Florida A&M @ Oklahoma preview

Florida A&M at Oklahoma

Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said his team still will get some value out of Wednesday's 22-point loss at Xavier, in which the Musketeers drained a school-record 19 shots from 3-point range.

"Not a lot of positives can come out of this other that we can learn a lot," Kruger said.

For Oklahoma (2-1), Kruger said the greatest areas of opportunity are playing tougher on-ball defense.

"This (99-77 loss to Xavier) reinforces our need to do that," Kruger said. "We didn't do much defensively to keep them out of their rhythm, out of their routine, and we have a lot of work to do."

Oklahoma plays host to Florida A&M on Saturday. The Rattlers (0-3) are coming off an 87-66 loss at Oregon on Wednesday in which the Ducks shot 60.3 percent from the field.

The Sooners allowed Xavier to shoot 59.4 percent from 3-point range (19 of 32).

Oklahoma's offensive execution met Kruger's approval with five players in double-figure scoring, led by Brady Manek's 17 points, but he is concerned about his defense.

"It's exciting to have the opportunity to learn now really what our priorities and what our deficiencies are and how much we gotta work on those," Kruger said as the Sooners settle in for a three-game homestand.

Florida A&M's M.J. Randolph and Kamron Reaves will look to bounce back against Oklahoma after struggling against Oregon.

They entered the game leading the team in scoring average but were subdued for a combined 15 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field and 0-of-4 from 3-point range.

Randolph now averages 12.7 points and Reaves 11.7. Evins Desir, a load around the basket at 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds, led the Rattlers with 12 points at Oregon, matching his season average.

Florida A&M coach Robert McCullum spent a decade on Kruger's coaching staffs, beginning with Kansas State in 1990 and continuing at Florida (1991-96) and Illinois (1996-2000).

"In our time together, his strengths were terrific floor instruction, has an outstanding recruiting network and he's an all-around ambassador of the game," Kruger said.

McCullum, who was also a part of Dana Altman's staff at Oregon, is 33-62 in his fourth season at Florida A&M but the Rattlers showed promise last year in the MEAC with a 10-6 record.

"I'm optimistic about our future, about what can be done," he said. "FAMU basketball should be a perennial power in the MEAC."

--Field Level Media