OU holds off OSU, 64-61

Box Score

The Story
Geez, where to start? I first want to start by thanking Pistolsguy for asking me to write the game recap for one of the most boring and most difficult games to watch all year. The game’s only saving grace was that it was Bedlam, which helps two disappointed fan bases become way more passionate than the two teams records would otherwise deserve. Though I have to confess “passion” doesn’t seem to describe the way I felt as I watched this one. More like…flabbergasted, relieved, bewildered, optimistic, frustrated, confident, and finally aggravated. So, let’s tackle this one emotion at a time.

Flabbergasted – In case you couldn’t tell by his play, didn’t know, or managed to avoid hearing it one of the 37 times Brad Sham or Stephen Howard mentioned it, it was OU #34’s senior day. Given that you sort of expected OU would come out of the gate playing well. You may not have expected them to jump out on OSU 12-2, however. What a terrible start for the Cowboys. I just kept sitting there waiting for the Pokes to make one positive play as Keiton traveled, Reger shot an air ball, we got a shot clock violation, drew two offensive fouls and made only one field goal in the first 5:45. I bet the four high school girls teams competing for state championships at the State Fairgrounds today didn’t have a stretch that bad all season. Despite that, this game felt a lot like the one these two teams played in Stillwater a month ago. You knew OU wasn’t good enough to run OSU out of the gym and you knew we were bound to make a run.

Relieved – The Cowboys tied it at 19 after six consecutive made field goals were layups (3 from Reger, 2 from Markel and 1 from JPO). It was sort of what you expected, OSU finally started playing solid defense and subsequently realized they didn’t have anyone skilled enough or desirous (is that a word?) enough to stop our drivers. Then Capel awoke from his 8 game coaching coma and realized, “maybe I should go zone against the worst three point shooting team in the league”. It was at this point I thought to myself how glad Arizona fans should be they didn’t somehow end up with Capel two springs ago.

Bewildered – It took OSU what seemed like 7 real life hours to realize even though they were playing zone getting the ball to Moses was probably a good idea. Guys were just standing and watching, waiting for someone else to make a play. All they needed to do was go to Moses. They weren’t doubling on him and he could either make a post move or kick back out to a shooter er, uh…driver?!? That’s what is so tough about this Cowboy squad, they don’t have a go to guy on the perimeter that can make something happen whenever he wants, which leads me to this hypothetical I have to ask…what would this team look like with James Anderson?

Optimistic – Once they finally realized getting Moses a touch every trip was a good idea it looked like a D-1 basketball game, sort of. And you had that feeling OSU would play solid defense and find ways to score going inside out and win by about 10 or 12. Then Sidorakis hit the three as time expired to give OSU their first lead of the half and you started to think maybe this team can get hot in the second half and carry it in to Kansas City and do something crazy. Too much?

Frustrated – What wasn’t frustrating about this game? To say I only felt this way in the early stages of the second half would be a bald faced lie. I felt it the entire game, as I’m sure Travis Ford and every other Cowboy fan did too. The Cowboys came out cold and looked confused again. Like they were completely unaware of what to do offensively. They at least played decent defense, which kept them in it despite their offensive constipation kicking in yet again.

Confident – Keiton hit the three from right in front of the Cowboy bench at about the nine minute mark and I thought, “surely now we’ll take control of this freaking game”. Nevermind that the lead only lasted 27 seconds and we played from behind the rest of the way. Then Keiton hit the runner, which was a great shot for a guy who is more 5’7” than 5’9”, and we headed to the 8:00 minute media timeout. This game was so weird because I genuinely believed for about the next three minutes of game time that we were in control, even though we were behind. We’re better than OU. We’re more talented and I think Ford can coach circles around Capel. That had to win out above all else. Didn’t it?

Aggravated – This is a good word to describe this team at times. We foul over 50 feet from the basket more than any team I can remember (Marshall and Pilgrim did it once each in the second half), our assist to travel ratio is 1:1, every guy not named Moses shoots 50% from 4 ft and in, and we have the lowest basketball IQ in recent OSU memory.

Side note: The Boggan/Monds team had a better collective basketball IQ than this one. However, we all remember the Marist game and this team would never quit the way that team did. So for that, I’m extremely grateful for this team. They play hard every night and you can tell they genuinely want to win. I can get on board with teams that play hard and want to win, even if they make poor basketball plays on occasion every other possession.

As the game ended I was mostly aggravated because losing to OU bothers me so much. Especially when even their fans know we’re better than them. I still can’t figure out how OSU lost this game. The announcers wanted to pin it on the free throw disparity (and they did shoot 10 and make 6 more than OSU did) but I can’t pin it all on that. For whatever reason OSU just couldn’t get over the hump today and any amount of dissecting you or I do at this point will only cause us and those around us unneeded disgust. This game was so forgettable. And, it’s sad really to think of where this series now sits. Two half empty arenas, two teams lacking an NCAA resume and no real excitement or big plays that used to fill one or two Big Mondays a year. So, I encourage you to go out to dinner, take in a movie, read a book…essentially just do anything to take your mind off this game and then try to never recall it again. But, be proud that you’re an OSU fan and that this team continues to battle and play hard. They’re giving us everything they’ve got; it’s just that too often it’s just a tad too short.

Player of the game
OU #34 – I can’t say his name, actually I refuse to, but he played really well. I’m convinced he only played well because someone told him before the game, “hey, you’re only 48 points away from 1,000 for your career and let’s be honest you’ve got this one and one in Kansas City to get there, good luck.”. So, he came out and did something about it. I know we all like to poke fun at him, and rightfully so (no one should put hair product in to play a basketball game, sorry Tyler Hatch), but #34 has had a pretty solid career at OU. He’s a decent player and would be a great role player on a good/great team, as he was when Blake carried them all to the Elite Eight two years ago. But, this is for what he did today, which was pretty much single handedly beat OSU. He came out today on a mission and I guarantee you he’ll be gunning for 26 more on Wednesday in KC. That alone could make that game fun(ny) to watch.

Nuggets

Favorite moment
They came back from a commercial and showed Grant Hill (who played with Capel at Duke) and some of the other Phoenix Suns, who are in town to play the Thunder tomorrow night. There was so much unintentional comedy wrapped up in that 7 or 8 seconds that lasted me the rest of the game. I want to personally thank the producer in the truck for giving me that gift. What were the Suns thinking watching this game? Did Vince Carter think he was going to watch Duke/Carolina and then when they pulled up to Lloyd Noble Grant Hill said, “got ya”? Wouldn’t they have rather gone to the fairgrounds and watched the Class A/B State title games while sharing funnel cakes? Where was Steve Nash? Why didn’t they go to Bass Pro Shop or OKC Rocks? (I’d pay money to see NBA teams on their off days in OKC go to either of these places) Are they trying to be the poor man’s and much older Thunder by spending time doing team activities on the road? I could go on and on, but I’ll stop now…Bill Simmons could have a field day with this one.

Next game: Wednesday in Kansas City. OSU will be the #9 seed and play either Nebraska or Colorado.