By John Shinn
Oklahoma played like a tired team last Saturday night in its 63-46 loss to Nebraska. There really wasn't a phase of the game the Sooners did well on the way to suffering their fourth straight road loss in Big 12 Conference play.
Whether or not that changes will be decided over the final five weeks of the regular season. But the rest will come this week.
OU (12-9, 3-4 Big 12) doesn't play again until No. 10 Texas comes to Lloyd Noble Center Saturday.
"It's good for us in that we have injuries and it gives us a chance, hopefully, to get as close to 100 percent as possible," OU coach Jeff Capel said. "We also have some fatigue. We've had to play freshmen a lot, especially Tommy Mason-Griffin. Maybe it's a chance to take a mental break along with a physical break."
The injuries were obvious against the Huskers. Willie Warren and Tony Crocker both played against the Huskers, but neither appeared to be fully recovered from their ankle injuries.
Warren scored just four points and only took five shots. Crocker took 11, but only made two and was largely ineffective.
The fatigue really seemed to set in on Mason-Griffin, the first-year point guard.
Monday, he was named the conference's freshman of the week, but that was almost entirely due to his 38-point performance last Wednesday against Iowa State. Saturday, he finished with nine points and committed four turnovers against the Huskers.
"Over the last month and certainly the last three weeks, he's been our best player and our most consistent player. We need him on the floor and playing at high level as much as we can, especially with the injuries that we've had," Capel said about Mason-Griffin. "He played something like 203 out of 205 minutes and had gone three straight games with 40 minutes. This break gives him a chance to heal up a little bit. His injuries haven't been as pronounced as other guys because he hasn't missed any games, but he's been battling things all year."
The extra time off could help and needs to help. The Sooner season is at a point where it's either sink or swim.
Teams that makes successful pushes for the NCAA Tournament usually do it in February. Teams that fall apart usually do it at this time of year as well.
"What we hope to accomplish this week is to get better. Hopefully, we can get better on the floor as a team. Hopefully, we can get better individually. We can get better health wise," Capel said. "We have to start to make a push here in February and grow up a little bit and become a consistently good basketball team."
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
