Clark Foy/The Daily

Tonight marks the Sooner’s second game of the season as they host the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. Last game, the Sooner’s played some really weak transition defense, so I expect Capel let them have it in practice as he mentioned that it bothered him the post-game press conference last Saturday. Also, look for a faster offense tonight with lots of running and fast break as Capel also mentioned he would like to run even more than they had been.

So far at the 15:36 minute mark in the first half there has not been a lot of fast play, but the transition defense has looked a lot better, although it is too early to tell. The score is tied up at five all and has really just featured free throws on both sides, 3/4 for the Sooners and 2/2 for the Warhawks, as well as a three point shot by the Hawks.

Almost halfway through the first half and the Sooner’s are down 13-8. The guys just committed back-to-back turnovers and have been taking poor shots offensively, with a few good shots that just haven’t fallen. The Warhawks are shooting lights out from beyond the arc, regardless of if they are properly contested or not. Maybe this will be a good wake-up call for the boys as they look a little off and their offense just looks awkward and unnatural.

Guys are still behind 10-16 and I just saw Capel step out on the floor a bit holding his hands out and calling for Tommy Mason-Griffin to slow down. Not what I really wanted to hear, but the guys play so far definitely warrants it. Timeout now, hopefully these guys will get it together. Cade Davis has seen some time early but just took a seat, so maybe he’ll see some more time after hitting his one shot. Cade only saw 7 minutes in the game against Mount St. Mary’s, but with Pledger’s performance off the bench, I bet Pledge took a good chunk of Cade’s minutes.

Interesting lineup here at 5:33 left in the half. The lineup for the Sooners is Wright, Mason-Griffin, Cade, Willie and Tony Crocker (a minute later, Tiny was put in for Wright). If you can count, you’ll notice one big man out there and the rest are guards or guard/forwards. Croc is matching up against one of the Warhawk big men. This could be very exciting…or have disaster written all over it. I guess Capel is just giving it a try, especially against a weaker, smaller team in Louisiana-Monroe who also favors the three-ball more than Butler did in 2007. No kidding, I’ve seen them take maybe 3 shots from within the 3 point line. MAYBE. Timeout here, I really hope to see this lineup come back out to the court.

At 3:00 left in the half, Cade is at the line shooting two after another attempt at a fast break that ended in a Sooner player getting fouled. One thing’s for sure, the Warhawks sure are respecting OU’s speed. OU has also brought the full court press on that almost led to a turnover by Tommy, but was just called a jump ball by the referee. Terrible call and the crowd knows it, as Tommy had full possession of the ball whenever he called the jump ball. OU is shooting 24% from the field right now, no wonder they are down. Louisiana-Monroe continues to foul any layup OU throws up for the most part, and that’s going to have to stop to avoid foul trouble, which could really hurt once OU starts hitting their shots.

Wow. There’s the energy the Sooners were looking for. The Hawks committed two turnovers and had one score-less possession with under two minutes left, with the lost possession ending with a reverse layup by Willie. The two turnovers both ended up in rim rocking dunks by Croc and Wright. Dang, the boys sure needed that energy. Thanks to the great last few minutes the Sooners will end the half up 27-24 and have increased their FG% to 36. After starting out hot, Louisiana-Monroe has slowed down to 4-11 shooting from downtown and 35% from the whole field.

The second half is about to start and I’m just left a little bit disarrayed. The Sooners are 10 for 13 on their free throws, but that’s about the only good thing they’ve done so far besides outrebounding the Hawks 18-12. Both teams only have 2 fast break points and 9 turnovers. Both are also shooting poorly and throwing careless passes. It has been an ugly game so far. OU is lucky this is just Louisiana-Monroe and not Texas. We’re at 17:06 and the game is looking much different. Tommy dished a pristine pass to Ryan Wright for an alley-oop right in the middle of their half court offense. Tommy just hit a three at 15:40, with Cade hitting one earlier in the half. However, Louisiana-Monroe sure has responded well. The Sooners are up just 38-35 despite playing much better offense so far, including their 2-2 shooting from downtown.

14:50 and there was one of those easy layups. Tommy had a nice take to the rim and then grabbed his own board, which I love to see, especially considering there were two opponents underneath. But, the shot didn’t hit rim, and Willie threw up a last second air-ball, which was taken by the Hawks down court in about 4 seconds for an easy layup. Déjà vu much?

And while he’s at the line, I really am rooting for Ryan Wright this year. He’s the nicest guy you’ve never met in your life, he’s a hard worker under the glass and he’s a senior who hasn’t had his chance in this league yet. This game he’s already had two monster dunks, including one alley-oop. Hopefully he can take advantage of the opportunity; the Sooners could really use it this year with the lack of big men.

Cade and Pledge have really stepped it up this half. Both have hit big threes this half; Pledger with 2 and Cade with 1. Both are getting a lot of good looks from behind the arc too from Tommy and Willie. As an employee of the Big XII sitting next to me just said; “It’s a good idea, it just ain’t workin’,” meaning some of the shots aren’t falling. Sooners are up 50-42 with 9:30 left.

Add Tony Crocker to the list of snipers. Right off the inbound pass and he nails a three from the wing with a hand in his face. After an 8-point performance against British Columbia and a 4-point “effort” against Mount St. Mary’s, he’s put up 8 points so far including that three. He’s really going to have to step it up as a leader and play-maker during this senior season of his. He’s looking streaky as usual; hot one half, ice cold the next, as was the case in the preseason where he had zero points until back-to-back 4-point plays. Yes, 4-point, as in made a three and was fouled during the release, only to later make the free throw.

7:46 and a timeout has been taken. Sooners are up 55-46 and are playing a lot better defense. We’re seeing more consistent shooting and more shots from beyond the arc as they have already shot 8 this half with more to go after shooting just 7 in the first. Tiny hasn’t seen a ton of time this half. He must still be working on conditioning himself. He’s lost somewhere in the ballpark of 50 pounds since his senior season in high school, so hopefully with the weight gone he can get into running shape pretty quick.

With just 4 minutes left, the Sooners look to be pulling away with it and lead 66-54. They have taken 28 foul shots while Louisiana-Monroe has shot just 4. And I hate seeing this; fans are leaving from all over the arena. It’s just getting ridiculous. Not enough fans show up, and those that do don’t even stay the whole game. What are you all afraid of? Traffic in Norman (as dumb as that sounds)? I will never understand flakey fans. At least the students are staying. Oh wait, there they go, too. And this is with 5 minutes to go, not a few seconds.

Well I just watched Tiny get out-muscled underneath as he gave up an easy bucket to the Warhawk’s center. He looks awfully tired and has digressed to more of a slow trot when running up and down the court. I hear he’s on a strict diet including no soda and more salads, but he’s going to need some more time on the treadmill if the Sooners want to run as much as Capel says they need to.

Well, that’s the end of the game and the Sooners take it 72-61. I’m eager to hear what Capel says after the game about the defense and the performance by a few players. Also, I expected more running but didn’t see it. More on this later.