04's Attempt: OU vs. Tulsa Recap
When you walk into the BOK Center with only a lone tater tot in your belly and a glass of tea as nourishment, you wonder if it's going to be a weird day. How I was to know that the Wendy's I'd planned for lunch would be closed, or that I could only barter a lone tater tot from my wife's bag o' goodies at Sonic? How was I to know that the overpriced concessions at the arena would force me to go hungry on principle alone? So, me and my growling belly prepared ourselves for a batch of weirdness as the tip-off approached in that big, blue-seated arena.
And then the game began.
And then the game was over five minutes after it began.
Five minutes is all the time it took our boys to quiet the 6,000 or so Bugle-loving TU fans in attendance. A 13-0 run tends to quiet the home crowd, and the speed and ferocity of our start ended this thing before most fans found the time to shill out three bucks for a dainty bottle of Aquafina. After a month jammed full of nailbiters, Sooner BBall fans needed a break from chewing down to the cuticles. Our boys provided a laugher today.
There was plenty to be concerned about, but I'll never tire of taking an overmatched opponent out behind the woodshed and beating the hope of an upset out of them from the word go. We outclassed TU at every position on the floor, and we never let them harbor a thought that this might be their day to shine. Did we play well? Nah. Did we play well enough for five minutes which allowed us 35 minutes of coast? Yep. After going up 13, I don't think we ever let them get closer than nine. It was the female equivalent of talking on the phone while doing your nails. I think our guys were talking dinner reservations over on the bench. Wham, bam, thank you mam, and back down the Turnpike we go.
SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 22 [Turn out the lights, the party's over.]
2nd - 21 [Put me in, Coach!]
3rd - 13 [A volcano of vomit.]
4th - 13 [Oh the humanity!]
LEADING SCORERS:
19 - Blake Griffin [Ho hum right here.]
14 - Willie Warren [If he were this strong every night we'd be REAL stout.]
12 - Tony Crocker [Welcome to the party.]
LEADING REBOUNDERS:
9 - Blake Griffin
6 - Taylor Griffin
6 - Tony Crocker [Hello, darlin. Nice to see ya.]
PLUSES:
1. Willie Warren: 14 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds and a big ol' goose egg in the turnover department. He went up one time, got the ball knocked away, caught it at the highest point of his jump and tossed it in off the glass as he came down. One of the damndest plays I've ever seen.
2. Austin Johnson: I thought he played a phenomenal first half and he didn't score. Hell, I thought he DOMINATED. Second half wasn't as good, but he was a monster in the first half.
3. Tony Crocker: He's still alive, but still in sleeves.
4. BOK Center: That place is what the Ford Center should've been.
5. Depth: I've been bitching about this lately, but we played 11 guys in the first half. 11!
6. Defense: We suffocated poor, old TU. They shot 25% in the first half and retreated to the locker room down 24. Thanks for playing, kids.
MINUSES:
1. Blake Griffin: Not to nitpick over 19 and 9, but Blake had some attitude issues today. Maybe he's still sick. That jumper off the glass is awful sweet, though.
2. Ryan Wright: Needs to get a lot stronger with the ball. It seemed like it was knocked away from him at almost every opportunity, be it going up for a shot or coming down with a board.
3. Orlando Allen: I like this guy, he's a monster, but is he a project?
4. The Tulsa Golden Hurricane: We've beaten these guys by 26 and 25 over the last two years. They are not the TU of my youth. Where have you gone, Shea Seals?
5. Free Throw Shooting: 13 of 24? L O U S Y!
In closing, I refuse to find too much to nitpick over a 25-point win away from the cozy confines of the Lloyd Noble Center. Perhaps I'm fried from driving over 900 miles this weekend, but there is still work to be done. The second half was a little brutal, but the officials got all ticky-tack. There wasn't a drip of flow in the second stanza, that's for sure. It still turns my black heart darker to see us only score 26 points in the second half. I was hacking all the way home over that. I think that had more to do with TU mucking it up. We certainly didn't give them our all, that's for sure. If we had stuck to the press they may have thrown the white flag at us.
Now it's back to Norman for a date with the Black Bears of Maine. If I can drive from Ardmore to Emporia on Friday night, and from Emporia to KC and to Ottawa in blistering cold on Saturday night and from Ottawa to Tulsa to Ardmore on Sunday, then we should be able to get a few to Norman on Wednesday. I'll be there, will you?
Thank you for your time.
Originally Posted by Sooner04
