Sooners host UTSA
Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger will see a familiar face on the opposite bench on Monday night. Former Sooner assistant Steve Henson will be in Norman as coach of the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners. Game time at Lloyd Noble Center is 7.
NORMAN — For most of the last 30 years, Steve Henson hasn’t been far from Lon Kruger’s side.
Monday night, for the first time, Kruger and Henson will line up on opposite sidelines when Kruger’s Sooners host Henson’s Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners at 7 at Lloyd Noble Center.
“He’s kind of been with us since we first recruited him at Kansas State — 1986 — so for the most part, we’ve been together,” Kruger said.
Henson is in his second year at UTSA after spending five seasons as an assistant with the Sooners.
But Henson’s history with Kruger goes far beyond that recruitment to Manhattan and the years on the bench at OU, which culminated in a Final Four appearance in 2016.
Not only did Henson sign with Kruger but he starred at Kansas State. He started there for four years at point guard, twice earning AllBig Eight honors.
He still holds several school records, including the career assist mark.
It’ll be the second time this season Kruger will face an opposing coach that got his start under the future Hall of Famer. Last month in Portland, Kruger’s Sooners played Dana Altman and Oregon. Altman was an assistant under Kruger when Henson played for Kansas State and then took over as the Wildcats’ head coach after Kruger took the Florida job.
Even when he was playing professional basketball, both in the NBA and overseas, Henson often returned to wherever Kruger was coaching to get in some work.
When his playing career ended, he immediately joined Kruger as an assistant in 1999 at Illinois. He served under Kruger with the Atlanta Hawks, UNLV and Oklahoma — with only a short stint as an assistant at South Florida in 200304 apart from Kruger. That was the only season since 1982-83 that Kruger hasn’t been a head coach. He was a Knicks assistant at the time.
As Oklahoma made its Final Four run two season ago with the Buddy Hield-led squad, it became apparent their time was coming to an end.
“It’s definitely something I want to do. I know I’m ready to do it,” Henson said at the time. “But when you’ve got a situation as good as ours, it’s important to make sure I don’t just take a job just to be taking one.”
After that season, he succeeded Brooks Thompson as UTSA’s coach.
In Henson’s first season, the Roadrunners went 14-19, tying their best win total since 2011-12.
“He did a good job there last year,” Kruger said. “And he’ll keep doing a good job.”
One thing Kruger won’t do is change his calls for Monday’s game.
They remain the same as they were when Henson departed and in the decades and years before that.
“No, no,” Kruger said with a chuckle. “It always comes down to execution and making shots.
“He knows our terminology, but I don’t think he’s going to waste any time trying to teach it to his players.”