NORMAN — Oklahoma guard Cameron Clark didn’t pick through the schedule this summer to find out when the Sooners were going to play Baylor. No one would blame him if he had. After all, Clark averaged 17 points a game — nearly double his season average — in the three meetings between the schools last season.
Guard Carl Blair averaged 14.3 points — also, double his season average — and 8.0 assists in those three games against the Bears. Like Clark, he hasn’t had tonight’s 7 p.m. meeting with the sixth-ranked Bears (17-2, 4-2 Big 12) circled for a month.
“It was all coincidence. I was feeling good. I played really well against them last year,” he said. “When those days came around, I was real confident those days. Things were going our way and we got the wins. I don’t think it was anything personal. I just had good games.”
The Sooners (12-6, 2-4) took two of three from Baylor last season. They’ll try to pick back up where they left off tonight. But you can’t go back in time either.
Baylor is a different team. They’ve added more talent around potential lottery pick forward Perry Jones III and senior forward Quincy Acy.
Freshman forward Quincy Acy, and guards Brady Heslip and Pierre Jackson are all Big 12 newcomer of the year candidates.
They play a style that seems to fit the Sooners well and Blair and Clark both thrived against it last season.
One of the reasons is Baylor likes to run and make no bones about it. It’s a long and athletic team that tries to use that to its advantage.
Those are the kind of games Clark thrives in.
“Baylor has athletes like me that like to get up and down the floor,” he said. “I think it helps me get in transition and get on the offensive glass.”
He was best in both areas when he scored a career-high 25 and pulled down seven rebounds in OU’s victory over the Bears at Lloyd Noble Center last season.
The Sooners need him to get back to that tonight.
OU coach Lon Kruger said after Monday afternoon’s practice that Clark would move back into the starting lineup for tonight’s game.
Some of it has to do with Clark’s elevating his game since Blair replaced him in the starting lineup three games ago.
Their roles will flip tonight.
What happened last season is also part of it.
Kruger wasn’t on OU’s bench last season.
However, he does know the Sooners did experience some success in the three meetings against Baylor, winning at home and in the Big 12 tournament.
It helped that Baylor played without Jones in that postseason meeting due to an NCAA suspension.
But even in the loss at the Ferrell Center last season, OU seemed comfortable playing against a very athletic Baylor team.
They believe last season’s success can carry over.
“Our guys respect what Baylor’s done this season,” Kruger said, “and their looking forward to that challenge.”
The difference is last season those wins didn’t do much for the Sooners. This year it means a signature victory for a team scrapping to reach the postseason.
“We held up against them last year,” Blair said. “We have to keep moving forward.”
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
