One could say Oklahoma’s loss to Villanova Wednesday night served as a wake-up call, but guard David Godbold said it wasn’t the first time the Sooners have jarred from sleep.
“We had the Memphis and Purdue games, too,” he said.
But there’s no doubt OU (4-3) has gotten a firm dose of reality in its first seven games. It simply isn’t a team that can overcome a wealth of mistakes.
The 67-51 loss to Villanova was proof. The 24 turnovers the Sooners committed were the most since 1997, a span of 242 games. The end result was the worst non-conference loss in the history of Lloyd Noble Center.
OU coach Jeff Capel didn’t try to mask his disappointment. He wasn’t happy with his team’s effort, much less execution.
But the most puzzling part was the timid way the Sooners played. They lacked aggression.
“Once you start making turnovers, it brings everybody down,” Godbold said. “We became more hesitant and that’s when it looked like we weren’t into it. Once the turnovers started happening, everyone was like, ‘I don’t want to make a mistake.’”
Capel said it was a prime example of what can’t happen. Mistakes are going to happen. No matter how a good team is, no performance is flawless.
But mistakes can’t lead to hesitancy.
“When you have a team that hasn’t been through a lot it can do that to you,” Capel said. “That’s been a problem for our guys this year. I don’t like for guys to play being afraid of making a mistake. And these guys play that way at times.”
But there’s always another game. The Sooners face Coppin State (2-7) at 7 p.m. today Lloyd Noble Center.
The Eagles are led by guard Tywain McKee. He’s averaging 21 points a game. But Coppin State, which is 0-11 all-time against OU, has struggled. It’s only wins have come against Winston-Salem State and La Salle.
But the opponent isn’t the only thing OU seems to be battling right now.
The regular season is barely a month old, but the adversity has already started to pile up. Cleaning up the mess doesn’t require an engineering degree.
“It’s the little things we have to work on, like concentrating on defense, finishing with rebounds, not having turnovers,” guard Michael Neal said. “Once we do that, I think we’ll be fine. Until then we’ll just be a struggling team.”
Tonight’s game is a chance for the Sooners to head in the right direction.
It’s the last game before finals next week. Capel hopes his team remembers the lesson taught on the court as well as the classroom.
“We have to use every situation we go through to help ourselves,” he said. “Our guys have to learn the lessons from each experience — good, bad or whatever it is.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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Wake-up call
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