Sooners trying to shed Bramlage struggles
MANHATTAN, KAN. — Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger’s name and number hangs in the rafters at Kansas State’s Bramlage Coliseum, a monument to the impact Kruger had on the program as a player before he turned his attentions to coaching.
But as the Sooners’ coach, Kruger hasn’t had much luck pulling out wins in the “Octagon of Doom.”
Going into Tuesday’s game against the Wildcats (8 p.m., ESPNU), No. 4-ranked Oklahoma has lost five consecutive games in the building.
The Sooners have lost there when they’ve been really good and Kansas State was struggling. In 2016, the No. 1 Sooners were upset by a Wildcats team that finished just 5-13 in the Big 12 and didn’t make the postseason.
Last season, the Wildcats led Oklahoma from wire-to-wire to win going away at Bramlage.
“It’s a great atmosphere,” Kruger said. “They’ve got a lot of pride in what they’re doing. Bruce (Weber) has done a great job, they guard you like crazy, they are disruptive with what they do and you’ve got to be tough enough to work through that.”
Tuesday’s game figures to be another test of the
Sooners’ toughness.
They struggled in that regard at West Virginia, when the Mountaineers made life difficult for Trae Young and the Oklahoma offense in Morgantown. Then the Sooners came through in a big way against another strong defensive team last week against Texas Tech at home.
While Kansas State’s overall defensive rating is nowhere close to the Mountaineers and Red Raiders, who are two of the best defenses in college basketball, the Wildcats do compare favorably to those two in one area — steals.
Kansas State is No. 8 nationally in steal percentage at 12.3 percent, and it’s not just coming from one player. Barry Brown, Dean Wade and Xavier Sneed all averaged at least 1.6 per game, with Brown leading the way at 2.1.
“They cover for each other,” Kruger said. “They’re very active on the ball. They’re toughminded because that’s where their identity is and they do a good job with it so they’re one of the tougher teams in the country.”
The game begins a critical two-game road stretch for the Sooners leading into next Tuesday’s showdown with Kansas at Lloyd Noble Center.
Not only are any road victories precious commodities in the Big 12, but winning over the teams in the lower echelon of the conference standings is critical both in building a resume for the NCAA Tournament and the race for the Big 12 title.
Christian James has been through that. He played — albeit very sparingly — in that 2016 loss in Manhattan and started there last year.
“I try to tell them every day don’t take any games for granted because in Big 12, you’ll lose one day and the next day you’ll turn around at another away game and you might lose that one,” James said.