Cover photo courtesy of SoonerSports.com
By Brody Lusk
It was a successful week down in Kissimmee, Florida as the Sooners will leave disney world as champions of the ESPN Events Invitational. Let’s go thru and break down each game from the tournament.
Sooners started off the tournament with a 69-56 win over Nebraska. Tanner Groves and Jacob Groves led the way with 17 and 16 points. Jalen Hill had 13 points and Grant Sherfield had 10 with 2 three pointers. Bijan Cortes gave some valuable minutes in this win. The Sooners were hot from behind the arc, shooting 45% from three and draining 9 three-pointers.
Sooners next took on the Seton Hall Pirates, led by coach Shaheen Holloway who led the historic Saint Peters NCAA tournament run. Grant Sherfield had his best game of the year with 25 points on 3 three pointers. Jacob Groves knocked down 3 threes, and walk-on Sam Godwin contributed some amazing minutes in this game, playing the second half with 4 fouls as did Tanner Groves.
The championship game was against a solid Ole Miss team, which is a team that should be playing in the NCAA tournament come March. Grant Sherfield had 12 points, 6 of those coming on three-pointers. Tanner Groves had 10, and Sam Godwin continued to play solid with 11 points and Bijan Cortes provided amazing minutes and scored 10 points. Cortes did a great job attacking the basket, and helped the Sooners finish off this great win.
One of the things that stood out was Bijan Cortes playing some huge minutes in all of the games. knocking down 3’s, getting to the basket, and playing solid defense. Any time you can have 3 true point guards you have to feel good about yourself, and the Sooners have that in Sherfield, Uzan and Cortes. Not many teams have 3 true point guards that can all go, and it will come in handy come big 12 play.
Sam Godwin has been giving absolutely amazing minutes. You have to start asking if he is the best walk on in Oklahoma basketball history. Godwin seems to do a lot of the little things well, and he can score in the post too. Sam Godwin needs to be on scholarship before the Sooners flight back from Orlando touches down.
The MVP of the tournament was Grant Sherfield, and he was just that. Sherfield had 10,25, and 12 in the 3 games, and he clearly showed why he is the “take us home guy” as Porter Moser would say. Sherfield controls the pace very well and doesn’t get sped up in key situations. He impacts the game scoring and makes great plays for others. Sherfield opens so many things up when he drives and gets paint touches.
Jalen Hill continues to be great defensively and really good in the post, but he was able to knock down some threes in this tournament which is good to see. The Groves brothers continued to play well. Jacob Groves has impressed as he is shooting the ball at a good rate and able to score in the post as well. Joe Bamisile wasn’t able to get things going in this tournament; therefore, he didn’t get as many minutes, but would look to see him get more involved.
Here is one thing Sooners head coach Porter Moser said after the ESPN Events Invitational. Moser spoke about what it takes to win 3 games in 4 days saying, “When you win a championship, three games in four days you can’t have two guys carry you, you need a lot of contributions and that’s what happened which really excites us”.
Sooners will tip off next against a struggling Villanova squad, Saturday December 3rd at 11:30am.
Check out the Sooner Surge podcast here https://open.spotify.com/episode/3sQtq5Ne5CbHTMB2xGTn8G?si=00IiuOfBTOeG-l35XfqZDQ
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sooner-surge/id1655780959?i=1000587795413
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What are the major concerns for the Sooner offense going into 2023?
No additional commitments since the last class, but a small shakeup for June. Two QBs (!), new OL, DE, and LB projections emerge, and a familiar face is back at RB.
My five recruiting thoughts for this week, including some in-state ‘drama’ on the DL, the start of official visit season, and the potential for FOUR tight ends in the next two classes.
In this episode, Barry, and Damian, do a deep dive into the Xadavien Sims commitment situation! Were the Sooners caught by surprise? Is there a reason to worry? They also bring up the recent NIL bill that was pushed through in the state of Oklahoma that was previously vetoed by Governor Kevin Stitt. Damian also opens up about what it is like to have football taken away during your college career as various Sooner players have faced while being a part of the Oklahoma program. Lastly, they talk about what the depth chart may or may not look like from the first week of the season versus when the game with Texas approaches.
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