After completing its nonconference slate, Oklahoma (10-2) opens conference play against Kansas State (8-3) at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Norman.
The Sooners will look to build on their three-game winning streak in which they beat each of their opponents by 20 points or more. OU received 62 votes in the latest AP poll, two spots out from the top 25.
Here’s five takeaways from Friday’s press conference with head coach Porter Moser and junior forward Jalen Hill:
New year, better competition
One of the reasons Moser took the Oklahoma coaching job in March, replacing the retired Lon Kruger, was the chance to face intensified competition.
The Big 12 is the only conference in the country with every team owning above a .600 winning percentage. Ken Pomeroy’s 2022 College Basketball Ratings has seven Big 12 teams ranked in the top 50.
Baylor is ranked No. 1 coming off its national title win last season while Kansas and Texas are No. 4 and No. 17 respectively in Pomeroy’s ratings. Iowa State, which was projected to finish 10th in the conference, is exceeding expectations with its 12-0 record and No. 8 ranking in the AP poll.
“You want to be playing the best and it is the best,” Moser said. “It’s the best conference in the country. Not only does it pass the eye test (as the best in the country), the numbers prove it.”
OU ranks near the top of the conference in multiple statistical categories, including second in the Big 12 in field goal percentage at 51 percent and in 3-pointers made with 100.
“I understand the obstacles,” Moser said. “Every single night you’re playing an outstanding team… that’s what you want.”
Hill’s improved scoring
Jalen Hill’s offensive numbers have exploded in 2021, something Moser attributes to his willingness to not pressure for a bigger scoring role.
“He's just playing, he’s getting better, he has confidence,” Moser said of the junior forward. “We’ve got confidence in him. And that's how you do it as a young player. You don't press about, ‘I’ve got to score more points.’ You work on your game, you work on doing the right things and it naturally comes and that's what's happening with Jalen.”
Hill is averaging 9.2 points per game, up from 4.4 points last season. He’s also shooting an impressive 71.2 percent from the field compared to last season’s 44.7 percentage. It was speculated that the Las Vegas native might enter the transfer portal after Kruger retired, but he stayed and has become a mainstay of the starting lineup.
Hill says he’s worked to improve his jump shot by coming off screens and working on putting back offensive rebounds.
“He scores in a lot of different ways,” Moser said. “Transition, he's really worked on his shot. We’ve got total confidence in him stepping into his shot.”
Gibson’s shooting prowess
Umoja Gibson is letting shots fly this season.
In his last outing, a 72-48 win over Alcorn State on Dec. 22, Gibson dropped a season-high 17 points and five 3-pointers. After transferring to OU from North Texas before the 2020-21 season, Gibson made an immediate impact on his Sooners’ teammates.
“I think the very first thing I saw him do was he was right in the gym, getting those shots working out early. I think that impressed all of us,” Hill said. “ It made all of us want to work as hard as Mo, so I think you see that along our team now from even last year's team and this year's team, just getting up early like Mo and getting our work in.”
The senior guard from Waco, leads the Big 12 in 3-point attempts with 81 this season and has knocked them down at a 39.5 percent clip. Gibson is also shooting 40.5 percent from the field, which has helped him score 12.1 points per game, second for the Sooners behind senior forward Tanner Groves.
“He’s been much better off the dribble,” Moser said. “He can draw a crowd. He can drive a close out. We call them paint touch threes, get to the paint, have the team converge again and now you're kicking for another three. He can start that domino.
“I love that it bothers him just to say that shooting is the only thing he brings to the table. He's doing a lot more for us. He was the smallest guy on the court the other night (but) he had eight rebounds.
CDC guidelines update
Moser was asked Friday whether Oklahoma had any COVID-19 issues heading into its game against Kansas State. He did not directly answer the question, but expressed frustration with the Center for Disease Control’s COVID-19 guidance update on Dec. 27, specifically its adjustments to contact tracing.
Now, anyone exposed to COVID-19 who is more than six months past their second mRNA vaccine or two months past their Johnson and Johnson one-shot vaccine and has not received a booster shot is expected to quarantine for five days followed by five days of strict mask use.
“I usually don't get political talking on these things,” Moser said. “But we told the youth of America and everybody, all these athletes around the country, ‘hey, get vaccinated, you won't be in contact tracing,’ and all of a sudden they come out Monday and say if it's past six months, you have to contact trace.”
“My belief on that is it's hard to tell these kids that they get vaccinated, you don’t have to be contract traced, so they get vaccinated,” Moser said. “All right, they're staying safe. They don't have it. Oh, but obviously you still have to contact trace because it's six months out. That's wrong.”
The Big 12 has not updated its COVID-19 guidelines since August 2021, when it announced that any team without enough players to compete would forfeit any contest.
Moser’s holiday power rankings
The Sooners’ coach is a big Christmas guy.
“How do you not love it? I love it because I'm away a lot,” Moser said. “I'm busy and it’s a time where I might have three days where my six of us are family.”
After Christmas, Moser highlighted Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, Easter and Halloween.
“I’m a holiday man,” Moser said. “You should see some of my Halloween pictures, I got dressed up every year, almost my whole life.”
One holiday he does not appreciate, however, is New Year’s Eve. Safe to say he won’t be popping any champagne on Friday evening. Instead, you’ll likely find him doing what else but watching basketball.
“I think it’s amateur hour,” Moser said, “and it’s a time where I’m always locked in on hoops."
