If Oklahoma is Going to Course Correct, Defense is the First Priority

NORMAN — Against Gonzaga, Oklahoma was crushed on the glass and in the paint. The Sooners were never able to gain footing while the Bulldogs punished their interior defense and general toughness — causing Porter Moser to explicitly call for his wings to be more decisive going for a rebound.

Then OU traveled to Sioux Falls, SD to take on Nebraska where the Cornhuskers caught fire late in the first half, never to look back.

Two losses where Oklahoma was dominated inside in one and on the perimeter in the other. Now, Moser is calling upon himself to get his team to return to a better defensive mindset.

“It starts with me,” Moser said on Wednesday. “We got to get our defense back. That’s a (Moser) coached team that I put out there. Usually has a better defense, and it’s being addressed.”

The Sooners are staring at a two-game home stand against Oral Roberts on Thursday (7 p.m., SEC Network+) and Alcorn State on Sunday (1 p.m., SEC Network+) where they will have an opportunity to get back on track defensivley.

“I think ORU does a phenomenal job of moving,” Moser said. “They move and they cut. They have great little movement, great little actions. They’ve got great shooters. They’re really trying to shoot a lot of threes.”

Moser’s right — Oral Roberts likes to shoot a lot of threes. Glancing at their percentages (a hair under 30% from three) will give you the impression that there’s little cause for concern for the Sooner perimeter defense.

But the Golden Eagles lead the Summit League in three-point attempts by a large margin. To date, Oral Roberts has launched 195 threes, with North Dakota State’s 158 good enough for second. Needless to say, Oklahoma will have its hands full from the sheer number of attempts.

“We need habits off the ball right now,” Moser said. “We need habits off the ball and rebounding. It’s instinct. Those are two off-the-ball things that we’ve not done in those two losses.

“I do believe our defense is going to get better, get fixed, starting with me and continue to grow a lot of new guys coming together,” Moser added.

Moser’s passion is apparent when he pontificates about coaching better and inspiring better defensive efforts. But as any coach will tell you, it comes down to the players executing. Moser can tell them what to do, but he doesn’t want to see players with their “head’s above their feet, relaxing.”

Xzayvier Brown will be called upon to lead that effort on the perimeter defensively.

“Every detail and possession is important,” Brown said. “This team is very mature and not dwelling on the loss.”

Brown stressed that the team focused on defense immediately following the loss to Nebraska. His 20 points against the Cornhuskers helped keep the Sooners afloat — along with Nijel Pack’s season-high 27-point performance — but he understands that this team is built to defend.

“In both (losses) there were spurts where we played good defense, but there were also spurts where we didn’t,” Brown said. “We’re trying to put a full game together on defense.”

Oklahoma has the blueprint, they just need to put it together. Oral Roberts will offer a chance to redeem the porous perimeter defensive effort from last Saturday.