OU Basketball Notebook: Taking care of business
BY GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
2/12/13 at 6:08 AM
Oklahoma never trailed in waxing TCU 75-48 Monday night. In fact, the Sooners were never threatened.
It was 4-0 behind jumpers from Romero Osby and Amath M'Baye at the first media timeout. It was 8-1 thanks to M'Baye's dunk and Isaiah Cousins' pull-up at the second timeout.
Two hoops by guard Je'lon Hornbeak and Tyler Neal's left-wing 3-pointer made it 15-1, before Connell Crossland produced TCU's first basket.
That came with 8:58 left in the half, making the score 15-3.
"Coach (Lon Kruger) always preaches we need to have more intensity than the other team, no matter who we're playing," said Osby, who had 11 points and seven rebounds. "We wanted to make sure we didn't have a letdown (from Saturday's victory over Kansas), come out and make sure we established that we came to play. We weren't going to overlook anybody. We were going to play our hardest."
Mighty kind of you: TCU didn't do much right Monday. The Horned Frogs shot 30 percent from the field, turned the ball over 16 times and, according to coach Trent Johnson, played selfishly in falling behind 36-11 at halftime.
Afterward, Johnson preferred to compliment the Sooners than talk much about his team.
"It's just nice to see a guy like Cameron Clark, a guy who's started here for a couple years, and now he's real content in his role," he said. "You've got (Steven) Pledger, who shot all of their balls last year. Now he's content. That's what college basketball is about, when you see that.
"I've had some teams like that. It's nice to see how unselfish they are and how they play for each other. That's impressive."
Johnson went on to call OU "an NCAA Tournament team ... All they've got to do is remain healthy and continue to do what they're doing."
Replacing Hield: Of course, the Sooners are no longer 100 percent healthy. Starting guard Buddy Hield broke a bone in his right foot and might not return this season.
Cousins and Hornbeak, OU's two other freshman guards, will be called on to raise their level of play in Hield's absence.
"It's important anytime you have a guy out with foul trouble or injury that other guys are able to step up and pick up the slack," Kruger said. "This group all year has had different people at different games make the difference. Our depth is good."
Associated Images:
OU forward Romero Osby (rear) and TCU forward Adrick McKinney (front) reach for a loose ball. SUE OGROCKI / Associated Press
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