Freshmen Preparing for Sooner Debuts

With only six days remaining before the Sooners' Nov. 8 exhibition against Washburn, Oklahoma is making its final preparations during preseason practice.

It's an exciting time in the practice gym as the entire team works toward opening night. The exhibition will be the first collegiate game action for many new Sooners, including freshmen Matt Freeman, Kristian Doolittle, Kameron McGusty and Jordan Shepherd. For the newcomers, their months of preparation are about to pay off when they run out of the Lloyd Noble Center tunnel for the first time.

“It's definitely exciting,” said McGusty. “It's every kids dream to play college basketball, especially with this competition at this level. I can't wait, I'm excited.”

With the release of the AP Poll on Monday, the Sooners will open the season unranked for the first time since 2013. While Oklahoma received votes in both the AP and Coaches Preseason Polls, it was not voted into either poll's top 25. Earlier in October, the Big 12 coaches ranked the Sooners sixth in their preseason poll.

"I've never been on a team that works as hard as we do. It's just going to continue to carry over and that hard work carries from player to player and makes everybody work harder."
— Kameron McGusty

There's no doubt that the Sooners will play with something to prove, looking to show the conference and the country what their young group can do. While Buddy Hield and company may be gone, the mentality and culture of hard work and constant time improving in the gym lives on. It's become an identity to the OU program and has immediately been picked up by the newcomers.

“We work hard,” said McGusty. “There's not a day that goes by where people aren't trying to get in the gym. Everybody is always trying to get better. We're always trying to watch film, get shots up, play one-on-one, get better moves, learn from each other. I've never been on a team that works as hard as we do. It's just going to continue to carry over and that hard work carries from player to player and makes everybody work harder. The work ethic is great.”

That work ethic has come from the top of the roster on down, being carried out by the older returners from last season. It hasn't gone unnoticed by the new Sooners.

“It's insane,” said Shepherd. “It's different coming from high school where I was the hardest working player to where everyone is in the gym all the time. Khadeem [Lattin] is in the gym all the time, Jordan Woodard is in the gym all the time. Christian James…all those guys.”

“The work ethic is very aggressive,” added Doolittle. “The older guys don't like being compared to last year's team and how they've been doubted, with people thinking we can't do anything without Buddy or the (graduated seniors) from last year. We've been trying to prove ourselves and show that we're here and that we're not a team that can be walked over.”

Replacing the scoring output of last year's graduated class will be a collective effort. The new-look Sooners will need to rely on its depth and development. The challenge awaiting the younger Sooners to compete for rolls and minutes throughout preseason practice has not only created healthy competition on the court, it has built a sense of urgency that demands hard work every single practice.

“Everyone is kind of like, 'We can do it,' and that's pushing everyone much harder because everyone knows they're able to get minutes on the court and you just have to work for it,” said Freeman, who redshirted after arriving at OU last spring. “I think that's pushing us a lot harder as a team.”

When that first game comes around next week and the anxiety of their first college game sits in, the freshmen will stick to what they've been building the past few months

“I'll be very nervous, I'm not going to lie,” said Doolittle. “But it'll also be a dream come true at the same time. I'll just need to be in the moment and not let it get the best of me and do what we've been practicing and do the best that I can.”

The newest Sooners are ready to play their part in Lon Kruger's lineups and fight for another successful season of Oklahoma basketball. They know that in order to succeed, they'll need to contribute collectively when their numbers are called.

“My goal is to just come in and produce,” said McGusty. “Help the team however I can – whether I'm scoring, passing, getting stops defensively, rebounds. Whatever we need to win. Basically my goal is to prove everybody wrong. Being ranked sixth in the Big 12 standings – I just don't agree with that. Whatever I have to do to help the team improve, those are my goals.”

Players Mentioned

Kristian Doolittle

Matt Freeman

Buddy Hield

Christian James

Kameron McGusty

Jordan Shepherd

Jordan Woodard

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics