OU men's basketball: Sooners looking for 'carryover' in exhibition against OCU
Oct. 25—When asked what he hopes to get out of Tuesday's exhibition with Oklahoma City University, Porter Moser was quick to respond.
Carryover.
It's a short way of saying that the Oklahoma head coach is hoping his Sooners can translate their practice habits into a game.
"Who's gonna carry over what we've been doing in practice into the game?" Moser said during his media availability Monday. " That's the whole key... There's an amount of game slippage, so I'm just looking for the least amount of game slippage. The second thing is I'd be shocked if we didn't compete. I'd be shocked, because this group is playing really hard. They're competing. They have an energy to them. I think you're gonna see an energy. So I'm looking for that. The carryover is the biggest one."
Moser and the Sooners are confident that won't be an issue.
Despite Tuesday's exhibition (7 p.m. on ESPN+) being the first official preseason game of the 2022-23 season for the Sooners, the team is already ahead of schedule. The team embarked on the Foreign Tour back in August, playing three games against international competition. That also allowed the Sooners to get some earlier-than-usual practice time.
That was extra important for this year's team, which only returns five players from last season. The Foreign Tour gave the team an opportunity to integrate some of its new transfer and freshman players, including former George Washington guard Joe Bamisile.
For Bamisile, Tuesday's exhibition gives him another chance to further familiarize himself with his teammates.
"I think just to put it all together," Bamisile said. "I think we have a team identity from practicing and playing in Europe, but I think now it'll be really cool to just put it all together to start the season, kind of get on a roll and surprise everybody."
Moser's not quite ready to set anything in stone. He said he hasn't decided who will start for his team against OCU, though there are a few good candidates.
Tanner Groves, Jalen Hill and Jacob Groves are all returning starters and project to be heavily in the rotation this season. Bamisile and Nevada transfer guard Grant Sherfield had a big impact in Europe and will likely see a ton of minutes.
However, there will be a few Sooners that miss the exhibition. Returning bench guard Bijan Cortes is currently in concussion protocol; Freshmen Luke Northweather and Blake Seacat will miss due to injury.
However, Milos Uzan, Otega Oweh, and Benny Schröder will see some playing time against OCU, giving fans an early look at a few of the Sooners' freshmen in action.
"I'm just excited to see where we're at, play someone different, to guard someone different, to execute against someone different," Moser said. I know [OCU] coach [Mark] Berokoff is an outstanding coach. He's got national championships. He's really an outstanding coach. This rivalry's been around before. [Former OU coach Billy] Tubbs used to play it back in the day... I thought it'd be interesting to kind of have this matchup this year."
"I just can't wait to compete, to get better," Moser said. "Because we're gonna walk away from the scrimmage and hopefully have some takeaways."
Jesse Crittenden is the sports editor of The Transcript and covers OU athletics. Reach him at jesse@normantranscript.com or at 405-366-3580
