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November 7, 2012 | Record: 0-0 (0-0 Big 12) | Gameday Central | Blog

Griffin Proving Most Improved Title

It's been since her high school days that Nicole Griffin was the leading scorer in a basketball game, but that's exactly what happened in OU's exhibition opener. And, it was totally expected.

Every one of the Sooner veterans agreed that Griffin was the team's most improved player this offseason and the junior center showcased her enhanced skills with a game-high 23 points. Griffin was quick to find position in transition and displayed sure hands that led to timely passes and points.

"I think a big part of Nicole's improvement comes from attitude and confident," OU head coach Sherri Coale said, "which comes from demonstrated ability. The more you do a thing, the more you feel better about it, the more aggressive you are. It's just been a really positive change."

"She went into last spring and summer with a mindset that she was going to develop a jump hook going both directions. She shot them over and over and over again all spring and summer and she's worked extensively with Coach DeCosta on hand-eye coordination and catching passes that are less than perfect, different sized balls, different weighted balls. All those kinds of things help your hand strength and hand-eye (coordination). All those hours logged in the gym in the offseason are paying off."

Now Griffin has focused on translating offseason improvement into on-the-court success.

"Coach Coale kind of talked about that to me earlier in the offseason about doing it on my own," Griffin said. "Then, I have to transfer over and do it in practice, then transfer over and do it in games. I've been doing it more in practice for it to go over into games is the next step. So, now I'm going to keep working on it in practice, but keep improving. But it means a lot that my hard work has paid off."

But it's not just the Griffin's physical attributes that have improved. Junior point guard Morgan Hook, who is beginning her second season in the position, said Griffin has become more vocal.

"She yells at me if I don't pass it to her," Hook said of Griffin. "Before this year, if she was open she wouldn't say a word. Now she demands the ball in there. It makes it easier and I trust her more to throw it in there."

Adjusting to Post Depth

In addition to losing sophomore forward Kaylon Williams for the season to a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered on Oct. 16, the Sooners recently announced the retirement of junior forward/center Lyndsey Cloman due to lingering back issues.

Cloman was a veteran of 50 games and Williams worked into the starting lineup last year as a freshman. The sudden loss of two post players has changed the way OU's frontcourt works in practices and games. However, junior center Nicole Griffin has been up to the task of completing the extra repetitions.

"We're trying to rotate, obviously, Joanna and Portia through the 5 position with Nic," Coale said. "But Nic gets the majority of the reps and I actually think it's improving her conditioning level. I think she may be doing things that maybe she thought she couldn't do before. So, I think without Kay Kay being there, Nic is making more reps and figuring out she can play harder for longer periods than she thought.

"She's never been a particularly foul prone player, which is really, really good news for us in this situation. I think, too, she understands either Jo or Portia can come in and play that position, and play it extremely well so she can give all she has and not worry about needing to come out for two possession or five possessions or a four-minute period."

In the looming matchup with Creighton Saturday, Coale says post play will be key.

"Our goal is to establish our post game early. They have a good post game, and they will run and shoot 3s in transition. The question will be who gets exposed in the post."

Noisy Newcomers

Apparently, it's not about what you can see from the Sooner newcomers, it's about what you can hear.

Junior college transfer Portia Durrett reminds the Sooners' point guard of former standout slasher Amanda Thompson, not because of her inside game or flashy style, but because of the noises she makes when she passes the ball.

"I like Portia's game," Morgan Hook said. "She was just all over the place and she makes noises when she passes the ball, so that's always really cool. It's like a 'whoosh.' Nobody can really hear it, but we hear it in practice."

Also stirring up fun for the experienced group are freshmen Nicole Kornet and Maddie Manning. OU veterans agree they all take criticism with a selfless attitude.

"Maddie is fun to play with because she's always out there smiling," Hook said. "Nicole is the goofball of the group. She's out there providing energy for all of us. She's trying to chest bump people when she should be running back."

Even when things go badly, this group of Sooners laughs and chalks up mistakes to being part of the learning process.

