Behind play of recent Wake Forest commit, Bixby boys basketball team enjoying turnaround season

Spartans jump up from eight wins last season to one win away from 20

By Mike Moguin

Photo of Bixby's Parker Friedrichsen (with ball) by Bixby High School Athletics web page

BIXBY - Everybody loves a turnaround.

Bixby's boys basketball team has one going this season as it enters the postseason Friday evening with one of the biggest turnarounds in the state from last season.

The Spartans are 19-4 and ranked third in the OSSAA East poll as they head into the Class 6A regional tournament. In the latest SBLive Oklahoma poll, they’re No. 20.

Bixby will host a first-round game at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Enid (11-11).

Lance Kight is in his second season as head coach at Bixby and fourth overall. He had spent the previous two years as an assistant. Kight has been in coaching for 25 years.

One year ago, Bixby was in a lot of close games, often finishing on the short end of the scoreboard on its way to an 8-15 finish. It is a different story this season as the Spartans have only dropped two games since the calendar turned over to 2023.

The losses came to No. 1 teams, Midwest City Carl Albert in Class 5A on Jan. 7 and neighbor and undefeated Broken Arrow of 6A on Jan. 24. Bixby has not lost since the setback to the latter and is currently riding a seven-game win streak.

The high-scoring machine

Of course, the one boost for the Spartans that cannot be ignored has been the performance of 6-foot-4 senior Parker Friedrichsen, who is now bound for Wake Forest after de-committing from Notre Dame.

Friedrichsen helped Bixby with 34 points in its 65-47 win against Tulsa Booker T. Washington last Friday night, concluding their regular season.

He didn't play much in the first quarter of that game due to two fouls in the first 40 seconds; then jammed 26 of his points into the second.

“He is on a tear right now,” Kight said.

Earlier in the week, on Valentine’s Night, Friedrichsen needed 12 points to reach the 2,000-point career plateau against Sapulpa. He cruised on through with 51.

Friedrichsen announced Tuesday on his Twitter page that he would be committing to Wake Forest. He was to sign with the Demon Deacons later this week. Kight said. Friedrichsen had previously committed to and de-committed from Oklahoma State and Notre Dame and had been pursued by several other NCAA Division I programs.

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“His work ethic is off the charts,” Kight said. “He shoots about 500 shots every morning before school, and after school he shoots that many if not more; he has just got a knack, and I call him a walking bucket.

"He is a three-level scorer. He used to be more of a catch-and-shoot guy. Now, he can attack the rim, his mid-range game is flawless. It’s as good as any high school kid I’ve seen in 25 years, and now he’s got the explosiveness. He’ll go to the lane and dunk on you.”

Back to the turnaround

One factor to the Spartans going 180-degrees this season is experience.

“We returned everybody off of last year's squad," Kight said. "We competed every night last year. We were just young; we just weren’t mature enough to get over the hump.

“I’ll be real honest, after the season, we had a good team meeting. They all put in tremendous work over the summer. Going into the fall, we all got a little stronger and just grew maturity-wise; then with Parker's leadership and work ethic, everybody just fell in line. It is the same team as last year, we just got a lot more experience than what we had a year ago.”

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Another has been finishing close, but on the short end of the scoreboard.

“We talked about how we weren’t happy with the way the season ended last year. We had seven games in which we got beat by single digits,” Kight said. “And we talked about how we got to flip-flop those.

"There is a fine line between winning and losing. Our practices in the offseason were tremendous. You could sense a big season was coming.”

Before Christmas, BIxby incurred defeats to Moore and Owasso in overtime that were heartbreaking.

“But we learned from them," Kight said. “We learned how to handle a close game situation and it has carried over for us. We’re playing with tremendous confidence now.”

Also in the Spartans' offense is 6-foot junior, Luke Friedrichsen, younger brother of Parker, who is averaging nine points per game.

“He is more of a spot-up shooter for us,” Kight said.

There is also Sam McCormick, a 6-4 junior who also plays wide receiver on the Spartan football team

“He’s having a great season for us. He’s averaging a double-double, 11 points, 10 rebounds per game,” Kight said. “He’s playing his best basketball of the year right now. We look for him to have a big impact in the playoffs for us.

“Our guys are just tremendous shooters. We talk every week. We feel we’re one of the best, if not the best shooting teams in the state of Oklahoma."

Perhaps one of the Spartans' weak links is that they are generally undersized. But Kight remarked the team more than compensates for that lack of height.

"We don’t have a lot of size; we don’t even have a true post," he said. "We throw a lot of guards out there, play small ball, and we like to play really fast.

"We’re averaging 7.5 turnovers a game, we take good shots, and shoot about 85 percent from the free-throw line, and 40 percent from the 3-point line. That's definitely our strength - our shooting and our ability to handle the basketball."

Kight believes his team can go deep into the playoffs if his team plays to their strength, don't turn the ball over and shoot the ball like they are capable of doing.

“I feel Parker is the best player in the state of Oklahoma and when you got the best player on most nights, you’re going to ride him,” Kight said. “Big players step up big in the playoffs.

"We’re excited about the opportunity within the next couple of weeks and we’ll see what happens.”