In a game sandwiched between two very tough games, the Sooners earned a 22 point victory over the Kansas City Roos out of the Summit League. Sooners were tied at halftime in large part to missed shots and Kansas City hitting some difficult shots. In the second half, the Sooners pulled away from Kansas City behind Grant Sherfield’s 22 second half points. Sherfield caught fire in the second half, shooting 5-6 from behind the arc and ending up with 24 points on the night. Grant Sherfield has been excellent this year as he is the only division one player to be shooting 50% from three and 90% from the free throw line. Sherfield is elite.
Milos Uzan was promoted into the starting line up tonight and performed well. Uzan was 5-6 on the night with 11 points and 5 assists. Uzan continues to prove that he does not get sped up which is a great trait to have for a true freshman, Uzan performed well defensively with 2 steals. Tanner Groves continues to be incredibly efficient as he did not miss a single shot tonight and notched 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks. Jalen Hill played tonight’s game with a broken nose and will have surgery tomorrow. Hill should be available Saturday, and they will need him. Sam Godwin and Bijan Cortes continue to be great off the bench. Godwin had 10 points with his lone miss coming at the free throw line. Bijan Cortes continued his stellar play with 4 points and 3 assists. Cortes always seems to set up his teammates for easy buckets and doing that will continue to get him more minutes.
Outside of Cortes and Godwin, are seeking to find more production off the bench. Joe Bamisile has shown flashes this season but can’t seem to do it consistently. Sooners will need Bamisile to get it going soon, as the schedule only gets tougher. CJ Noland has potential to be a really good shooter but hasn’t got his shot going yet. He can’t seem to carve out good minutes. Noland moving to the bench will benefit him as it should take pressure off of him. Otega Oweh can provide minutes; however he is still very raw.
With two SEC opponents coming up, the Sooners will need good production from CJ Noland and Joe Bamisile. Sooners will have a chance to pull off what would be a huge win Saturday in Tulsa. They will take on a very talented Arkansas team, maybe the most talented team they have ever had. The Razorbacks have their five star trio in Nick Smith Jr, Anthony Black and Jordan Walsh. They have also got good production from two freakishly athletic transfers in Trevon Brazile and Ricky Counclil. Arkansas does struggle a bit with shot selection and the Sooners will need to capitalize on those mistakes.
The Sooners and Razorbacks will meet Saturday in the Crimson and Cardinal Classic at the BOK Center, game will be played at 12:00 PM.
Cover photo credits to SoonerSports.com
