Oklahoma
Oklahoma-Houston Review: PFF Grades, Redshirt Report and More
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said several times Saturday night that his team deserved to lose to Houston because of its performance. It was ugly, but the Sooners still prevailed 16-12 to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
“Thankful for victory,” Venables said. “I appreciate our players – their strain and their fight until the end to figure out a way to win – but disappointed in a lot of things that we did today. We did enough things wrong where we deserved to lose and fortunate to find a way to win.”
A look at the numbers reveal it was a disappointing win, if there is such a thing, for the Sooners, especially compared to Week 1. A close game meant less young players getting experience before SEC play starts and those opportunities dwindle significantly. And Pro Football Focus seemed to have agreed for the most part with Venable’s assessment.
Here’s a look at some OU numbers – Pro Football Focus grades, snap counts and more – coming off the Sooners’ Week 2 win over former Big 12 foe Houston.
Pro Football Focus
Pro Football Focus’ grading system doesn’t believe the Sooners’ offensive performance Saturday was all too different from Week 1 against Temple, which on the scoreboard was a 35-point difference, but six forced turnovers and great field position could get a lot of credit for last week’s offensive success. PFF gave the OU offense a grade of 62.8 for Week 2, compared to 64.5 the week before. The passing grade was actually exactly the same (71.4) even though Jackson Arnold had a 4-0 TD-INT ratio last week and 2-1 on Saturday night.
Speaking of Arnold, just as the passing grade wasn’t much different, neither was his personally, according to PFF. After a 72.2 grade in his home debut, Arnold went down a tick with a 71.9 this week. His grade as a runner actually improved from 58.4 to 62.6. His passing grade dipped, though, from 74.7 to 71.4.
Tight end Jake Roberts, who made his first start and recorded his first reception as a Sooner on Saturday night, has the best season PFF grade so far on offense at 86.9. He’s the only offensive player who has played in both games that has a grade higher than 80. The next is offensive lineman Michael Tarquin, also a transfer, at 78.2.
With that grade in 113 snaps this season, Tarquin is fourth on the team and third on the o-line in snap count. Fellow offensive linemen Jacob Sexton and Febechi Nwaiwu have played more snaps than anyone on offense with 120 apiece. Arnold is third with 116 after not finishing Week 1’s blowout.
Arnold, Sexton, Nwaiwu, Tarquin and Joshua Bates were the only players to play all 62 offensive snaps Saturday night. That’s a lot of snaps for four of your offensive linemen, though.
Week 2 specifically, Roberts also had the best game grade – contributing to that top season grade – at 91.8. Tarquin was second with a 76.1. Although Arnold takes the brunt of a poor offensive performance, he actually had the third-best grade, according to PFF, with a 71.9.
Deion Burks was the top-graded receiver and fourth offensive player at 67.6, according to PFF.
Playing 53 snaps, tight end Bauer Sharp received the worst grade on the offense with a 33.7, as the guy in front of him at tight end, Roberts, had the best offensive grade.
Defensively, OU got a PFF grade of 75.2, a big drop from its 87.7 last week. However, Week 1 included six turnovers.
Defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings, who had an intersection late in the game, was the highest-graded defender at 87.9 in 56 snaps, according to PFF.
Fellow defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. led OU defenders in snap count at 66. The next highest was 61 from linebacker Danny Stutsman. Leaders on this defense, Bowman and Stustsman were given grades of 70.1 and 66.8, respectively.
Kip Lewis, playing next to Stutsman at linebacker, had the worst grade at 53.5.
Redshirt Report
Of the 44 players who logged a snap Saturday night, according to PFF, eight were true freshmen. That included Jayden Jackson, David Stone, Reggie Powers III, Jaydan Hardy, Michael Boganowski, Eugene Brooks, Taylor Tatum and Zion Ragins.
For all of them, it was their second appearance this season, meaning they’re now halfway to reaching their redshirt game total, not including postseason.
Of those freshmen, Jackson had the highest PFF grade defensively at 62.4, while, offensively, Tatum received a 66.4, which was the fifth-best overall offensively.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were shocked by the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night in Paycom Center, losing 124-97. This is OKC’s second loss in as many days, losing last night in Phoenix to the Suns 108-105.
The Thunder’s record is now 30-7 and they are 6-6 in their last 12 games. The No. 1 seed in the Western Conference is playing its worst stretch of basketball in over two years.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 points on 7-of-21 shooting to keep his 20-point streak alive. OKC shot a rough 28.2% from three-point range and 66.7% from the charity stripe.
Here are three takeaways from the Thunder’s 27-point home loss.
1. Inability to Make Shots
The glaring struggle for the Thunder tonight was on offense, with the team shooting 36.6% from the floor and 28.2% from three-point range. It’s difficult for any team to win shooting that poorly in a game.
The Thunder found open look after open look across the perimeter, but were unable to convert at a high rate. The Hornets were able to consistently help off of perimeter shooters to bring more defensive attention around Gilgeous-Alexander and inside the paint.
Poor shooting creates poor spacing and poor spacing creates ugly offensive execution. Poor spacing and shooting defined OKC’s woes against Charlotte.
