Norman, Okla. ? The loss of Eduardo Najera has not decimated Oklahoma’s basketball team.
“He was a great player,” Kansas University guard Kirk Hinrich said of the first-team all-Big 12 pick, who is now with the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.
“But it looks like they’ve replaced him. They’ve got a lot of guys who are scoring a lot of points. They might be even better this year.”
The No. 5-ranked Jayhawks (12-2, 1-0) meet the Najera-less Sooners who have four players with double-digit scoring averages at noon today at Oklahoma’s Noble Center.
No. 22-ranked Oklahoma, 27-7 a year ago, is 12-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference following Tuesday’s 78-65 home victory over Texas A&M.
Iowa State hammered the Sooners, 100-80, last Saturday in Ames, Iowa.
“I saw some of that game. Iowa State is pretty good,” Hinrich said.
That’s also how KU coach Roy Williams explains the Sooners’ conference loss.
In nonconference play, OU had top-quality wins over Arkansas, SMU, Tulane and Oregon State with its only other loss to Mississippi.
“You can explain it by saying Iowa State is really, really good,” Williams said.
“I watched two minutes of it. I said, ‘My goodness, Iowa State can shoot it.’ (Kantrail) Horton and (Jamaal) Tinsley were making shots four, five, six feet behind the three-point line. There was a 28-point swing the second half. Put that in Iowa State’s corner rather than a negative on Oklahoma.”
Williams, in fact, is concerned about matchups in today’s contest.
The Sooners’ tallest starter is 6-foot-8 junior college transfer Aaron McGhee, who averages 16.4 points and 4.7 boards. Guards Nolan Johnson (6-4), Hollis Price (6-1), J.R. Raymond (6-2) and Kelley Newton (6-2) possess great athleticism. Price averages 13.7 points a game, Johnson 11.5, Newton 11.3 and Raymond 7.5.
“I’ve said from the first day of practice the 6-foot-4, 6-5, 6-6 athlete is what we thought we’d cured when we signed DeShawn Stevenson last year. He is not out there,” Williams said of the 6-foot-4 Utah Jazz player who skipped college for the pros.
“Marlon (London, DePaul transfer) left. He did a decent job at times a real good job guarding those kinds of players. Looking at OU, we’ve got to guard some guys like that.”
It’s a safe bet the Jayhawks will try to pound the ball inside and try to dominate the boards.
“We always want to go inside first,” Williams said of KU’s offensive plan.
A key could be the play of Eric Chenowith, who scored 24 points in KU’s last trip to Norman two years ago. The Jayhawks won that game, 60-50.
“This game will be huge. Oklahoma just won the national title in football. They’re coming off a big loss to Iowa State. It’ll be a battle,” Chenowith said.
Last year, OU’s Johnson scored 14 points in KU’s 53-50 victory over the Sooners in Lawrence. Kenny Gregory had 11 for KU.
Gregory has been bothered by a stress fracture in his right foot. Johnson, a Brooklyn, N.Y., senior, has a knee sprain but says he should be close to 100 percent today.
“I don’t think it’s a question of just slowing down Nolan,” Williams said. “They’ve got four guys in double figures. I’ve always said it’s tough to stop a team that has several people who can score, and Oklahoma has that.”
In fact, six different Sooners have led the team in scoring this year, McGhee leading the squad five times.
“I’m sure it’ll be a tough game,” Hinrich said. “I’m sure it’ll be a great college atmosphere in Norman. I think it’ll be as tough or tougher than the Wake Forest game.”
KU lost that game, 84-53, on Dec. 7 in Winston-Salem, N.C. Since then, KU has won five straight. The Jayhawks will return home to meet Nebraska at 8 p.m. next Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
