Sooners’ bats quiet in loss to Cal Poly

Cal Poly 3, Oklahoma 1

Oklahoma had just one hit as it lost to Cal Poly on Saturday at the LMU Tournament in Los Angeles.

his a solo home run in the first inning, the only hit the Sooners had all game.

Cal Poly pitcher

pitched seven innings and struck out nine in the win.

OU (23-6) will have a rematch with Cal Poly at 11 a.m. on Saturday. It will conclude the tournament vs. DePaul at 1 p.m. after the Cal Poly game.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

After the grind of the Big 12 Conference, the league’s teams had a strong first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Not only were they successful, going 5-2 before Kansas State’s late game Friday.

Part of the benefit of getting away from the teams they’ve played for most of the last two-anda-half months is a more free-flowing game, Baylor coach said after his team’s 91-73 win over New Mexico State on Friday at the BOK Center.

“I think players prefer to play in transition than they do in half court, right?” Drew said.

“In the conference when you play someone a third time and they start to line up in a set and you’re telling them, ‘No, you gotta go there,’ it’s tough to get easy buckets or transition buckets because you’re so well-scouted.”

Weir consults with Henson

The last time New Mexico State won an NCAA Tournament game, Oklahoma native was the Aggies’ coach.

New Mexico State has now lost 10 consecutive tournament games, with their last win coming over St. Bonaventure in the 1970 Final Four consolation game.

Aggies coach said he called Henson, now 85, for advice as he entered his first NCAA Tournament as a head coach.

“Coach told me that you’re going to have to play well but they’re going to have to have a bit of an off night, and we didn’t catch them on an off night,” Weir said after his team led at halftime before falling to the Bears.

Henson, who is from Okay and played junior college basketball at Connors State before transferring to New Mexico State, coached the Aggies from 1966-75. He currently is a special advisor for the New Mexico State basketball program.

It’s more than just an honorary title for Henson, who frequently attended Aggies practices before the season and was a regular sounding board for Weir, the first-year head coach.

Henson’s health prevented him traveling to Oklahoma for the tournament.

Izzo remembers short stint in Tulsa

Kansas coach isn’t the only high-profile coach whose team is playing at the BOK Center this week who spent some time coaching in Tulsa on their journey upward. Michigan State coach

was an assistant at the University of Tulsa for about seven weeks in 1986 under

“It really was the start for me,” Izzo said. “I was just about out. I mean, three years as a GA at Michigan State, kind of running out of money and running out of — he was probably running out of patience with me.”

Izzo nearly took a job at Division II Michigan Tech before who had just left Tulsa for Arizona, called Izzo to let him know about the opening.

This week, Izzo called up Barnett, after getting his number from

“Probably should owe him a little more than I have, because he gave me a chance,” Izzo said. “I couldn’t get a Division I fulltime assistant job. He gave me a chance.”

But when

left staff to take the head coaching job at Siena College, Izzo came back to East Lansing.