Oklahoma struggled last night (early this morning) in a 76-64 loss at the Great Alaska Shootout. Tonight the Sooners will face the Houston Cougars in their second game and the competition should be a bit stiffer than what they experienced against San Diego. The Cougars enter the game with a 1-1 record having beaten Nicholls State at home and lost to Nevada on the road.
2009 Great Alaska Shootout
Wednesday, November 25
Game 1 - Washington State 87, Alaska Anchorage 68 (Pool A) - 7:30 p.m.
Game 2 - Oklahoma 64, San Diego 76 (Pool B) - 9:45 p.m.Thursday, November 26
Game 3 - Nicholls State vs. Alaska Anchorage (Pool A) - 5 p.m.
Game 4 - Houston vs. Oklahoma (Pool B) - 7:30 p.m.Friday, November 27
Game 5 - Nicholls State vs. Washington State (Pool A) - 5 p.m.
Game 6 - Houston vs. San Diego (Pool B) - 7:30 p.m.Saturday, November 28
Game 7 - 5th Place Game (Pool B #3 vs. Pool A #3) - 2 p.m.
Game 8 - 3rd Place Game (Pool B #2 vs. Pool A #2) - 4:30 p.m.
Game 9 - Championship Game (Pool B #1 vs. Pool A #1) 7 p.m.
Oklahoma will once again have a size advantage as the Sooner bigs literally have more weight to throw around under the basket. However, this game could quickly take on the shape of a run and gun type game because, like Oklahoma, Houston runs a three guard offense and when I say run that's literally what I mean. Houston's top four scorers are all guards and are led by Aubrey Coleman's 32.5 points per game. Behind him Adam Brown averages 15.5, Kelvin Lewis 13 and Desmond Wade 12.5. All three of these guys are also hitting over 50% of their shots from three-point range led by 68.8%. OU won't be able to afford to get lost or fall asleep on defense tonight.
There isn't a lot that the Cougars are doing wrong right now which means that OU must shoot the ball well and crash the boards hard. Houston hits 73.6% of their free throws and turns the ball over less than 9 times a game to nearly 14 assists. The way OU played last night they'll get run out of the gym tonight. If they shoot the ball (32% last night), protect the basketball (13 turnovers last night) and work the ball to the bigs then they stand a fighting chance.
Tip off is set for 10:30 CST and the game will be aired by Cox Cable as well as DirecTV and Dish Network. The game thread will be up about an hour before tip.