2. Young and Hungry Hornets
Charlotte was by far the more energetic team in its win, amped up on both ends from start to finish, flying in for every loose ball. The young team came in looking to send Loud City home unhappy and they succeeded.
The Thunder were on the back end of an away/home back-to-back, having to quickly fly in from Phoenix to prepare for the game. The Hornets smelt blood in the water early, taking the game from their very first run.
After the game was tied at 33 at the end of the first quarter, Charlotte blazed into a 23-7 run throughout a large part of the second quarter to grasp a firm control of the flow of the game. The Thunder’s struggling offense could not find any momentum to claw back into the hole they fell into.
Charlotte’s shooting performance was remarkable from distance. With a plethora of shots taken with great difficulty, the Hornets managed to shoot 51.4% from three-point range.
The Hornets came in hungry and caught the reigning champions by surprise.
3. Gilgeous-Alexander Keeps Streak Alive Amid Struggles
Gilgeous-Alexander scoring above 20 points, with 21, to keep his historic 20-point streak alive, is the lone positive from a rough loss. Despite struggling through constant full-court pressure and double teams from the Hornets, the reigning MVP was able to muster just enough to keep his hunt for the record alive.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot 7-of-21 from the floor and 1-of-6 from three in the loss, adding six assists to his totals. He was OKC’s only 20-point scorer on the night.
The Canadian’s streak of scoring 20-or-more points now sits at 108 games, 18 behind Wilt Chamberlain’s record of 126.
The Sooners have added reinforcement to their backfield for the 2026 season in the form of Colorado State transfer Lloyd Avant.
The rising junior has committed to Oklahoma, and will join the program with two years of eligibility remaining. He’ll add explosiveness and versatility to an OU running back corps headlined by returning workhorses Xavier Robinson and Tory Blaylock.
It’s a return to the Sooner State for Avant, who spent his freshman season at Tulsa in 2024. He signed with the Golden Hurricane out of high school as a three-star recruit. At the time, TU’s head coach was Kevin Wilson, who’s now on staff with Oklahoma as an offensive analyst.
Avant made an immediate impact at Tulsa as a true freshman, rushing for 259 yards and a TD and adding a kick return touchdown. But after Wilson’s dismissal, the 5-foot-10, 200-pounder elected to enter the transfer portal and eventually landed at CSU. There, he became a weapon in several facets for the program during his lone season with the Rams. He totaled over 900 all-purpose yards, 417 of which came on the ground and 261 of which came via pass reception. He scored six total TD’s and averaged nearly six yards per touch.
Upon Avant’s second portal entry, the Sooners quickly emerged as the team to watch in his recruitment. He visited campus Sunday and didn’t take long to lock in his decision.
A native of Humble, Texas, Avant gives Oklahoma six scholarship running backs heading into the new season. He joins Robinson, Blaylock, Andy Bass, and a pair of incoming freshmen in Jonathan Hatton and DeZephen Walker. It’ll also be of some intrigue to see whether OU offers him the chance to return kicks. As a team, the Sooners attempted just two kickoff returns in 2025, opting almost exclusively for fair catches. That philosophy could change with a proven special teams weapon like Avant in the stable.
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Charlotte Hornets (12-23, 12th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (30-6, first in the Western Conference)
Oklahoma City; Monday, 8 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Thunder -15.5; over/under is 232.5
BOTTOM LINE: Oklahoma City hosts Charlotte looking to continue its three-game home winning streak.
The Thunder have gone 17-2 at home. Oklahoma City scores 121.9 points while outscoring opponents by 14.7 points per game.
The Hornets have gone 5-13 away from home. Charlotte ranks fourth in the league averaging 15.1 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 36.7% from downtown. Kon Knueppel leads the team averaging 3.6 makes while shooting 42.8% from 3-point range.
The Thunder’s 13.6 made 3-pointers per game this season are the same per game average that the Hornets allow. The Hornets are shooting 45.6% from the field, 2.5% higher than the 43.1% the Thunder’s opponents have shot this season.
The teams square off for the second time this season. The Thunder won 109-96 in the last meeting on Nov. 16. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 33 points, and Miles Bridges led the Hornets with 15 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Chet Holmgren is averaging 18.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for the Thunder. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 25.0 points over the last 10 games.
Bridges is averaging 20.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists for the Hornets. Brandon Miller is averaging 4.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Thunder: 6-4, averaging 118.9 points, 42.5 rebounds, 24.7 assists, 9.9 steals and 5.7 blocks per game while shooting 48.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 109.3 points per game.
Hornets: 5-5, averaging 118.7 points, 45.6 rebounds, 28.8 assists, 7.6 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 117.8 points.
INJURIES: Thunder: Nikola Topic: out (groin), Thomas Sorber: out for season (knee), Ousmane Dieng: out (calf), Jaylin Williams: out (heel), Isaiah Hartenstein: out (calf).
Hornets: Mason Plumlee: out (groin), Grant Williams: out (acl), Ryan Kalkbrenner: day to day (elbow), Tidjane Salaun: day to day (ankle), Moussa Diabate: day to day (wrist).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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