OU Basketball: Oklahoma 'Has to Hit Some Shots" Against No. 8 Iowa State

The Sooners need their shooters to step up against the league's best paint defense if they want a win in Ames on Wednesday.

NORMAN — Wednesday brings the Oklahoma Sooners game No. 4 of one of the toughest five-game stretches in the country.

“Tell me, if somebody has a stretch at Baylor, Kansas, at your rival [Oklahoma State] — who’s playing really well at Bedlam — and then at No. 8 Iowa State, and then home against No. 1 Houston,” Sooners head coach Porter Moser said Tuesday during a press conference. “It’s a complete grind. So, we’re playing against the best, and I think our guys are competing in it, and our guys have a confidence that if we’re guarding and doing the things we can do, we can compete against the best in the country.”

Oklahoma (19-8, 7-7) plays the eighth-ranked Cyclones (21-6, 10-4) on the road Wednesday at 7 p.m. Coming off an epic overtime win against OSU in Stillwater on Saturday, Moser’s Sooners have some wind in their sails headed into Ames.

“We had a day off and we really talked about that yesterday [Monday], about, you know, putting the foot on the gas pedal and being hungrier and not letting complacency and satisfaction slip in,” Moser said. “I thought we had a great practice yesterday, but we were intentional in talking about it. . . I don’t ever want to take joy out of winning, but we took Sunday off, and Monday was back to chasing. We’ve got to prepare for Iowa State.”

The Sooners bested the then-unranked Cyclones in Norman on Jan. 6, Iowa State’s fortune has changed drastically in the time that has passed; The Cyclones turned around to beat No. 2 Houston the following game and have won 10 of their last 13 games. 

The Sooners, in the same time, have dropped from No. 11 to unranked. Needless to say, Moser isn’t taking head coach T.J. Otzelberger’s Cyclones lightly.

“You see what they’re [Iowa State] doing in the Big 12, and the thing that I really have a tremendous amount of respect for T.J. and their program is they do what they do,” Moser said. “They’re going to try to get up in you. They’re not changing a ton. They’re making adjustments, but they are going to guard you and try to turn you over. They are going to run their offense hard, cut hard, screen hard, go downhill, and they just have a tremendous culture with what they do.”

One thing Iowa State does better than any team in the league: defend the rim. The Cyclones also have the second best overall scoring defense behind Houston, allowing only 66.5 points per game. The Sooners need to create opportunities from 15 feet and out to contend with Iowa State on Wednesday.

“You’re not going to win these games against elite defense without making shots. We have to make some shots. We made 10 3s beating Iowa State last time,” Moser said. “It’s very hard to get [to the rim]. You have to hit some shots.”