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OU basketball: Three things Sooners must do to turn things around vs. Kansas State
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- OU basketball: Three things Sooners must do to turn things around vs. Kansas State
NORMAN — After Saturday's loss to Texas Tech , OU coach Porter Moser loudly proclaimed his team would bounce back.
"They were locked in," Moser said. "We didn't get it done, but it isn't because we're sitting here, we've got a fractured locker room, attitude problems. We don't have any of that, all right? And that's what gives me absolute passion to know that we still can build wins on this thing because our schedule is so tough.
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"You're going to get great opportunities to win. And that's what I love about this team right now. They're crushed and we're crushed. I know that. But that's a good thing if they are. It's a bad thing if they're sitting there like pointing fingers and that. That's not this locker room right now."
The Sooners get their chance to show any progress they've made at 7 p.m. Tuesday when they play at Kansas State .
Here are three things OU (15-5, 3-4 Big 12) needs to do to get things turned back around after going 2-4 in its last six:
More: Oklahoma basketball live score updates vs Kansas State in Big 12 game
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Defensive consistency is key for Porter Moser's Sooners
This is at the top.
The Sooners held Texas Tech to 37.5% shooting in the first half Saturday.
In the second half, though, the Red Raiders came alive.
Texas Tech shot an eye-popping 72% from the field after halftime, scoring 52 points after the break to pull out the win.
While some of that can be attributed to Grant McCasland's adjustments at halftime, it was also heavily influenced by OU's defensive struggles.
That didn't just pop up against Texas Tech.
"Some of us, we take the foot off the gas defensively," Moser said. "We keep fighting, and I don't have 30 timeouts, you know."
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Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser yells to players after a Texas Tech point in the first half during an NCAA basketball game between University of Oklahoma (OU) and Texas Tech at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024.
Attention to detail
While the focus Saturday was on the final shot — Milos Uzan's missed layup with four minutes left that could've tied it — Moser was more upset about the sequence that ended the first half.
With Pop Isaacs on the free-throw line with 32 seconds left, Moser yelled "last shot, last shot" repeatedly, wanting his team to hold onto the ball until the shot-clock was nearing zero to keep the Red Raiders from a potential two-for-one possibility.
"Start the action at 10," Moser repeatedly implored his team.
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But the Sooners came down, started their action at 19.
So instead, Uzan missed a shot with 11 seconds remaining, the Red Raiders got another possession and hit a pair of free throws to close OU's lead to one at halftime to finish off Tech's 12-4 run before the break.
"That's stuff, leadership stuff, that we're in there, we were talking about it at their free throw," Moser said. "With 29 seconds left, we want the last shot, we're starting our action at 10 and we started it at 18. That's a complete mental breakdown. And it starts with me. We're obviously not coached well enough."
More: Porter Moser says OU basketball took 'foot off the gas defensively' in loss to Texas Tech
Texas Tech guard Joe Toussaint (6) works up court as he’s being defended by OU forward Sam Godwin (10) in the first half Saturday in Norman.
Sooners need to take advantage of free throws
OU missed nine free throws against Texas Tech, a devastating piece of a one-point loss.
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The Sooners missed five in the loss against Texas earlier in the week.
"That's literally the first time all year I've said that we've really struggled and we left nine," Moser said. "In a one-point game, we left nine on the table."
Six of those misses came in the second half.
Over the last five games, Otega Oweh is shooting just 56.5% from the free-throw line. He was 2 of 5 there against the Red Raiders.
More: Here's where OU basketball ranks in AP Top 25, coaches poll after pair of Big 12 losses
OU vs. Kansas State
TIPOFF:7 p.m. Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas (ESPN+)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Porter Moser says OU basketball must fix these issues to snap skid
