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OU basketball needs Nijel Pack, Mo Wague to snap out of it & needs them now

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo01/24/26BPrzybylo

In putting together the roster for OU basketball, there might have been a few guys you had question marks.

How would they handle the adjustment to the SEC? The weekly grind that, even if it’s not the best of the best, it’s one heck of a physical and mental test every game.

But not one time during the summer, fall, preseason practice, non-conference play did anybody ever think Nijel Pack was going to be one of those guys.

However, when Pack is one of them, well, that’s how you become saddled with a five-game losing streak and wondering where the season is going.

OU (11-8, 1-5) at Missouri (13-6, 3-3)
When: 1 p.m.
TV: ESPN2

Pack isn’t alone, either. Center Mo Wague flashed so much in the first two months of the season that you started to believe his undisciplined moments were gone.

Nope.

So as OU attempts to snap a five-game skid by going on the road to Missouri on Saturday, it does so knowing 40% of the starting lineup has been meh at best here lately.

There’s only so much Xzayvier Brown, Derrion Reid and Tae Davis can do when the Sooners aren’t getting much help from the bench and two of the starters can sometimes be MIA.

Head coach Porter Moser has publicly said all the right things about believing in Wague and Pack. OU, though, stands zero chance of turning things around if those guys don’t show up. And that starts Saturday.

In the OU win vs. Ole Miss three weeks ago, Wague had 10 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. He was everywhere.

In the five games since? Wague has 25 points, 26 rebounds, six blocks and hasn’t played more than 25 minutes in a game. That’s not going to work.

Maybe you could get by with that because you figure Wague is the fifth of the starting lineup options. Pack? Arguably, No. 1. And arguably playing like No. 5 here lately.

Pack was so good in the first two months of the season that despite his woeful shooting lately, he is still shooting 41% from 3-point territory.

However, Pack has shot 2 for 17 from deep in the last two games, very winnable games for the Sooners. Included in that is an 0-for-7 performance in the 85-76 loss at South Carolina on Tuesday.

Pack in the last five games (all losses):

FGs: 3-13, 5-18, 2-8, 8-20, 5-12
3-pt FGs: 0-7, 2-10, 1-2, 6-13, 1-5

Add it all up, and Pack is 23-for-71 (32%) and 10-for-37 (27%) from 3-point territory.

Bottom line, for someone who has played so much ball, this cannot happen. It has to stop, and the sooner, the better.

Who is Missouri?

Valid question. The Tigers are on a two-game losing streak that includes giving LSU its only conference win so far.

Missouri has been a team that has lost by 43 to Illinois and has beaten Florida and won at Kentucky. The Tigers are looking to avoid that dreaded 0-2 home week. Georgia stunned the Tigers 74-72 in Columbia earlier this week.

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