Newcomers shine for Sooners
OU 93, British Columbia 53 Six players score in double figures in easy victory
BY DAVID UBBEN
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Published: November 4, 2009
NORMAN — Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel reeled in one of college basketball’s best recruiting classes last season, with four players ranked among the top 100 in their class. Their debut was anything but disappointing.
All four were among six Sooners who scored in double figures as the Sooners rolled to an easy 93-53 win over British Columbia in their lone exhibition game Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 4,144 at the Lloyd Noble Center. "They were great,” said coach Jeff Capel. "All of those guys are talented, and I thought they all did some great things.” Oklahoma shook off a somewhat slow start, outscoring British Columbia 55-27 in the second half to stretch a 12-point halftime lead to 40 by the game’s end. Oklahoma’s two McDonald’s All-Americans, a first for a single recruiting class, started against the Thunderbirds. Tiny Gallon came up a single rebound short of a double-double in his debut, scoring 10 points and grabbing nine boards. Tommy Mason-Griffin hit four of his six 3-pointers, contributing to the Sooners’ 13-of-23 shooting night from beyond the arc. "There’s two freshmen on this team I’m not so worried about, and that’s Tiny and Tommy. I’ve been seeing them play since they were sixth, fifth grade on the AAU circuit. ... I knew what they were bringing to the table,” said sophomore guard Willie Warren, who led all scorers with 23 points. "It was guys like (Fitzgerald) and Pledger that I really wanted to see.” Warren couldn’t have been disappointed in either. Steven Pledger unleashed a late flurry of 3-pointers, also hitting four of his six treys, and finished with 14 points. Fellow freshman Andrew Fitzgerald scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. "We looked about how I expected us to look,” Capel said. Gallon jumped out to the fastest start of the freshmen, scoring six points and grabbing three rebounds in the game’s first four minutes. "He probably got a little fatigued, which is normal for a freshman,” Capel said. "Part of it was he was excited. You get tired more quickly when you’re excited.” But the youngsters’ performance wasn’t without reminders of youth. Fitzgerald failed to convert on a pair of putbacks, and Capel said Pledger showed his shaky nerves after checking into the game for the first time. Mason-Griffin also accounted for three of Oklahoma’s 10 turnovers. "His turnovers were careless turnovers,” Capel said. "He’ll continue to get better, just like has in every practice. Same thing with Tiny. Now, we have something to watch against someone else and we can go in and talk to them about it.”
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