Tulsa World: Sooners start hot

TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | WIRELESS

OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL

SPORTS EXTRA HOME

GAMEDAY PAGES

* South champion will play North champion for title

OU FOOTBALL

OU BASKETBALL

SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

		Sports Editor Mike Strain
		Sports Columnist Dave Sittler
		The Picker Entertaining & Infuriating

MORE HOME PAGES

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US

BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or order online.

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Learn more about the site.

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

Sooners start hot
OU makes a 'statement' in exhibition win.

Oklahoma's Willie Warren drives past UBC's Kamar Burke during Tuesday's game. Bill Waugh / Associated Press

By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 11/4/2009 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 11/4/2009 5:13 AM

NORMAN — When is beating the University of British Columbia 93-53, as Oklahoma did Tuesday night, a statement game? When it's your first time out without Blake Griffin.

"Before the game I talked to the team and let them know this is a statement game for us," said Willie Warren, OU's preseason All-American. "Everybody was going to wonder how this team would fare without Blake. I feel like we answered a lot of questions."

Can the Sooners still score without Griffin's 23 points per game? Looks like it. Warren scored a game-high 23, mostly off the drive. And while he wasn't hitting from the outside, everyone else was. OU went 13-of-23 behind the 3-point line.

Do the Sooners still have talent to complement Warren? Most definitely. Veteran guards Tony Crocker and Cade Davis combined for 18 points and five steals. And how about the debut of OU's four freshmen (a fifth, Putnam City's Kyle Hardrick, sat out with a knee injury)?

"I thought they were great," Capel said.

New point guard Tommy Mason-Griffin scored 12 points off 4-of-6 3-point shooting. New big man Tiny Gallon contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.

"When we got these guys in, I knew what they were bringing to the table," Warren said of the Sooners' two McDonald's All-American freshmen. "It was guys like Pledger and 'Fitz' that I really wanted to see when the lights were on, and they both stepped up."

Steven Pledger shook off a nervous start to make 4-of-6 3-pointers and score 14 points. Andrew Fitzgerald

added 10 points as the most active player in OU's revamped frontcourt. All four made rookie mistakes.

"Tommy had some careless turnovers," Capel said. "Tiny has to rebound better and needs to be more of a post presence for us. Drew did some good things, but he didn't execute some things right."

"We did some things we need to work on," Crocker said, "but overall we did pretty well."

OU men set time for opener: OU's season will tip off at 1 p.m. on Nov. 14 against Mount St. Mary's, which is picked to win the Northeast Conference and features preseason player of the year Jeremy Goode.

Guerin Emig 581-8355
guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

COMMENTS

Add your comment

Show: Most Recent Comment First

0 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.