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Oklahoma Basketball: What are the Sooners adding in the early signing class?

Josh Helmer
·5 min read

Oklahoma men’s basketball plays its second game of the Porter Moser era tonight inside the Lloyd Noble Center when the Sooners welcome in an old friend. That would be former OU assistant and now UTSA head coach Steve Henson.

It’s the fifth consecutive season the two teams have squared off. OU holds a 6-0 advantage over UTSA all-time and a 4-0 record against the Roadrunners in Norman.

OU tipped off the Moser era with a 77-59 win over Northwestern State. Junior small forward Jalen Hill led the Sooners’ second-half surge, scoring 12 points after halftime and finishing with a team-high and career high 15 points. Senior center Tanner Groves joined Hill with 15 points himself. Senior guard Umoja Gibson was OU’s other double-figure scorer with 13 points in the season-opener.

Those weren’t the only fireworks of the week, though. With the early signing period getting underway midway through this week, Moser signed three future Sooners: 6-foot-6 guard Otega Oweh out of Blairstown, N.J., 6-foot-4 point guard Milos Uzan from Las Vegas, Nev., and 6-foot-7 wing Benny Schröder via Munich, Germany.

Oweh is rated as a four-star prospect by ESPN, 247Sports and Rivals. He’s a consensus top-100 prospect nationally according to all three services (No. 73 by 247Sports, No. 76 by Rivals and No. 89 by ESPN).

Oweh has appeared in 56 career games for Blair Academy. In the 2019-20 season for Blair Academy, Oweh averaged 14.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.9 assists per game.

He also earned the title of Nike EYBL Peach Jam Breakout Player of the Session in helping lead Team Final EYBL (Pa.) to a 17U Peach Jam title. Oweh averaged 14.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.3 assists per game with Team Final EYBL (Pa.).

Moser joined the “T-Row in the Morning Show” on Friday with Toby Rowland and TJ Perry to discuss the signings of Oweh, Uzan and Schröder.

“They fit us. They upgrade us. High character guys. Guys that this fan base will love rooting for. All three guys are high energy,” Moser told Rowland.

Moser also broke down Oweh’s attributes with Rowland.

“Starting with Otega Oweh. 6-5, uber athletic. He had the third-most transition points in the entire Nike EYBL circuit this summer. Really gets out and runs. Can score it, defend it. Two-way player. Just a lot of energy and bounce. Plays way above the rim,” Moser said of Oweh.

Uzan is a long, rangy point guard that ranked No. 52 on the ESPN100. He’s listed as a four-star prospect by ESPN and 247Sports and a three star by Rivals.

Uzan led Desert Pines High School to the 2020 Nevada state championship game. After that, Uzan attended the 2021 Geico Top Flight Invite with Dream City Christian (Ariz.).

He also played for Prolific Prep in the 30-game Grind Session in Arizona and averaged 13 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.

“Milos Uzan. He’s a long point guard. One of the most coveted point guards in the country. There’s not a lot of true, true point guards nowadays. He’s a coach’s son. He’s 6-4. He can see over ball screens. He won the Adidas circuit. So, we’ve got the winner of the Nike circuit, the Adidas circuit, so they played on some really good teams,” Moser said.

The final piece of the early signing period for Oklahoma is Schröder from Germany. Schröder was listed as the top international prospect by ESPN.

Schroder, 18, is considered one of the most promising European prospects committing to the college route. He averaged 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in just 23 minutes per game at the FIBA U18 European Challengers this summer for Germany, finishing second in scoring and third in player efficiency rating (PER) at the event while converting 71% of his field goal attempts. He also led Germany in scoring and was one of the top per-minute scorers at the U16 European Championship in 2019. – Jonathan Givony, ESPN

Schröder plays for Kickz IBAM (International Basketball Academy Munich) and averages 29 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Moser talked about what Schröder adds for the Sooners.

“And then Benny Schröder from Germany who I think the fans are going to love him. He’s uber-athletic. I mean, really gets the ball. He can play-make at 6-7, can shoot it,” Moser said of Schröder.

Moser summarized what he likes the most about this class so far.

“All three guys bring an energy. They can be two-way players, meaning offense and defense. I think they’ve just got an energy about them. That’s what fits me. Those are the kind of guys I like to recruit. Really good start for us to start off in the fall,” Moser said.

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