Oklahoma won its last road game, a tight battle at Cincinnati, but the Sooners are well aware of how hard it is to buy road wins in Big 12 play.

TCU and Kansas got the best of OU in the first two conference trips away from Norman, and if things don’t change defensively, the Sooners will endure another long night.

“Our defense needs to be way better in the last 5-6 minutes of the game,” Moser said on Monday. “You’ve got to get stops. Your not necessarily having to score every possession, but if you’ve got a seven point lead or a nine point lead you’ve got to get a majority of stops. We didn’t get stops (against Texas Tech).”

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The Red Raiders shot 72 percent from the floor in the second half on Saturday, something that played a major role in OU’s 85-84 defeat.

Spearheaded by Chance McMillan’s career night, Texas Tech was especially lethal from deep — something that will have Moser on high alert headed into Manhattan.

The Wildcats rank 269th-nationally in 3-point shooting percentage, knocking down 31.7 percent of their attempts, but poor perimeter defense could allow Kansas State’s shooters to get into a groove.

Guard Cam Carter leads the way for Jerome Tang’s team, averaging 16.3 points per game while knocking down 32.8 percent of attempts from deep, and forward Arthur Kaluma is hitting 40.2 percent of his 3-balls this year, adding 15.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

To help ratchet up the defense, Moser and his staff worked with the team in individual film sessions this week to try and eliminate mental errors.

“Let’s find solutions together,” Moser said. “Accountability is a form of love… I want them to know ‘man, he’s for me. I’m in this.’ And that’s what some of the message is. Let’s figure this out together.”

One piece that was crucial for the Sooners leading into the Big 12 slate was guard Javian McCollum. The sharpshooter went quiet over the past week, combining to shoot 5-for-22 against Texas and Texas Tech.

And while Moser backs McCollum to find his shooting stroke, he also wanted to make sure his leading scorer is finding other ways to help the Sooners win.

“You can't let everything else affect your defense,” Moser said. “… He's such a confident player and I want to keep that confidence high. When his confidence (is) high so is his defense. And we've gotta be better. Not only him. A lot of us… We have to get better, and that starts with me.”

Though capturing wins on the road is an uphill battle, Oklahoma is trying to draw on confidence from its last trip to Cincinnati.

The Sooners matched the Bearcats’ physicality and worked hard on the boards, limiting enough turnovers in the process to escape with a win.

“We were just talking about it,” Moser said. “We got some stops, but then we made some plays offensively. We took care of the ball, didn't have any turnovers. We rebounded the ball… That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Oklahoma’s chance to get back on track in Bramlage Coliseum will come at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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