Ahead of two games against the NBA’s top two title favorites — Oklahoma City and Boston — Wolves wing Jaden McDaniels told Minnesota radio voice Alan Horton on Tuesday morning that the Wolves are “right up there with those teams.”

“Our record might not show it,” McDaniels told Horton, “but I feel like we’re one of the best teams.”

Tuesday — specifically, the third quarter Tuesday — was a reminder that the Wolves are not, as Minnesota fell 113-105 to the Thunder in Oklahoma City.

The Wolves had proven again over the three-game winning streak they carried into Oklahoma City that they are indeed a good team. A great one, though? Not at the moment. That’s a high standard that only a few teams have achieved to date this season, and Oklahoma City again proved why it’s in that club.

Mike Conley hit a trio of triples in succession to put Minnesota up 12 early in the third stanza. Oklahoma City didn’t so much as call a timeout. The Thunder merely locked in, going on an immediate 10-0 run to force Wolves coach Chris Finch to call time. But that did little to slow the avalanche.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sliced through Minnesota’s defense for a pretty finish at the rim at the end of the quarter to put the Thunder up 14. Oklahoma City outscored Minnesota 34-10 over the final 8 minutes, 30 seconds of that third quarter. The Thunder — who sport the NBA’s best defense — turned up their dial to a 10 on that end of the floor, suffocating Minnesota’s offense while breathing life into its own.

Minnesota didn’t help itself in the situation. The Wolves committed 10 of their 24 turnovers Tuesday in the third quarter.

“We did the one thing that we couldn’t do. We turned it over at a high level. We talked about that coming in here – we’ve got to take care of the ball,” Wolves coach Chris Finch told reporters after the game. “We were up 10, missed a dunk, leads to a run out, 10-0 run, and then the turnovers started after that.”

Gilgeous-Alexander was the best player on the floor. The MVP candidate tallied 40 points on 15-for-23 shooting. He was the best player on the floor, even on an evening when Anthony Edwards was relatively productive.

Edwards finished with 20 points, but he simply cannot control the game with the same consistency as Oklahoma City’s star guard. Gilgeous-Alexander seemed to get whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, even against a defense as traditionally dominant as Minnesota’s.

Minnesota (17-15) went toe to toe with the Thunder at various points in Tuesday’s bout, as Oklahoma City struggled to find any offensive rhythm and couldn’t buy a made triple. The Thunder didn’t clear the 30-point threshold until midway through the second quarter. Oklahoma City went 3 for 19 from deep in the first half.

And again late, Minnesota delivered one final push to make things interesting. The Wolves pulled within three in the closing minutes and looked to be on the verge of another stunning victory after rallying past San Antonio and Houston in dramatic fashion of its two previous contests.

But Oklahoma City (27-5) is a tier above even those quality teams, and the Thunder made enough plays late when they were required to close the deal.

Minnesota’s had lapses like what it experienced in the third quarter seemingly every game. And the Thunder are good enough to make Minnesota pay for them.

Cleaning those up is what will be required for Minnesota to return to true championship contention.

“If we don’t turn the ball over, we can control this game,” Finch said. “No doubt about it.”

Originally Published: December 31, 2024 at 9:29 PM CST

Oklahoma will begin the New Year with a little good news.

Senior safety Robert Spears-Jennings on Tuesday announced his decision for 2025, and he’s coming back to Norman.

Spears-Jennings, who just finished his junior season as one of OU’s most consistent performers in the secondary, will “run it back” in 2025 as a member of the Sooner defensive backfield.

The 6-foot-1, 219-pound Spears-Jennings came to OU as a consensus 4-star defensive back from Broken Arrow, OK. He chose the Sooners over offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and others.

He played in all 13 games this season and made 11 starts. Spears-Jennings finished the season second on the team with 66 tackles behind senior linebacker Danny Stutsman. Spears-Jennings also had 5.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 quarterback sacks. His real contributions were in the takeaways department, as he had one interception, two fumbles recovered and four fumbles forced, which ranks fifth in the nation.

As a sophomore in 2023, Spears-Jennings made two starts and played in 12 games. He totaled 38 tackles, including 24 in the Sooners’ last five games.

Spears-Jennings played in the Sooners’ last nine games as a true freshman in 2022 and totaled 15 tackles.

