'Their Transition Is So Elite:' Porter Moser Previews Sooners At Alabama In Top 10 Matchup

The Sooners open the new year and SEC play at 6th ranked Alabama on Saturday afternoon with a 5:00 tipoff. OU is undefeated so far on the season after being picked to finish 15th in preseason media polls for the SEC. Jeremiah Fears has exploded onto the scene while averaging 18.1 points, 4.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Alabama will be the toughest test of the season by far. The Tide are 35-2 at home going back to the 2022-23 season.

"There's a number of challenges. One is their transition so elite, they play so fast. They have the best point guards in the country in Mark Sears, who's been in the final four, he's done it, older veteran, and then you have extreme length. I think the first thing you talk about is like, man, when they shoot 55 threes, you gotta take away the three, but the silent killer is their their offensive rebounding. I mean, they get like 41% of their shots back. They start with three, 6'11 guys. That's the silent killer. You've got to rebound. They can get to the rim and rebound as good as anybody. Now you think about their pace and you think about all the threes they take, but the two killers are them getting to the rim and getting fouled, and the rebounding. They're elite at those things, and we gotta be ready to to to get on the glass and get in the legs and block out."

"You literally you got to take your schedule, and put something over it and just slowly look at the one in front of you, because it is daunting. Opportunity, we're gonna be playing the best or the best. It's unprecedented what the SEC's done, unprecedented. I and I like I told you guys last time we were sitting here after the game and I feel like I've said that three years in a row, and you know, here we go again, saying it, but it is truly unprecedented what the SEC's done. Every night is gonna be high quad one games and you gotta be ready, you're gonna have to have some metal toughness or resolve to go through what you're gonna go through. Alabama's 35 and 2, the last two and a half years at home, one of the best home teams in the country. There's a lot of venues we're gonna play at that are not easy to win at, but you gotta find ways to win. You got to find ways to win, you gotta piece together and believe and stay together."