Oklahoma’s Moser expects Sooners to improve in his 2nd year

Oklahoma coach Porter Moser is glad to see some acquainted faces this season.

In his first year final season, the Sooners completed 19-16 and reached the second spherical of the NIT with a staff filled with transfers pieced collectively by a brand new employees through the pandemic.

The Sooners nonetheless will rely closely on transfers once more. Moser can have simply two gamers again who averaged greater than 20 minutes per recreation. But Tanner Groves and Jalen Hill are key returnees who will present some stability.

“Makes a heck of a difference when you have guys that have been through your program,” Moser stated. “We’ve got some guys back. That makes all the difference in the world when you bring in your newcomers.”

Groves acquired preseason All-Big 12 honorable point out. He averaged 11.6 factors and 5.8 rebounds final season after transferring in from Eastern Washington. Hill averaged 9.1 factors and 5.4 rebounds final season.

Transfers Joe Bamisile and Grant Sherfield look prepared to leap in after dominating throughout Oklahoma’s international tour this summer time. Bamisile averaged 16.3 factors and 5.0 rebounds for George Washington final season. He has three years of eligibility remaining.

Sherfield averaged 19.1 factors and 6.4 assists for Nevada final season. He is the Big 12 preseason Newcomer of the Year — the primary Sooner since Amath M’Baye in 2012-13 to earn that honor. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

Moser stated Sherfield creates offense, one thing he hopes will assist the Sooners in shut video games.

“We struggled in those areas last year,” he stated. “We really did. We struggled at really having a guy just go get one for us at times. I think the really, really good teams all had a shot clock guy. I think he’s one of those kind of guys for us.”

BIG TRANSFERS

Moser added dimension in transfers Sam Godwin and Yaya Keita.

Godwin, a 6-foot-10 ahead who performed at Southmoore (Oklahoma) High School, is a switch from Wofford. He appeared in 30 video games final season for the Terriers with 12 begins. He shot 62.1 % from the sector and averaged 6.3 factors and three.1 rebounds per recreation.

Keita, a 6-foot-9 ahead from St. Louis, performed in 21 video games at Missouri final season and averaged 1.2 factors.

FABULOUS FRESHMEN

Oklahoma had a robust recruiting class with a number of extremely rated gamers.

Milos Uzan, a 6-4 level guard from Las Vegas, was ranked No. 52 on the ESPN100 and the No. 1 prospect in Nevada.

Otega Oweh, a 6-6 guard from Somerset, N.J., was a four-star prospect on ESPN.com, 247Sports and Rivals. He was named Nike EYBL Peach Jam Breakout Player of the Session.

Luke Northweather, a 6-10 ahead from Blair Oaks High School in Jefferson City, Mo., was Gatorade Missouri Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

Benny Schröder, a 6-7 guard from Munich, Germany, performed for the U18 German National Team in the 2021 FIBA U18 European Challengers match.

OH BROTHER

Jacob Groves – Tanner’s brother – is again. The senior averaged 4.6 factors and a couple of.9 rebounds final season and scored 15 factors in a Big 12 Tournament win over Baylor. He began after Elijah Harkless went down with harm final year, and he has improved from there.

“That confidence boost at the end of the year that he got, I think that’s really propelling him this offseason,” Moser stated. “Just like anything, we were chasing it. We were trying to get better. I thought we were doing some better things offensively towards the end of the year.”

RUNNING IT BACK

Guard C.J. Noland was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team final season after averaging 3.0 factors and 1.6 rebounds per recreation final season.

SCHEDULE

The Sooners open the season on Nov. 7 at house in opposition to Sam Houston with ranked opponents subsequent:. They go to Villanova on Dec. 1 in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. They then play Arkansas in Tulsa on Dec. 10. They open convention play on Dec. 31 at house in opposition to Texas. They host Alabama in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 28.

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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: twitter.com/CliffBruntAP

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