OU basketball racking up the road miles, taking on Arizona State

Copy and paste everything we’ve said about OU basketball for yet another game. Because it’s the same story for the third straight contest.

Big-time non-conference showdown. Road or ‘neutral’ site. And a nice opportunity for OU to continue to build an NCAA Tournament resume in December.

The Sooners have taken advantage against Marquette in Chicago last weekend and at Wake Forest on Tuesday.

Here comes yet another chance.

OU (6-2) vs. Arizona State (6-2) (Phoenix)
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
TV: CBS Sports Network

We’ve said, for better or worse, that it was time to learn about what Porter Moser is working with this season.

After the 2-2 start, you weren’t sure. Things are starting to work themselves out. One more win here, and then it’s back to OU (or Oklahoma City) for the rest of 2025.

“I think we’re one of just a handful of teams in the country that are in Power Fives—four and the Big East—that this is going to be our fifth Power Five game away from home,” Moser said. “Only a couple of teams in the country have done that. You take away the Players Era tournament, and there’s only really two that has played five away from home already.

“So, our guys, they’re embracing it. Excited for another challenge. To get Marquette and Wake, both of those back-to-back, and for us too we’re trending playing better defense. That’s where I was outspoken with the guys for the last couple weeks and just getting more connected defensively. I really saw it play out against Wake Forest.”

Second half takeovers

In each of the last two wins, you’ve simply seen a different OU team in the second half. Some of that is offensively, but it all starts defensively.

We’re a long ways removed from allowing 105 points to Nebraska three weeks ago. That’s not by accident.

“Jelling has been more of the urgency to get better in our team defense, and that’s going to continue to be the separator as we move forward,” Moser said. “I think the guys are doing a great job taking care of the ball. I know you’ve seen all those stats. We’ve got to continue to rebound.

“It was an issue against Gonzaga with the rebounding, and we’re going to face a team that’s huge. It’s one of the biggest starting lineups in the country at 7-1, 6-11, 6-11. That’s their starting lineup. To be able to rebound the ball, I thought we did it against Wake Forest.”

Scouting ASU, Odom

If you watched just a bit of the Maui Invitational last week, you saw how explosive Moe Odom can be for the Sun Devils.

Add in the size and this team can be scary. Especially in the ‘neutral’ environment of Phoenix for the Jerry Colangelo Classic.

“It’s funny, you always talk about it in recruiting and everybody wants to give an NBA comparison. What’s his NBA comparison? I think his NBA comparison is Kemba Walker. The way he scores and shoots off the dribble,” Moser said. “The way he can draw fouls. He has a midrange game that’s elite. His off-the-dribble 3-point game, that’s what’s really unique.

“But I always say there’s three types of 3s — there’s the catch and shoot. Then there’s the one off the move. Nijel’s really good coming off different actions, catch and move. Then there’s the 3 off the dribble. And the 3 off the dribble is one of the harder ones. A lot of people don’t shoot it or allow people to shoot it. 

“(Anthony) Johnson is one of the most electric transition players we’ve scouted against, and he comes off the bench and he averages almost 14 a game in 23 minutes. They can really, really get it going. They really have that firepower to get that thing going.”