Sooners Ready for Prime Time

December 20th, 2005

by Justin Waganer
Senior Sports Writer

After showing the likes of Samford, Binghampton, Belmont, Coppin State, and Southern what was already painfully clear to everybody else (that OU is much better) Oklahoma will begin to play a more consistently challenging schedule starting Thursday. The Sooners will tip off at 7:30 pm on Thursday against the West Virginia Mountaineers inside the Ford Center as part of the All-College Classic, following the Tennessee-Oklahoma State tilt.

West Virginia is led by Kevin Pittsnogle (18.1 ppg) and Mike Gansey (19.8 ppg) coming off of a great NCAA Tournament run that ended just short of the Final Four with a 93-85 overtime loss to Louisville. The Mountaineers blew a 20 point lead in the first half of that game to end a run that had put them at the hearts of tournament fans everywhere because of their hustling style of play. Another closs call sent the Mountaineers skidding to a three-game losing streak this season as they missed the front end of three straight one-and-one opportunities in a 76-75 loss to Texas in Kansas City.

This begins a run of four straight stiff non-conference opponents before heading into conference play on January 7th in Lincoln, Nebraska. After West Virginia, the Sooners play at home against Oral Roberts and Alabama in Norman, then go to Dallas for a showdown with SMU. Oral Roberts is the odds-on favorite to win the Mid-Continent Conference this year, Alabama has been shaky but is talented, and SMU is coached by former Sooner Assistant Jimmy Tubbs.

After seven games the Sooners sit at 6-1 and are led in both scoring (14.7) and rebounding (7.7) by Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Taj Gray. Senior leader Kevin Bookout is playing as well as he has in his OU career averaging 12.7 ppg and 6.9 rpg. The other of the senior trio, Terrell Everett, has been widely considered to be the most important player on the Sooner squad and has played like it, averaging 11.4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and just over 6 assists per game.

Entry Filed under: Oklahoma Sports