Oklahoma basketball: Je'lon Hornbeak maintains family ties

“Go get the next one,” it said.

Hornbeak's “next one” is Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Waco, Texas, against Austin and Baylor. It's the first game the friends have played against each other since before they were high school teammates at Dallas' Grace Academy.

“We always tell each other, ‘Hey, go get the W,'” Hornbeak said. “Even though the next one is against him ... we're not enemies. When we get on the court, we're not going to like each other. That's just the way we are. But off the court, we (are) still brothers.”

It's normal for the two to offer each other advice or encouragement.

Hornbeak's mother, Sheila, said her son is always calling coaches and players for advice on how to get better.

“I think Je'lons that type of guy,” OU coach Lon Kruger said. “That's part of who he is.”

But the person Hornbeak talks to daily is Austin.

“Basketball wise if he watches a game and sees something, he'll tell me something and if I watch a game and I see something, I'll tell him something,” Hornbeak said. “It's brotherly. It's like me and Isaiah Cousins and Buddy (Hield) — how we are is the same way with him. We can get on each other and it really doesn't matter.”

Austin and Hornbeak have been friends since they were in the sixth grade, when Austin moved to Texas from Minnesota. They played on the same AAU team and played one on one — a 6-foot-3 guard vs. a 7-1 center.