The No. 1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners took on the (12-6) Texas Tech Red Raiders on Tuesday night, hoping to capitalize on their big win from Saturday against the Baylor Bears. That goal was accomplished with a 91-67 win over an improved Texas Tech team, expected to be one of the first teams out of the NCAA postseason tournament. That means this was a quality team they completely demolished tonight, pretty much from start to finish.
Players to focus on: Buddy Hield, Jordan Woodard, and Isaiah Cousins.
Buddy Hield of course… This guy has been a dominant force all season long and is the leading candidate for the National Player of the Year award at the end of the season. He’s averaging 25.7 points per game with ease, and the telling statistic for him (if not the point total) is his shooting percentage which is out of this world. 52.1 percent shooting overall, 51.7 percent from the 3-point line, and 90.5 percent from the free throw line. These are dominant stats that only a select few have been able to accomplish in college, or the NBA. Against Tech, he scored 30 points off an unbelievable 9-of-12 shooting.
Jordan Woodard, has been shooting unusually great his year. Coach Lon Kruger really has done a spectacular job with this kid. Developing his shot and moving him over to the shooting guard position has been the best thing that’s happened to him. I remember when one of his weaknesses was his shooting. That’s not the case now. His last two games, he’s shooting 8-of-13 from three which is a good sign considering he’s a junior, with a whole season left.
Isaiah Cousins has been playing better as of late. He’s seemingly gotten used to playing the point guard position. At 6’4, 200 pounds he’s a lot bigger than most collegiate point guards and would even make for a large NBA point guard. In comparison, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook is considered one of, if not the largest and most physical point guard in the NBA and he’s 6’3, 200. Cousins has really started to use his size to get into the paint and manipulate smaller guards. He scored 19 points off 7-of-11 shooting and 2-of-3 from three.
Clearly this team is stacked, on top of those three players sophomore big man Khadeem Lattin has really developed a nice defensive game. He had a career high 8 blocks against Texas Tech and 6 points.
OU improved to (17-2) on the season and will play LSU on Saturday at 4 p.m. for the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Feature Photo: Torrey Purvey/ Icon Sportswire
