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As a Michigan fan when I think Oklahoma basketball, I think Blake Griffin since he destroyed my Wolverines in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament last season. The Sooners lost to eventual champ North Carolina in the Elite Eight. Obviously Griffin has moved on to the NBA as the #1 pick and left a large hole in the Sooner’s lineup. The only player that averaged double figures returning from last years team is sophomore guard Willie Warren. A few role players combined with some talented freshmen and you’ve got a receipe for an interesting season.
Oklahoma showed just how young they are in the first half of their game vs the UTEP Miners. I don’t want to take anything away from the way UTEP played in the first half. They absolutely took it to the Sooners. So give UTEP credit. However, many of the threes they made in that first half were uncontested. Oklahoma played defense like it was a summer league or even a pickup game. (Actually, I’ve seen better effort on defense in pickup games) Sooners coach Jeff Capel stayed in a zone and went with a smaller lineup much of the first half even though UTEP was shooting the lights out. UTEP ended up shooting 8-12 from behind the arc in that first half. Sooner’s guard and All-American canidate Willie Warren had 16 points in the first half of his team’s 30. Actually 30 isn’t horrible for a first half but when you give up 47 it looks pretty bad. Bottom line, UTEP outplayed and outcoached Oklahoma in that first half.
Oklahoma picked up the pace in the second half and played a full court man to man defense. It didn’t matter. UTEP simply continued to execute and cruised to a 15 point win. Oklahoma never cut the 17 point halftime deficit to single digits. This might be a different game come March when Oklahoma’s younsters realize how good they can be. But take nothing away from UTEP. This looks like a NCAA tournament team. A couple bright spots for Oklahoma, Willie Warren had 26 points, freshman Tommy Mason-Griffin had 20 points (all in the 2nd half) and freshman big man Tiny Gallon had 13 points.
Oklahoma needs more consistency from their freshmen (which should come with experience) if they want to be a NCAA tournament team.
One team down only 72 to go!