"They don't quit," Whitney Hand said. "No matter how bad they're playing or how good they're playing they're going to be within us and enjoying what we're doing.

"The laughing and stuff is not just when we're up by 50. We are always laughing through practice, not in a joking way or as a distraction, but because we really enjoy each other."

UP NEXT
The Sooners open the regular season on the road before returning to the Lloyd Noble Center:

Date	Opponent	Time
11/10	at Creighton	1:30 p.m.
11/14	vs. UCLA	7 p.m.

Tickets | Full Schedule | Promos
MOST RECENTLY
Oklahoma showcased an impressive set of newcomers in its undefeated preseason schedule:

Opponent	W/L	Score
Okla. Christian	W	118-53
Henderson St.	W	98-33

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Sherri Coale
"Every time we step out on the floor, practice or a game, I walk away feeling a little bit better about them than I did the day before. They're just like that. They learn and they keep progressing. It's fun; there's more and more things every day that I can't wait to show them this, I can't wait to put this in. They're just like that, they absorb and get better."

Senior G Whitney Hand
"I don't know that you really compare because every team is so completely different. Even if there are still the same players the dynamics are completely different, so I don't really want to compare it, but with this team there's a lightness. We enjoy each other and we enjoy when Maddie (Manning) makes an awesome pass or Portia (Durrett) hits a three; that's really special. There's not a selfishness there."

Junior F Portia Durrett
"It's kind of different from junior college because you really don't have players who are willing to work against you or posting up to make you do anything. But here, if you want it, you have to work to get it."

CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE
Senior co-captain Whitney Hand was named one of 30 women's basketball candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence -- community, classroom, character and competition. Fan voting for finalists begins later in the season.

TEAM NOTES

OU's frontcourt dominated in preseason exhibition games. Forward Portia Durrett and center Nicole Griffin were OU's leading scorers, averaging 21.0 and 16.5 points, respectively, and, with Joanna McFarland, the bigs made 77 percent of their field goal attempts.

OU's and Creighton's 2011-12 season's ended in the Lloyd Noble Center to 3-seed St. John's. The Sooners fell 74-70 and the Bluejays lost 69-67 to the Red Storm in the preliminary rounds of the NCAA tournament. OU returns its five starters while Creighton gets four of five back with 6-3 junior Alyssa Kamphaus taking over at center.

Oklahoma was picked to finish second in the Big 12 behind defending national champion Baylor. The Sooners have finished the regular season at or better than the preseason prediction in six of the last seven seasons and four straight years.

Creighton is the preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference. Junior guard Carli Tritz, who averaged 14.4 points and 3.8 assists in 2011-12, was voted the MVC Preseason Player of the Year.

Oklahoma has not lost in three previous meeting with Creighton. The Sooners won 94-76 (Dec. 2, 1985) and 69-49 (Dec. 3, 2008) in Norman and 67-58 (Dec. 20, 2009) in Omaha.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Junior C Nicole Griffin
Griffin was the leading scorer of OU's exhibition opener, counting 23 points in a 118-53 victory over Oklahoma Christian. Impressively, the center shot 80 percent from the field (12-of-15) and 90 percent (9-of-10) from the free throw line in the preseason.

Junior F Portia Durrett
Inside, no problem. Outside, no problem. Durrett was OU's leading scorer in the preseason, hitting 18 of 24 field goal attempts, including two of three 3-point tries, for an average of 21.0 points.

Junior G Morgan Hook
The early part of Hook's second season as OU's point guard has already delivered improved results. Hook had the team's largest plus/minus of the preseason (+49) and a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
WRITE SPACE AND TIME
Join head coach Sherri Coale, who shares her thoughts in her own blog hosted on SoonerSports.com, providing the inside view of her program:

Coach Coale's Journal

Players Mentioned

Lyndsey Cloman

Portia Durrett

Nicole Griffin

Whitney Hand

Morgan Hook

Nicole Kornet

Maddie Manning

Joanna McFarland

Kaylon Williams

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics