OU Basketball: Oklahoma Hoping to Erase Last Year's 'Embarrassing' Bedlam Sweep on Saturday

NORMAN — Oklahoma will have to snap a worrying streak to carry momentum through the weekend.

Fresh off a strong 82-66 win over No 21 BYU on Tuesday, the Sooners (17-6, 5-5 Big 12) are well positioned in the Big 12 race.

OU is tied for seventh in the league alongside Kansas State, but the Sooners are just two games back of league-leading Houston in the loss column.

To climb any higher, Oklahoma will have to string wins together, but Bedlam rivals Oklahoma State stand in the way.

Mike Boynton’s Cowboys (10-13, 2-8) are in the Big 12 cellar, but OSU swept OU a year ago, including a third matchup against the Sooners at the Big 12 Tournament.

Overall, Porter Moser is 1-4 against Oklahoma State, but he’s got his team focused solely on the task ahead Saturday.

“This win is about this Big 12 Conference race,” Moser said on Friday. “And that’s being honest. We know it’s a lot of stakes for us, that’s where we want to be. We’re in a position where every game has a lot of meaning for us.

“… Obviously both teams are going to come in here playing their tails off. And that’s our focus is this race. The Big 12 Conference race. Stacking wins. That’s what’s been talked about in our locker room.”

The Sooners struggled to match Oklahoma State’s physicality across the board a year ago, but the Cowboys again have a strong presence down low.

Gone are the Boone twins, who both transferred out at the end of last year, but Boynton has another Oklahoma product manning the front court.

Brandon Garrison, a 6-foot-11 graduate of Del City High School, averages 7.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a freshman.

Moser is very familiar with the young star, and is not surprised one bit by the success he’s enjoyed early in his career.

“I think they've done a great job skill development wise. I think he's gotten stronger,” Moser said. “… We know all about him. I mean, I think he's a very good player. Guys have seen him on tape, seen him on TV, watched him and know what he can do, because he can do a lot.”

This year, Oklahoma has a better chance of holding its own down low.

John Hugley IV is a more physical presence than anyone the Sooners had on the roster last year, and Sam Godwin’s improvements throughout the offseason have him better equipped for the Big 12.

Plus Godwin also has another motivating factor.

“I was here last year,” Godwin said. “Just 0-3, obviously that’s kind of embarrassing for us, it being a big rivalry game… This is a big thing in Oklahoma and we’ve got to take care of business.”

Otega Oweh and Milos Uzan also endured the three defeats last year alongside Godwin, and they’ve led the way in educating the new faces on the importance of the game.

The Sooners played one of their best defensive games of the season against the Cougars in their last outing, and that’s what Moser said he needs to see from his team to exact revenge on the Cowboys on Saturday.

“We're all looking for consistency,” Moser said. “It's easy to talk about consistency. This league makes that challenge hard to be consistent because there are so many obstacles to be inconsistent. We're obviously better when we're stacking our defensive efforts, and that's what we hope to do.”

A capacity crowd is expected to be on hand at the Lloyd Noble Center as it will not only be the last guaranteed Bedlam contest between the two program in Norman for the foreseeable future, though both Moser and Boynton want to continue to series, but Oklahoma will celebrate the life of country music icon and notable Sooner fan Toby Keith.

Tip-off for Bedlam is slated for 6 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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