Oklahoma
Hugh Freeze Thinks Auburn’s Defense ‘Played Phenomenal’ Against Oklahoma
Despite starting 2-3, dropping three winnable games at home and having to play on the road for the entire month of October, there are some positive things for the Auburn Tigers to take away from their season so far.
Auburn’s defense has kept it competitive in each game, and Saturday’s 27-21 loss to the No. 21 Oklahoma Sooners was another example of that. Auburn held the Sooners to just 291 yards of total offense.
Head coach Hugh Freeze was pleased with the Tigers’ effort on that side of the ball against the Sooners and believes the unit has improved throughout the season.
“Other than the third and longs they’ve been really constant and containing the quarterback with rush lanes,” Freeze said. “So you take this game you can’t argue the improvement on containing rush lanes and the third down defense. I thought that our kids and our staff did a marvelous job, it comes down to the few plays we’ve described earlier when you asked me about that. And then defensively, it comes down to, truthfully, the explosive pass play that we gave up in the fourth quarter.”
The Tigers have not always played at a high-level on defense this season but they stepped it up against the Sooners, particularly on third-down.
“Defense held them to 290 yards, 2-for-11 on third downs, which is a huge improvement from the previous weeks on our third down work,” Freeze said. “It’s just frustrating to sit here and tell you all that and to know what the results are.
“That quarterback was going to have one or two, but I’m glad it came early. Then after that I thought our rush lanes were contained pretty well. The big, explosive plays there later in the games were the ones that really hurt us. Outside of that, I thought our defense played phenomenal.”
An impressive factor of Auburn’s improvement on defense has been the emergence of young players contributing to its success. Freshman Demarcus Riddick led the team with six tackles and a sack.
“I thought he (Demarcus Riddick) and Jay Crawford played solid also,” Freeze said. “(Malik) Blocton is playing a ton of snaps and of course all the receivers. Just playing a lot of young kids for sure and proud to see them start having some successes. T (Terrance) Love got in the game and did some good things and that’s good to see. Playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It’s good to see and get those experiences in the game.”
Auburn’s level of play on defense will be even more important as the team plays three road games in a row; two of them against top 10 opponents.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking on the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of their opening-round series. The OKC Thunder are hoping that they can repeat their Sunday afternoon performance in this contest. Game 2 will be an interesting test with the Suns having more time to prepare.
Phoenix was up against a rock and a hard place in the series opener. The Oklahoma City Thunder not only have the talent advantage but the rest advantage as well. Phoenix punched their ticket to the NBA Playoffs on Friday night by staving off the Golden State Warriors on Friday night before landing in Oklahoma City on Saturday and playing on Saturday afternoon to the tune of a 119-84 blowout Thunder victory.
The NBA has seen plenty of upsets already. The Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers have all stolen games from the higher seed. The Thunder know they have to keep the foot on the gas in this contest.
“These series are unpredictable. No 2 games are the same. The minute you make an assumption, you are overconfident, or the minute you go down and you’re overly urgent, that can impact your ability to be present in the next game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said pregame on Wednesday night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are seeing the Suns make an adjustment with their starting lineup by inserting Collin Gillespie to give Phoenix a trio of ball handling scoring options alongside Devin Booker and Jalen Green. This gives the Suns hope to be able to find better shot quality against this stifling Thunder defensive unit.
Oklahoma City is healthier now than they have been all season. The Thunder only are missing rookie Thomas Sorber (ACL) who is out for the year. This allows the Bricktown Ballers to roll out their traditional first five in this contest.
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Phoenix Suns, Game 2 Starting Lineup
Oklahoma City Thunder Starting Lineup
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G
- Lu Dort, G
- Jalen Williams, F
- Chet Holmgren, F
- Isaiah Hartenstein, C
Phoenix Suns Starting Lineup
- Devin Booker, G
- Jalen Green, G
- Collin Gillespie, G
- Dillon Brooks, F
- Oso Ighodaro, C
The series will shift to Phoenix this weekend as the Oklahoma City Thunder hope to head into Saturday afternoon’s Game 3 with a 2-0 advantage in the series.
Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of the NBA Playoff run for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA (KOKH) — The Oklahoma City Fire Department responded to a home fire late Tuesday evening, around 10:42 p.m.
According to OKCFD, fire could be seen from a window of the home located in the 4200 block of N. Phillips Avenue.
Firefighters were able to rescue an adult female from inside the home. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.
Investigators believe that the fire may have originated from an outlet near the refrigerator that had a power strip plugged in that was supplying multiple appliances.
There was also no smoke detector present within the home.
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NORMAN — The Sooners were behind the eight ball for much of Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts.
But one swing of the bat got them in a more favorable position.
Shortstop Jaxon Willits blasted a grand slam in the sixth inning to give No. 14 Oklahoma its first lead before eventually winning 7-6.
The Sooners trailed by as many as five runs before they rallied late.
In the first inning, Oral Roberts’ Cooper Combs hit a two-out grand slam to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable cushion. OU infielder Deiten Lachance got the Sooners on the board in the second inning with a solo home run, but ORU responded with a solo shot of its own in the next frame.
The Golden Eagles made it a 6-1 run game in the top of the fourth, and they appeared to be on cruise control. But in the bottom of that frame, OU’s rally began.
Dasan Harris made it a four-run game again with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth before Camden Johnson hit a sacrifice fly of his own in the fifth.
Then, in the sixth, the Sooners took their first lead of the game.
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Harris singled before Kyle Branch and Connor Larkin walked to load the bases. Willits then swung at the first pitch he saw, sending it well over the right-center field fence.
Neither team scored after Willits’ home run, as OU relief pitcher Xander Mercurius retired nine ORU batters in a row to seal the Sooners’ one-run win.
Michael Catalano started on the mound for Oklahoma, but his outing was short-lived — he gave up four earned runs on two hits and five walks in 1 ⅓ innings.
After coach Skip Johnson relieved Catalano in the second inning, six different OU arms entered the game. Reid Hensley collected the win, while Mercurius got the save.
OU improved to 28-12 overall with the win, while Oral Roberts dropped to 23-15. The Sooners are 7-3 in midweek games this season, and they clinched the season sweep of the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.
Next, the Sooners will hit the road for a three-game series against Auburn. The Tigers, ranked No. 11 by D1Baseball, are 10-8 in SEC play and took two of three games against Florida over the weekend.
The series will open on Friday, and first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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