OUInsider - Lost in the Phog
Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser remembers his first trip to Allen Fieldhouse to play at Kansas. He was an assistant
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OU at No. 2 Kansas - 8 p.m.
Trying to avoid 30 years since a win at KU. Story and some quotes from Moser to get you ready.
Porter Moser
Finally winning a close one?
It was really big for our psyche and our belief. You lose two on the last possession, they're all coming down to one possession. We've played three games, all one possession. In close games, the margin for error is small. If your job assignment is to ice a ball screen, then you've got to do your job. If your job is to deny through on an action, you've got to do your job. I thought we had a smaller amount of slippage down the stretch. They got some transition baskets that, watching on film, were really hard. They were going downhill in transition. They were getting back in the game by just attacking in transition. I thought we made a lot of winning plays, a number of them. One that sticks out in my mind is Sam Godwin came over to help, came out of nowhere and blocked a shot, kept it in bounds, Grant got the 50-50 ball, we went down and then Grant rolled and got it back to Sam for a dunk. Those are four-point swings. Instead of that guy layup it up, we got two. I thought we had four or five four-point swings by winning kind of plays. I thought we did a good job of sharing the ball, moving the ball and then staying together. I think in that atmosphere on the road, you've got to stay together. I think that's what we did well as well.
Jalen Wilson?
He just looks like a whole other level, like it's his team. I know Christian, Agbaji and McCormack last year, they had some older guys. He just looks like, 'Alright, I'm now the leader of Kansas.' He scores from three. He scores at the rim. He's got a terrific mid-range game. He's a three-level scorer. He scores at all three of those places. But he just looks confident. When he goes downhill off his dribble, he can rise up. His shot looks as good as I've seen it. He just looks so confident, and he just poses problems. When you can score at all three levels – from three, mid-range and at the rim – you become hard to guard. Thus, 20 a game.
I ask about Jalen Hill?
I’ll just share with you a funny story with you about Jalen. He’s such a good kid. I got him pretty upset, I got into him pretty good at the Florida game. He had made a couple of mistakes and he got almost pissed off at me. I remember his dad telling me, ‘Jalen’s such a good kid. Sometimes you’ve just got to piss him off.’ So I’m like all right. I’m listening to his dad.
“It was a sequence in the Florida game and I took him out. I held him accountable pretty hard. He came back in and he got an offensive rebound, there was all Florida guys and he got it and laid it up. And he just had this look in his eye. So I thought he missed three bunny layups in the first half, so walking off I’m like, ‘Jalen, you’ve got to make those layups.’ He goes, ‘Coach, it was only one.’ I got, ‘I don’t know what it was, I’m just trying to piss you off.’ I was just trying to get into him. He didn’t need it. He was locked in. His confidence is going through the roof on both ends. Just such a leader and key person for us.”
Bijan?
"I see him locked in and I see him playing with a pace. I mean, he's really got a rhythm. We were really moving the ball I thought as good as anybody. Bijan was part of it. He had a middle cut dunk. He really set up guys. He's playing with a pace. But what I love is I've seen a better pace defensively for him. His pace is on both ends right now. And it started in in practice. And then I thought the last two games he's really had a great pace and I'm just feeding into that. That pace really helps us and he's a better player with that pace. He's an outstanding player with that pace and I want to keep feeding on that."
C.J. 'getting' it?
I love CJ - I love that CJ is playing the best basketball this season for him. I mean his last couple of games, his practices. CJ is having the best run right now all season. And I see that snowballing which only helps us I've been talking about hey, we got one of these other guys step up. CJ is doing it. CJ is doing it. And it couldn't have been a better time in league play.
