OU Basketball: Oklahoma's Porter Moser Confirms Hugley, Soares Status For Bedlam
NORMAN — John Hugley IV is “definitely out” and Rivaldo Soares is questionable to play for Oklahoma’s road match at Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon, coach Porter Moser confirmed Friday.
Hugley underwent surgery this week to repair a torn meniscus he suffered against Oklahoma State on Feb. 10 and missed games against Baylor and Kansas last week.
“At first, we were waiting to see if [Hugley] could recover without [surgery],” Sooners Moser said. “The decision was made to move forward. It went great. We don’t know the exact timetable. We’re hopeful about that, but there’s clarity. ... Opportunity for some other guys to step up. We have some guys that we really want to step up in his absence.”
That clarity extends to freshman forward Luke Northweather, whose minutes have increased substantially in Hugley’s absence.
“Luke’s a guy that our whole team pulls for,” Moser said. “He’s got a tremendous shot, but he can do some other things really well. He can pass. He had three assists in the last Oklahoma State game, so it’s just getting his confidence back. Now, knowing that, like, John’s definitely out. ... We’re going to need [Northweather] to play.”
Soares is day-to-day after an ankle sprain during the Baylor game.
“It was a bad sprain, like, we all saw it,” Moser said, “so we’re not going to do anything to jeopardize it. It’s hard, because you talk to ‘Valdo, he’s like ‘Uhm, I’m playing.’ He said that at the last game.
“We miss him. He was playing great on both ends, but we’ll see. He’s day-by-day. We still got today and tomorrow. We’ll see,” Moser said.
The Sooners (18-8, 6-7 Big 12) play OSU (12-14, 4-9) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
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