No. 21 Mississippi State knocked off ranked opponents in its last two games. That doesn’t mean the Bulldogs think any less of unranked Oklahoma as they prepare for an SEC clash Saturday in Norman, Okla.
The Bulldogs (19-7, 7-6 SEC) bounced No. 7 Texas A&M 70-54 on Tuesday in Starkville, which built on an 81-71 win at No. 19 Ole Miss on Saturday. The pair of signature wins excite Mississippi State coach Chris Jans, but he knows there are still challenges remaining.
“You get giddy looking at the schedule when it comes to how many opportunities you are going to have because of how well the SEC did in the nonconference portion of the season,” Jans said. “But if you don’t take advantage of them, they are just missed opportunities. They aren’t moving the needle. Sometimes they can move the needle in the wrong way. With five games left, every one of them will be really hard. With what we are trying to do and where we want to go, we have to take care of those opportunities.”
Josh Hubbard led the Bulldogs with 25 points against the Aggies. He’s the Bulldogs’ leading scorer at 17.8 points per game. Claudell Harris Jr., who averages 10.2 points, scored 15 off the bench in the Texas A&M win.
Oklahoma coach Porter Moser knows the time is now for the Sooners to take advantage of their opportunities. Most projections have the Sooners (16-10, 3-10) as one of the last teams in the NCAA Tournament, but Moser doesn’t want to rely on the strength of the SEC and their nonconference wins to drag the Sooners into the tournament. He wants them to enter March on a high note.
“Opportunity,” Moser said. “I know I keep saying that, but there are still opportunities and a lot to play for. We just need to get back in the winning column for confidence, for a lot of reasons.”
That means Oklahoma needs to snap its five-game losing streak and quickly stack some wins. Four of its last five games are against Top 25 opponents. It’s a stretch that will determine whether the Sooners head to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Moser’s four-year tenure.
Jalon Moore leads Oklahoma at 17 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Freshman Jeremiah Fears averages 15.5 points after scoring 22 in the Sooners’ 85-63 loss to No. 2 Florida on Tuesday.
While Fears reclassified so he could enroll at Oklahoma a year early, his play has drawn the attention of NBA scouts. Draft experts have built up a buzz around him and forecast him as a future lottery pick should he leave OU after just one season.
“(Fears) stayed with it; his vocalness and everything was great,” Moser said. “He had two assists, but it was different. It felt different. He set a lot of guys up (Tuesday) and had a lot more really good possessions.”
–Field Level Media
