Coppin an Attitude

The Sooners played sloppy Saturday but they played well enough to win over a Coppin State team that fell to 0-7.

OU continued what they started last week at Villanova by using their muscle inside with Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray scoring 19 and 18 points respectively and grabbing 29 team rebounds to dominate inside the paint.



The Sooners also continued to play dominating first half defense holding the Eagles to just 3-16 shooting and an all-time school worst 9 first half points. It also was the fewest points Oklahoma had allowed in a half since Arkansas-Pine Bluff scored nine points in the first half of a 94-24 Oklahoma win on Dec. 2, 2003.

Unfortunately the Sooners continued a couple more new trends, turnovers poor outside shooting. OU committed 17 turnovers against Coppin State and the Sooners shot a dismal 3-13 from three point range. Guards David Goldbold and Terrell Everett were both scoreless.

"I just didn't think we played with near enough energy or a sense of urgency," OU coach Kelvin Sampson said.

Don’t jump off the Sooner band wagon just yet because looks can be deceiving. This is a good OU basketball team and there is a legitimate reason behind OU’s sub-par performance Saturday. "We were experimenting a lot tonight," Sampson said.

Sampson reasoned that his team's performance was affected because of final exams this week and by his abnormal substitutions. On several occasions, he had five reserves on the floor together, then brought all five starters back onto the court.

Coach Sampson is trying to establish some depth on his team and December is the time to experiment, not January. Look for more of the same in their next game as OU faces more final exams this week and doesn’t play again until Saturday night when they host Southern. This will be Sampson’s final opportunity to experiment with the line up before the schedule becomes more difficult.