Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Oral Roberts on November 20, 2025 , Win , 95, to, 71
Final
Men's Basketball
95
vs Oral Roberts
71
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Kruger Named to Coach of the Year Watch List
February 19, 2021 | Men's Basketball
NORMAN – Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger is one of 15 late season watch list candidates for the 2021 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's Coach of the Year Award. The watch list was released by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Friday.
No team in college basketball has exceeded expectations this season more than Kruger's Sooners. Picked to finish in the bottom half of the Big 12 preseason poll, Oklahoma has solidified itself as a top-10 team in both major polls and enters the weekend in second place in the toughest conference in the country.
Kruger has guided Oklahoma to five wins over top-15 teams – tied with Ohio State for the most in the country. The Sooners' five wins over ranked opponents are also tied for the most in the nation.
The Sooners came onto the national scene in late January when they became the third team in college basketball history to beat three top-10 teams in back-to-back-to-back games. Oklahoma was the underdog in all three matchups, defeating No. 9 Kansas, No. 5 Texas and No. 9 Alabama in an eight-day stretch (Jan 23-30). The trio of victories – coupled with a win over No. 9 West Virginia on Jan. 2 – made Oklahoma the first Division I team since 1974 to defeat four top-10 teams in a one calendar month during the regular season.
Oklahoma has won seven of its last eight games and is ranked No. 9 in the latest AP Top-25 Poll and No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
The Sooners are the only team in the top 15 of the latest AP Top-25 to not receive a single vote in the Associated Press Preseason Poll. In fact, the Sooners didn't receive a single vote in the weekly poll on Jan. 18 – two weeks before OU first cracked the top-10.
Kruger is joined on the watch list by Casey Alexander (Belmont). Darian DeVries (Drake), Scott Drew (Baylor), Andy Enfield (USC), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), Chris Holtmann (Ohio State), Juwan Howard (Michigan), Bob Huggins (West Virginia), Porter Moses (Loyola-Chicago), Nate Oats (Alabama), Kelvin Sampson (Houston), Shaka Smart (Texas) and Mike Young (Virginia Tech).
The Sooners are 4-1 this season against teams coached by other members of the Coach of the Year watch list. No other coach on the list has more than two wins over his watch list peers.
In his 10th season at Oklahoma and 35th as a Division I head coach, Kruger has built his career on the foundation of hard work, humility, integrity and service. From becoming the first Division I coach to guide five different schools to the NCAA Tournament to his dedicated work as the chairman of Coaches vs. Cancer, Kruger has established a reputation as a genuine leader, winning coach and community champion.
After inheriting a program that went 27-36 (.429) in the two seasons prior to his arrival, Kruger has coached the Sooners to a 192-122 (.611) record in his 10 years in Norman and has reached six of the past seven NCAA Tournaments.
Kruger is the first and only coach since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to take four programs to the Sweet 16 or beyond, including Final Four appearances with the Sooners (2016) and Florida (1994). He is one of only three head coaches to ever lead four schools to multiple NCAA Tournament wins and the only coach to win at least one NCAA Tournament game with five separate programs.
No team in college basketball has exceeded expectations this season more than Kruger's Sooners. Picked to finish in the bottom half of the Big 12 preseason poll, Oklahoma has solidified itself as a top-10 team in both major polls and enters the weekend in second place in the toughest conference in the country.
Kruger has guided Oklahoma to five wins over top-15 teams – tied with Ohio State for the most in the country. The Sooners' five wins over ranked opponents are also tied for the most in the nation.
The Sooners came onto the national scene in late January when they became the third team in college basketball history to beat three top-10 teams in back-to-back-to-back games. Oklahoma was the underdog in all three matchups, defeating No. 9 Kansas, No. 5 Texas and No. 9 Alabama in an eight-day stretch (Jan 23-30). The trio of victories – coupled with a win over No. 9 West Virginia on Jan. 2 – made Oklahoma the first Division I team since 1974 to defeat four top-10 teams in a one calendar month during the regular season.
Oklahoma has won seven of its last eight games and is ranked No. 9 in the latest AP Top-25 Poll and No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
The Sooners are the only team in the top 15 of the latest AP Top-25 to not receive a single vote in the Associated Press Preseason Poll. In fact, the Sooners didn't receive a single vote in the weekly poll on Jan. 18 – two weeks before OU first cracked the top-10.
Kruger is joined on the watch list by Casey Alexander (Belmont). Darian DeVries (Drake), Scott Drew (Baylor), Andy Enfield (USC), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), Chris Holtmann (Ohio State), Juwan Howard (Michigan), Bob Huggins (West Virginia), Porter Moses (Loyola-Chicago), Nate Oats (Alabama), Kelvin Sampson (Houston), Shaka Smart (Texas) and Mike Young (Virginia Tech).
The Sooners are 4-1 this season against teams coached by other members of the Coach of the Year watch list. No other coach on the list has more than two wins over his watch list peers.
In his 10th season at Oklahoma and 35th as a Division I head coach, Kruger has built his career on the foundation of hard work, humility, integrity and service. From becoming the first Division I coach to guide five different schools to the NCAA Tournament to his dedicated work as the chairman of Coaches vs. Cancer, Kruger has established a reputation as a genuine leader, winning coach and community champion.
After inheriting a program that went 27-36 (.429) in the two seasons prior to his arrival, Kruger has coached the Sooners to a 192-122 (.611) record in his 10 years in Norman and has reached six of the past seven NCAA Tournaments.
Kruger is the first and only coach since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to take four programs to the Sweet 16 or beyond, including Final Four appearances with the Sooners (2016) and Florida (1994). He is one of only three head coaches to ever lead four schools to multiple NCAA Tournament wins and the only coach to win at least one NCAA Tournament game with five separate programs.
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