CALM BEFORE THE STORM
Sooners to rely on easygoing freshman against Ole Miss' veteran guards
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Kermit Davis and Lon Kruger chatted in the halls of Colonial Life Arena on Thursday, and of all the topics they could discuss on the eve of their NCAA Tournament battle, Davis had to mention Kruger's freshman point guard.
“God, Lon,” said Davis, “I watched him probably 10 games ago and watched him now, and he's gotta be one of the most improved players in the Big 12.”
Oklahoma's tournament site is stacked with star freshmen. Look no further than Zion Williamson and his friends from Duke.
But the Sooners feel good about a freshman of their own: Jamal Bieniemy.
Pressure will be on Bieniemy and OU's perimeter players at 11:40 a.m. Friday against an Ole Miss squad that features a trio of veteran guards.
Junior Breein Tyree and senior Terence Davis account for 44 percent of Ole Miss' points. The third man, sophomore Devontae Shuler, is a not-so-shabby 40 percent 3-point shooter.
A lanky 6-foot-4 freshman will dribble the ball up for the Sooners. His stats — 4.9 points, 3.5 assists, 2.4 rebounds per game — neither quantify his defensive acumen
nor the trust he's earned from Kruger's staff.
Bieniemy ranked sixth in the Big 12 with 1.4 steals per game, second with a 2.6 assist-toturnover ratio and seventh with 112 assists.
He has an old man's game with a personality to match. The Katy, Texas, native said he won't be nervous for his NCAA Tournament debut. Though the stage of the Big Dance is incomparable, Bieniemy will draw back from his senior season at Tompkins High School.
Tompkins, led by Bieniemy, made the kind of miracle run Oklahoma wants to replicate.
“We had an average record,” Bieniemy said. “We weren't picked to go far.”
But Bieniemy led Tompkins all the way to the Texas Class 6A state championship game where it lost to Allen High
“Jamal's built for these type of moments. He might be a freshman, but he doesn't play like it. And he definitely doesn't act like it.”
graduate guard Miles Reynolds
School on a buzzer beater. In the game before, Tompkins beat South Garland — a team that had beaten Tompkins by 26 points earlier that season.
“Jamal's built for these type of moments,” graduate guard Miles Reynolds said. “He might be a freshman, but he doesn't play like it. And he definitely doesn't act like it.”
Laid-back and chill were words Bieniemy's teammates used to describe him. Sophomore forward Brady Manek knows him as a lowmaintenance roommate.
“We're both pretty quiet and keep to our own space,” Manek said. “I never know if he's asleep or awake. His light is always off. I think he's nocturnal.”
But as the lights from TV cameras focused on him at OU's press conference Thursday, assistant coach Carlin Hartman shot a text to Bieniemy's parents. Seeing the route of a player he recruited — from playing in a Texas state championship game to speaking for his team at the NCAA Tournament — brought things full circle.
“He's everything I thought he would be and then some,” Hartman said.