The Sooners took on the Islanders Monday night in one of the Field House Series games being played at the old McCasland Field House on campus instead of the Lloyd Noble Center. It was a an outstanding 72-42 win for the Sooners but it was Amath M’Baye time to shine for the Crimson and Cream.

M’Baye, in his previous game had a 16-point, six-rebound performance that earned him Big 12 newcomer of the week honor. In Monday’s performance, M’Baye scored 14 points and had six rebounds.  M’Baye was 7 of 11 from the field to go with a game-high 17-point effort from Steven Pledger.

Head coach Lon Kruger on the win and their performance:

These two Pledger and M’Baye stepped up and made shots, and it’s good to see that. It gives you a good foundation and a good cornerstone to work from, and I think the other guys gain confidence when guys are stepping up and making shots like today.

It was the first time the Oklahoma basketball team has played in the Field House since 1975. The Sooners will take on conference opponent, West Virginia next on January 5th.

In case you missed it this weekend trying to get all of your Christmas shopping finished, The Sooner men’s basketball team took on Houston in the All College Classic. And Junior Steven Pledger had a career night, pushing the Sooners to the win.

Pledger had his first career double-double, with 31 points and 10 rebounds to help the Sooners come back and win 79-74.

“Pledger was terrific all night long,” said Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger. “We played off of him all night.”

First Year Sooner head coach, Lon Kruger

The Sooners have had somewhat of a turn-around season so far with the head coach change. Lon Kruger has done a terrific job of turning this team around and using the players to their full ability. They are 8-1 on the season and this is their best start since 2008 and the Blake Griffin Sooner era. The Houston game marked the closest win of the season for Oklahoma and the first win at the All College Classic since 2008.

Pledger was 10 for 13 from the field, not to mention 4 for 5 from 3-point range. Coming into the game on Saturday night, the Sooners were making 50% of their 3-pointers; they were 6 of 10 against Houston. They also only had 9 turnovers the entire game.

For a team that was slated to come in last place in the Big XII this basketball season, they are off to a great start. If you would have told me they would have started out going 8-1, I probably would have laughed at you. Let’s just hope the injury bug stays away from the basketball team, unlike how it plagued the football team this year.

The Sooners will take on South Carolina State next in Norman on Wednesday night. Big XII play officially starts January 3rd against Missouri.

Guard Steven Pledger

While football takes a break this week, it’s a perfect time to get ready for some Sooner basketball.

The Sooner men’s basketball team kicks off their season tonight against Idaho State. Sooner Nation will finally get to start a new era in basketball with Lon Kruger’s first game as the Oklahoma head coach in his 26 year coaching tenure.

Oklahoma will be without one of their star players, though. Guard Steven Pledger has been suspended for the first game by Kruger for participating in a Pro-Am game over the Summer. Pledger will return for game two against Coppin State.

SoonerSports.com has listed Romero Osby as a Sooner to watch. Osby will also be making his Sooner debut; he is a transfer from Mississippi State. He is a former Top-75 recruit out of the state of Mississippi and led the Sooner team in field goal percentage during exhibition play. He also averaged  11.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in only 18 minutes per game in the Sooners exhibition matches.

This will be the third time that Idaho State and Oklahoma have played each other in basketball, each previous meeting being in Norman. The last time these two teams met up, Billy Tubbs was the Sooner head coach.

The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:07 Friday night at the LNC in Norman. Unless you live in the OKC or Tulsa area, you will have to catch the game on the Sooner Radio Network or online at SoonerSports.com All-Access.