OU Basketball: Grant Sherfield can be the 'Shot Clock Guy' Oklahoma Lacked Last Year

Porter Moser hopes Nevada transfer Grant Sherfield can be OU's game breaker when things break down at the end of offensive possessions this season.

This offseason, Porter Moser went hunting for playmakers in the transfer portal.

Oklahoma narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament in Moser’s first season in Norman, and another wave of players exiting the program via the portal meant Moser again had to find key transfers.

On top of signing four freshmen, the Sooners added Joe Bamisile, Sam Godwin, Yaya Keita and Grant Sherfield to round out the roster.

And while each of those guys will have to get acclimated to the program entering Moser’s second season, the Oklahoma coach feels he added a real creator in Sherfield, the former Nevada star.

“This league is, as well all know, so incredibly defensively that every game is just — they lock you up,” Moser said at Big 12 Basketball Media Day from Kansas City on Wednesday. “And the one thing you find is you’ve got to have guys that can make some shots. You need some shotmakers. And Grant’s a very good shotmaker.”

A 41.7 percent field goal shooter for his career, Sherfield averaged 19.1 points per game last year for the Wolf Pack, while knocking down 33.3 percent of his attempts from 3-point range.

Sherfield isn’t just a spot-up shooter, either. The Fort Worth, TX, product blends his athleticism with his pure shooting ability to create not just for himself, but for his teammates as well.

“He can score at all three levels. He can get to the rim,” Moser said. “He’s got an elite mid-range and he can shoot the three. But he’s also really good off ball screens. Analytically he’s one of the top guys off ball screens. He can get six assists a game at Nevada. But I think he brings a guy that can make shots.”

Moser’s well-drilled defense shortens games.

Despite knocking down 47.61 percent of field goal attempts, the 24th best mark in the country, Oklahoma’s offense ranked No. 225 out of 350 last year scoring just 69.1 points per game.

Forcing turnovers should lead to easy buckets on the other end, but there were times last year when the Sooners worked through their offensive sets in the half court and couldn’t break down opposing defenses.

Adding a dynamic playmaker like Sherfield should help ease those concerns this year, Moser said.

“Coaches kind of call them shot clock guys,” Moser said. “The defense takes away what you’re trying to do and then you gotta go sometimes create something out of nothing and start the domino in a rotation. And Grant can start that domino.

“He can knock down that shot at the end of the shot clock. We struggled in those areas last year. We really did. We struggled at really having a guy just go get one for us at times. And I think the really, really good teams have all had a shot clock guy. And I think he’s one of those kinds of guys for us.”

The new-look Sooners will get their regular season rolling on Nov. 7 when Oklahoma hosts Sam Houston State at the Lloyd Noble Center. 

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