OU Basketball: No. 15 Oklahoma Must Endure Physical Contest to Take Down Cincinnati

A trip home was just what the doctor ordered, and Oklahoma is back on solid footing.

The No. 15-ranked Sooners halted their two-game road skid with a win over West Virginia at the Lloyd Noble Center, but OU (14-3, 2-2 Big 12) is back on the road Saturday to test the treacherous Big 12 waters.

Awaiting the Crimson and Cream are new faces to the toughest league in the country, the Cincinnati Bearcats (13-4, 2-2).

Wes Miller’s Bearcats provide a unique test throughout the league, as they deploy a pair of 6-foot-11 big men in Viktor Lakhin and Aziz Bandaogo.

Lakhin leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.5 points per game, adding 7.5 rebounds a contest and Bandaogo adds 8.1 points and pulls down 8.4 boards a game.

It should come as no shock that the Bearcats are among the nation’s best in rebounding margin, winning the battle on the glass by 10 rebounds per game.

As Sam Godwin and John Hugley IV battle down low for the Sooners, taking care of the basketball will again be a major priority for a team that just turned the ball over 19 times in Wednesday’s win over the Mountaineers.

“Turnovers are — they're very hard,” OU coach Porter Moser said on Friday. “Because you can address 'em, you keep addressing 'em, but it's, you know, you gotta be tougher with the ball.

“… It's the ones like we try to throw to John, it was a bounce pass and it got stolen. We did another one — we left our feet blindly and threw that one. So those are the ones that we gotta clean up. We gotta get that number down.”

Cincinnati only averages 6.4 steals per game, but the Bearcats wear down opponents by exacting a physical toll across 40 minutes.

“They got physical, old wings,” Moser said. “They’re very good. I mean, they’re really good.

“… That TCU-Cincinnati game was as physical as you’ll see in college basketball, anywhere. You got to be ready for that. I thought we played physical defense without fouling. That was a key for us against West Virginia.”

Moser has been able to build up depth in his backcourt over the past two games, with redshirt freshman Luke Northweather coming along.

He logged eight minutes in Lawrence against Kansas, and performed in another four impactful minutes against West Virginia.

Having Northweather alongside Godwin and Hugley will be crucial to match the intensity of Cincinnati’s backcourt.

“He’s getting so much bette,” Moser said. “I thought he moved his feet great against West Virginia. So, he’s a guy that we can maneuver around. I just want to keep staying confident with him.

“… I think Luke sees the last two games, he’s gotten in when it mattered. My job is to keep him confident, to let him know, ‘Hey if it’s seven minutes, make it a great seven minutes because you can help us.’ And he can help us.”

With Northweather in tow, OU’s rotation is now nine guys, allowing the Sooners to spread the scoring throughout the entire team, not just on the shoulders of Javian McCollum, Milos Uzan and Otega Oweh.

Road wins come at a premium at any point in Big 12 play, but a win on Saturday could propel Oklahoma on a major run.

On the other side of the visit to the Fifth Third Arena, the Sooners will host Texas and Texas Tech. Though wins are far from guaranteed, stealing a road win over the Bearcats and defending the home floor could put OU well over .500 and give the Sooners a chance to build a case for an excellent seed come March.

But it all starts with a fundamentally sound performance in Cincinnati.

Tip-off between the Sooners and the Bearcats is slated for 12 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+. 

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