While the transfer portal has taken a toll on the Sooners’ efforts in 2025, the defensive losses have been mostly negligible and there haven’t been any early departures yet for the NFL Draft.

OU has gotten some good personnel news in recent days, with players like linebacker Kip Lewis, defensive end R Mason Thomas and defensive tackle Damonic Williams all announcing their plans to play for Brent Venables‘ squad next season. (Thomas’ return was announced by OU collective 1Oklahoma but was quickly deleted.)

Editor’s note: This story is part of Oklahoma Voice’s “Whatever Happened To …” end-of-year series that provides updates to some stories that captured the interest of Oklahomans in 2023 and 2024.

State officials still aren’t certain what they plan to do with 240 acres of land in the middle of Norman that currently house one of the state’s in-patient mental hospitals. 

Officials plan to transition care from Griffin Memorial Hospital to a new facility being built in Oklahoma City, but a spokesperson from the state Mental Health Department said no official decisions have been made yet on what will be done with that land. The opening of the facility was originally slated for 2026, but could be pushed back to 2028. 

But Norman city officials said they remain interested in acquiring it, though disagreements continue over what to do with it. 

In July, Norman city officials said they were considering moving the emergency homeless shelter to land on the hospital’s campus but nearly five months later no agreement has been reached. 

Darrel Pyle, Norman’s city manager, said the city is “working diligently” with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to acquire the land in order to develop a permanent homeless shelter. 

He said the city is involved in weekly calls with the Oklahoma Management and Enterprise Services Department, or OMES, to discuss progress with the agency that has been tasked with selling the land.

“OMES indicated that they are waiting on appraisals and a land survey needed for the sale of the land,” Pyle said. “Since none of the land has ever been platted it will need to be sold by legal description, which requires the land survey. The plan remains the same. We are simply waiting on the survey and appraisals to move forward.”

Christa Helfrey, a spokesperson from OMES, said the agency has partnered with the Mental Health Department regarding the future land sale, but that the Mental Health Department has information on the appraisals and timeline. 

OMES will help sell the property once the requirements are complete, the spokesperson said. It’s still not clear what it will cost to purchase the land.

Mental health officials plan to use money from the sale of the Norman land to help pay for the new facility in Oklahoma City. 

If the current Norman shelter at James Garner Avenue and West Gray Street were to move to the hospital’s campus, the shelter’s capacity could double. 

Norman City Councilor Austin Ball for Ward 1 said he doesn’t support moving the shelter, but supports acquiring the land for other uses, like a sobering center, if Cleveland County were involved. A sobering center gives individuals dependent on alcohol or drugs a place to safely recover and be connected to recovery resources. 

“I think it should still be a county issue because it’s like our county jail … the city of Norman doesn’t need to pay for the whole county’s problems,” he said. “But at the same time, I’m all on board for a TIF district there. I think that area (has) a lot that can be done there. I just don’t want a low barrier shelter there. I don’t want a low barrier shelter anywhere in Norman.”

A TIF district, or Tax Increment Financing, uses newly generated tax dollars to support development in certain limited areas of a city, town, or county.

Ball said he thinks low barrier shelters are unsafe. A “low barrier shelter” refers to a shelter that has limited requirements for entry, such as no background checks or screening of guests. 

“There’s so many people involved with this, and I don’t know if any of them are on the same page,” Ball said. “… There’s a lot of pieces and a lot of people in the dark.”

Helen Grant, who uses they/them pronouns and is the city councilor for Ward 4, said they support moving the shelter to the hospital’s campus, but that they want to see the land used for more than that. 

“There is a thought that we could have a sobering center and urgent care recovery located in the same area, potentially a homeless shelter and maybe some permanent supportive housing,” Grant said. “Those are things that are envisioned, but not solidified.”

They said the city has been in talks with the Mental Health Department for over two years about what will happen to the hospital campus. 

“It’d be amazing if it wrapped up by the end of the year, but I think we could be looking at the beginning of next year to find out what the state would like for the land,” Grant said.

Jason Olsen, director of Norman Parks and Recreation, estimated in July that if the city acquired the land for the shelter, repairs could cost between $100,000 and $500,000 and last three to six months as the air conditioning and fire suppression systems need to be updated. 

The City of Norman has interest in the Griffin Soccer Park land, Sutton Wilderness Area and some small footprint south of Main Street for future Shelter Development, the Norman city manager said. 

The Governor’s Office did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.