OU Basketball: Porter Moser's New-Look Sooners Open Season Monday Night

Oklahoma brought in eight new faces this offseason who could make their OU debuts on Monday night against Sam Houston.

Year 2 of the Porter Moser era at Oklahoma tips off Monday night, and as is the case all across college basketball, the Sooners will look much different than when they last took the floor.

The Groves brothers, Tanner and Jacob, as well as Jalen Hill, C.J. Noland and Bijan Cortes will still take the floor against Sam Houston at the Lloyd Noble Center, but OU also added four transfers and four freshman to the roster this offseason.

Transfer guard Grant Sherfield will see his first official action as a Sooner after transferring from Nevada on Monday, as well as George Washington transplant Joe Bamisile, Wofford transfer Sam Godwin and former Missouri big man Yaya Keita.

Add freshmen Milos Uzan, Otega Oweh, Luke Northweather and Benny Schroder into the fold and Moser had to acclimate plenty of new pieces to the program this offseason.

Grant Sherfield averaged 19.1 points and 6.4 assists per game last year for Nevada before transferring to Oklahoma :: BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK

But the OU coach said having a core of the team return to play under him for a second season meant the Sooners could start to build momentum, even if only a handful of players from last year’s NIT team returned to Norman.

“Last year, it’s all about coming in and getting so much in,” Moser said before practice last Thursday. “You’re teaching your offense, you’re teaching defense, you’re teaching your culture, you’re teaching your staff, the ones that haven’t been with you.

“It’s so much the summer having those guys that are back, and I just think all the guys that are back that played last year are more mature, bigger, stronger. They’re just locked in. There’s not an uncertainty on what it is to play for Oklahoma and me.”

Monday’s season opener will serve as the first step for the 2022-23 Sooners as they try to get back to the NCAA Tournament, but it’s far from the first time the team has stepped onto the floor together.

A summer trip to Europe afforded the group valuable time in scrimmages as well as becoming a tight-knit unit off the floor.

Returning back stateside, OU also beat Oklahoma City University 89-53 in an exhibition contest on Oct. 25, and then Oklahoma took the floor against Oregon in one of college basketball’s “secret scrimmages.”

Though Moser isn’t permitted to talk about the scrimmage, he said he was pleased with what he saw from his team on the eve of the regular season tipping off.

“I like how this team plays together,” Moser said. “They want to get better. I think there’s an energy about this group. I like it.

“… I really like the mentality of this team. They work really hard. I think people are going to see a team with a lot of energy and play really hard.”

A battle against Sam Houston will be the first real test for the new faces at Oklahoma.

Tanner Groves is back for his second season under Porter Moser at Oklahoma  :: BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK

The Bearkats were picked to finish eighth in the Western Athletic Conference preseason poll, but Moser has plenty of respect for how Bearkats head coach Jason Hooten runs his program.

“They’re really well coached. That program has been very very good. Everyone in college basketball knows how good it is,” Moser said. “… They really guard you. They’re tough as nails. And they run a lot of stuff. And early on, when you know a program runs a lot of stuff, you don’t really have a lot of film on them because they’ve played two scrimmages.

“I know the program is really good at the foundation of it. He’s won a lot of games there. I’m anticipating a really, really tough team defensively and a team that can really execute and run a lot of stuff offensively.”

On Thursday Moser said he expected everyone to be available for the contest after Cortes and Northweather missed the exhibition game, though he hasn’t settled on what the starting five will look like to tip off the new season.

“I think some of the veterans have been going there. But I really like some of the newcomers,” Moser said. “Coach (Rick) Majerus used to always say, ‘starting five is for a high school.’ We need that bench. We need to be deep. We need to have depth. So whoever’s not starting, they need to understand we’re counting on everybody to bring what they can bring.

“That’s the hard part about when you feel like you have confidence in a lot of guys. You can only start five. So it doesn’t mean you don’t have confidence in the other ones. It just means they’ve got a different role. Their minutes are going to be at a different time in the game. So that’s kind of been our focus on things. That’ll be something that’ll evolve through the year, the starting five.”

Oklahoma’s 2022-23 basketball season will officially get underway against Sam Houston at 7 p.m. on Monday, and the season-opener will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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