Oklahoma Basketball: Jordan Woodard’s struggles nearly cost Sooners against Texas
When the Oklahoma basketball team is down, Jordan Woodard is probably struggling.
The Oklahoma Sooners squeaked by the Texas Longhorns, and Jordan Woodard once again was at the crux of the problem for the Sooners. Thankfully, Buddy Hield is almost always up to the task.
With Monday night’s game tied at 60 with less than 20 second remaining, Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger called Hield’s number, as he did about a week ago against LSU. Of course, this season’s player of the year favorite came through in the clutch.
Hield would later steal the inbounds pass from Texas, sealing the 63-60 win for the Sooners, getting them back on track after a rough loss to Kansas State on the road last Saturday, and keeping them tied for second in the Big 12 standings.
But this game continued a downward trend for the Sooners, as Jordan Woodard continued the struggles he’s faced for the past four games or so. After starting the season averaging almost 15 points per game on 46 percent from the floor and 54 percent from three, he’s averaging just 5.5 points per game on 18 percent from the floor and 17 percent from three the past four games.
Opposing defenses have caught on to the Sooners’ screen-heavy offense, and have started to switch on every screen. This completely cuts off penetration from any of Oklahoma’s guards, meaning less drive and kicks for their offense.
This figures to effect Woodard the most, as 77 percent of his made threes this season have been assisted, the highest percentage of their big three of Woodard, Hield and Isaiah Cousins (via hoop-math.com). It also cuts off any penetration from Woodard and Cousins, which stalls the Sooners offense, leaving Hield or Cousins in an iso situation at the top of the key.
More from Big 12
- Kansas Basketball: Impact of Arterio Morris suspension for Jayhawks
- Kansas State Basketball: Will McNair Jr. continues late roster building
- Big 12 Basketball: Ranking all 16 programs after adding Arizona, ASU, Colorado and Utah
- Texas Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2023-24 season
- Kansas Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2023-24 season
Not having Woodard playing at a high level is clearly bad for this Oklahoma team. Before the season, I was harping on the fact that the Sooners would miss Tashawn Thomas, a post presence from last year that was capable of getting them a bucket when Hield and Cousins were struggling.
Woodard became that guy that season. The past four games, he hasn’t been that guy, and it’s effecting the Sooners, who are 3-1 in those games, but two of those wins required late-second heroics from Hield.
The good news for the Sooners is that as bad as Woodard has been lately, Isaiah Cousins has been fantastic. Cousins is averaging over 17 points per game on over 57 percent from the floor. As Luke Winn pointed out in his power rankings last week, Cousins was a half a point per possession better from January 18 to February 2 than he was from January 2 to January 16.
The Sooners still need Woodard to get back up and become the reliable option he was for a wide majority of the season. If teams are gonna switch screens, Woodard needs to attack those switches immediately. If not, they need to try and get Ryan Spangler some touches when he gets a smaller guard on him. I wouldn’t ever expect him to be a big scorer, but he should at least be able to punish smaller guards in the post. If anything, draw a double and get the ball to the open shooter.
More busting brackets: Mid-Season Big 12 Power Rankings
Regardless, the Sooners need to figure this out, and they need to figure it out soon. They have a the rematch against Kansas in Norman on Saturday, a team that frequently switches all screens. A loss then might end their hopes of winning the Big 12 this season.