NORMAN — Oklahoma has struggled out of the gate at the start of SEC play, dropping each of its first three games and often having trouble with the size and length of its early-season conference opponents. Amid that three-game skid, though, the Sooners may have found something of value—the growing presence of reserve big man Mo Wague.
The 6-foot-10 Alabama transfer has seen his minutes off the bench fluctuate in his first season at Oklahoma, but he has logged double-digit minutes in each of the last two SEC games against Texas A&M and Georgia, and in Saturday’s loss to the Bulldogs he had arguably his best game of the season for the Sooners: an efficient 10 points (on 4-of-5 shooting), three rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks in 16 minutes. It was just the fourth time in the last 11 games that he logged double-digit minutes off the bench.
“He’s just great at what he does,” Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. “At practice, Mo covers a lot of ground defensively with length and aggression, and I thought that was really good…. He’s great at his role, and we need more guys like that: great at their role. I thought Mo, defensively, completely impacted that game.”…