Familiar faces return for OU alumni game
NORMAN — The biggest ovations of Saturday’s Oklahoma basketball Legends Alumni Game came at halftime.
First, longtime Sooners coach Billy Tubbs was introduced after the players from his era, drawing an extended ovation.
Then Sooners’ radio voice Toby Rowland interviewed Blake Griffin.
“I thought it was a thunderous start for your team,” Rowland said, drawing an even louder ovation as he referenced rumors that Griffin could be a target of the Oklahoma City Thunder when he’s able to become a free agent after the season.
For his part, Griffin just soaked in the cheers and smiled.
“I’m just concentrating on this year,” Griffin said before the game when asked about the Thunder’s reported interest. “I’m not really thinking about that yet. It’s a long way away. My biggest goal is to be healthy and have a good season.”
A night earlier, Griffin had made public a donation to help build the planned High Performance Center at Lloyd Noble Center.
The approximately 16,000-square-foot addition will be built south of the existing practice facilities on the south side of the arena and will include a nutrition center, indoor and outdoor turfs as well as an area for performance testing and assessment.
Griffin was also involved in designing the facility.
“It was part of a conversation I had two or three years ago, maybe longer than that,” Griffin said. “It’s really about keeping this program and keeping these facilities on par with the best of the country.
“As soon as it was brought up, it was something I was immediately interested in and wanted to be involved in. I wanted to be part of the process. I’m excited to break ground and get going.”
The estimated cost of the project is $7 million.
Griffin coached the Crimson team to a 96-89 victory with Ebi Ere leading the Crimson with 22 points.
On the other side was Buddy Hield, returning as an alum for the first time after being the sixth overall pick in June’s NBA Draft.
Before the game, Hield told the crowd he planned to lean heavily on former Sooners teammate and current Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Cousins.
Cousins scored 33 but it wasn’t enough to lift the Cream to a win.
Hield is trying to get to where Griffin, and established NBA star, is already.
Throughout his time in Norman, Hield’s game day routine never changed.
He’d wake early and arrive in the gym hours before tip-off, getting up hundreds of shots from all distances before games.
Last year’s Sooners played 37 games. In the NBA, Hield will be expected to play more than twice that in a season.
Still, Hield said he didn’t plan on changing a thing about his preparation.
“I talked with a lot of coaches and they were like, ‘Your game-day rituals have got to change because there are so much games,’ ” Hield said. “I ain’t changing nothing.
“This is who I am. Doing all of my pregame rituals got me here so I’m not going to change it. I have to be in the gym for three hours. That’s who I am. I just love to be in the gym. That’s my job now.”