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OU Basketball: Oklahoma Preparing to Slow No. 21 BYU's 'Elite' Deep Shooting Barrage

Oklahoma will have to contain one of the nation's most explosive scoring teams in No. 21 BYU to get back on track in Big 12 play on Tuesday night.
Ryan Chapman|
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Preparing to Slow No. 21 BYU's 'Elite' Deep Shooting Barrage
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Preparing to Slow No. 21 BYU's 'Elite' Deep Shooting Barrage

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Oklahoma Sooners

A crucial week lies ahead for Oklahoma.

The Sooners laid an egg in Orlando as they failed to make crucial shots to fall 74-63 to the UCF Knights.

The defeat put OU back under .500 in Big 12 play, but Oklahoma (16-6, 4-5 Big 12) returns home to host a pair of conference battles before having to head back out on the road again.

Saturday, the Lloyd Noble Center will be the scene of another edition in the always emotional Bedlam series, but one of the nation’s elite sharpshooting teams is up first on Tuesday.

BYU (16-5, 4-4), ranked No. 21 midway through its first season in the toughest conference in the country, thrives well beyond the 3-point line. The Cougars lead college basketball, knocking down 12.1 3’s per contest, and they’re shooting 36.4 percent from deep as a team.

“They run their offense as fluid as anybody in the country,” OU coach Porter Moser said on Monday. “It makes basketball savants excited when you see their offense… You're not going to stop 'em from taking 'em. They're going to take 'em. you just, you're trying to contest 'em, you're trying to limit them and push them out farther.

“… They're an elite team… They're a team that can make a deep, deep run in this tournament because they guard and they shoot and they're older and they they run phenomenal offense."

BYU can attack from the inside, too.

Aly Khalifa is a 6-foot-11 center that averages 5.8 points and 4.3 assists per game. Fousseyni Traore, a 6-6 forward, is fresh off a career-high 24 points against West Virginia, and Noah Waterman is a 6-11 senior who adds 10.6 points and 6.0 boards per contest as well.

“They’ve got two of the most unique centers in the country,” Moser said. “I think they’ve got this passing big (Khalifa) who’s the best passing big… And then Traore is one of the best post scoring.

“… So what a luxury. You’ve got a superior, passing, facilitating 5 and you have a superior post/block scorer in that 5. So I think that’s what makes them strong too is the pieces they have.”

To contain the Cougars, the Sooners are going to have to stay locked in defensively.

But OU is also going to have to knock down shots of its own to keep pace.

The last four games have been a slog for Oklahoma from deep. Against Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas State and UCF, the Sooners combined to shoot 23-of-75 from deep, just 30.6 percent. Eleven of those makes came in the loss to the Red Raiders, a trend Moser’s team will have to reverse by returning to the familiar sight lines of the Lloyd Noble Center.

“I felt like we were good from the foul line, we just have not shot the 3-ball well,” Moser said. “We’re gonna shoot a lot. We shot a lot. The guys come in, they put the time in. We’ve just gotta step up and make the shots… It’ll turn. But that’s how you instill confidence. Rep it out, rep it out, mentally talk through them.”

Le’Tre Darthard paced the Sooners with four makes from deep on Saturday against UCF, but he was the only one who enjoyed any success.

Javian McCollum’s bounce back against Kansas State was short-lived, as he shot just 2-of-10 from the floor in Orlando, including 0-of-5 from deep.

Even the best defenses have failed to completely nullify BYU’s shooting threat, and opponents must fight the mental urge to get into a 3-point contest with the Cougars.

“We watched a team that played them on tape this morning and they hit three 3’s in like 40 seconds,” Moser said. “It can get daunting when you get nine points in like 30 seconds. But you just can’t do that.

“… We can’t be outshot like 14 threes to 3. That’s a huge difference in the game. We can shoot it. We just have to shoot our shot.”

Oklahoma’s first chance to get back on even ground in conference play will tip off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, and the battle between the Sooners and the Cougars will be broadcast on ESPN+. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is co-publisher at Sooners On SI and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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