Oklahoma
Tulane Green Wave Seek Bounce Back Win on Road at Oklahoma Sooners
The Tulane Green Wave can’t dwell on what happened against Kansas State. A trip to Oklahoma is just a few days away.
The Green Wave (1-1) travel to the Oklahoma Sooners (2-0) for a 2:30 p.m. central game on ESPN. Tulane will get a second massive showcase on the biggest network in sports against a power conference team it is capable of beating.
Yep, that’s the only logical assumption after last week — the Green Wave may be underdogs, but they certainly have a chance.
Tulane had every chance to beat Kansas State on Saturday, losing by seven points. The brilliance of their young quarterback, Darian Mensah, was overshadowed a bit by his late fumble, which led to Kansas State’s go-ahead touchdown. But he showed great poise in a game where he was under immense pressure and that bodes well for the rest of the season.
On the other hand, Oklahoma is coming off a 14-12 win over Houston. Sooners coach Brent Venables said they should have lost. And if you watched the game, you’d have to agree with him. The Sooners were able to avert an embarrassing loss against a former Big 12 comrade.
But what happens now? Are the Sooners in trouble? Does that close call jolt them from an early-season funk? No one can be sure until Saturday.
Tulane has been to Norman before and the Green Wave nearly beat the Sooners in their last meeting three years ago. And one could argue that this Sooners team is not as good as the one Tulane nearly beat in 2021.
Here is a preview of the Green Wave and the Wildcats.
Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
Time: 2:30 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN
Radio: KVDU 104.1 The Spot (flagship)
Coaches: Tulane — Jon Sumrall (1-1 at Tulane, 24-5 career as head coach); Oklahoma — Brent Venables (18-10 at Oklahoma and overall).
Fun fact: Oklahoma joined the SEC this year. Tulane was a member of the SEC from 1932-65. The Green Wave won three SEC titles in 1934, 1939 and 1949. So, college football fans live in a world where Tulane has more SEC titles than Oklahoma.
All-Times Series: Oklahoma leads series, 2-0
Last meeting: Oklahoma def. Tulane, 40-35 (Sept. 4, 2021).
Series notes: Yes, the two teams have only met twice. The 2021 game was supposed to be in New Orleans, but Hurricane Ida forced the game to be moved to Norman.
Last Week: Tulane lost to Kansas State, 34-27; Oklahoma def. Houston, 14-12
About Tulane: No one in New Orleans was happy with the ending to the Kansas State game, but there’s an awful lot for the Green Wave to build on.
It’s clear the decision to start Mensah, a redshirt freshman, was the right one as he built on his performance against Southeastern Louisiana in a big way against K-State. The defense built on the opportunistic brand of ball it played in the season opener.
Perhaps most importantly, Tulane proved that even it lost great players like quarterback Michael Pratt, the Green Wave is still capable of competing with power conference competition. Yes, Tulane is not undefeated anymore. But the Sumrall era is off to a good start.
About Oklahoma: This is year three for Venables and the locals in Norman are starting to get a smidge restless. After years of winning Big 12 titles and making the College Football Playoff under Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley, the Sooners failed to reach the Big 12 Championship game in the first two years under Venables.
Now, Oklahoma moves into the SEC, where right now it appears to be “just another team.” That is not Oklahoma’s standard. Things only got more complicated for Venables after his Sooners barely beat Houston on Saturday.
Imagine the embarrassment had the Sooners lost to a Big 12 team, and a second-year Big 12 team at that? Venables has some things to prove.
Next Up: Tulane travels to Louisiana on Sept. 21. Oklahoma opens SEC play at home against Tennessee on Sept. 21.
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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