OU basketball preparing for Texas Tech, De'Vion Harmon's return

Texas Tech guard De’Vion Harmon will make his first return to Norman Tuesday since transferring from Oklahoma after the 2020-21 season.

Harmon played two seasons at OU before former head coach Lon Kruger announced his retirement. After Kruger’s decision, Harmon found himself at Oregon for his junior season and later transferred to Texas Tech a year later.

Since returning to the Big 12, Harmon has played Oklahoma once in Lubbock, where he scored a team-high 23 points in a 68-63 overtime loss to the Sooners.

Ahead of his first return to the Lloyd Noble Center in Oklahoma’s (13-14, 3-11 Big 12) matchup against the Red Raiders (15-12, 4-10) at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. OU coach Porter Moser holds no hard feelings toward Harmon, who Moser briefly connected with after being hired.

“It was COVID-19 time, so we just talked through Zoom and phone,” Moser said. “I thought he was a high energy, good kid that chose to go a different path. I didn't fault him for it. I just talked to him a couple of times and my interactions were good with him. He chose to go to Oregon, and everyone had their choices. I totally understood, so there were zero hard feelings at all.”

Harmon provides a unique challenge for OU’s defense as he averages a career-high 13.6 points on 44.6% shooting. He’s also making an impact defensively, grabbing 1.7 steals per game.

“He plays north-south,” Moser said. “He does not play east-west. His downhill speed has been something that he's done a good job with. He's been finishing, shooting and … (he’s been) scoring a lot of different ways.”

Joe Bamisile finding rhythm

After a slow start to the season, George Washington transfer Joe Bamisile is finding consistency.

“I think it's more of a comfort thing and a confidence thing,” Bamisile said. ‘I’m now able to go up and down and not really think as much, and it's made it so much easier to play well. In comparison, earlier in the year I was just in my head all the time.”

After playing mop-up minutes in January, Bamisile re-entered the rotation on Feb. 4 against West Virginia. In the past five games, the junior guard is averaging 16.6 minutes per game off the bench and has scored in double-digits three times during that span.

“I'm a lot more comfortable here,” Bamisile said. “I've gotten on the same page in terms of what the coach wants from me. So, it's easier to know how I can impact his team and help in some games. And I think I said this last time, but I'm just grateful for that opportunity and thankful that God has put me in this position to do this.”

Bamisile was a significant factor during Oklahoma’s 85-83 overtime loss to No. 6 Texas on Saturday in Austin, finishing with 13 points, two assists, two steals and three 3-pointers.

Moser developing young talent

Moser is pleased with freshmen guards Milos Uzan and Otega Oweh’s growth.

Uzan, who has played third most minutes this season, is averaging 6.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game on 47.5% shooting. The former four-star recruit has scored 11.3 points per game in the past four contests

Oweh saw inconsistent minutes until he was moved into a starting spot against Baylor on Feb. 8. Since then, he’s started four consecutive games, averaging 10.8 minutes a contest.

“What I do like is that Otega and Los are thrown into the fire,” Moser said. “They're being counted on for a lot of minutes in a high level league. They do some great things, and then we live through some tough mistakes.”

Moser has also seen steady improvement from freshman forward Luke Northweather, who is redshirting this season.

He’s not getting in the games, but we're completely focused on his development,” Moser said. “We're giving him extra workouts and everything, and … he's getting a lot of work this year. I like where he's progressing.”

This story was edited by Austin Curtright and Colton Sulley.