JimBob
02-02-2008, 07:10 AM
OSU depending on Harris to end shooting woes
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
2/2/2008
It's a tricky deal when one of your best players falls into a slump. Is the solution a pat on the back or a kick in the rear?
"Each player is different," Oklahoma State basketball coach Sean Sutton said. "What is going to get one guy to respond might not be the same for somebody else. Maybe he needs a little bit of both."
In this case, the player is Terrel Harris, who is 1-of-13 from the field the last three games.
Harris' shooting woes cost him a starting job. He is expected to come off the bench for a second consecutive game when the Cowboys visit Texas Tech.
Sutton has challenged Harris, scoreless in 27 minutes against OU, to upgrade productivity.
"If he played up to his capabilities the last three games, we might have won all three games," Sutton said.
Because of a youthful roster, Sutton told veteran players in preseason that they couldn't afford to have bad games.
"At (Harris') age, and as much as we depend on him and all those guys, it's their job to be consistent. That's what (Mario) Boggan did last year and that's what JamesOn (Curry) did last year and that's what a lot of the great players that are really good players that have been in this program did. It got to a point in their junior and senior year and they took the responsibility that they had to play and they had to play well every night."
Harris knows sulking would be the wrong way to react. He wants to be mentally tough and work out of the slump. But he said he was "almost-in-tears mad" in recent days.
"It's not the not starting," he said. "Just my whole situation right now . . . how things are going for the team and for me and coach Sean. Just everything is not very good right now."
Harris' support system rode to the rescue after his benching. He said he got at least 20 encouraging calls and texts from friends and family members. One of them is uncle Windell Yancy, a former OSU football player. Yancy always urges his nephew to never get too high and to never get too low.
"I got a little bit too low on myself," Harris said. "So I've got to get back to that even keel where I can't let things affect me and just stay positive."
Harris was asked if there is anything he wants to get off his chest. This is what he said:
"People say I am playing bad right now. I don't really think I'm playing bad. I just think I'm not shooting the ball well."
Harris acknowledged he didn't play well in Bedlam. But he believes he defended well in OSU's Big 12 home games, limiting Texas' A.J. Abrams, Texas A&M's Josh Carter and Texas Tech's Jake Voskuil to 10-of-31 shooting and 1-of-14 accuracy from 3-point range.
But Harris, OSU's leading scorer in road games, is the Cowboys' fifth-leading scorer at home. He is 4-of-33 behind the arc at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
"I'm kind of a streaky shooter, so when I start missing, it's kind of off," he said.
"Once I shoot about three or four and it's off, it's going to be off for a little while. But once it's on, it's on."
Harris believes his shooting wouldn't be a big issue if OSU was winning. The Cowboys have lost five straight games, so problems are magnified.
Is Harris too talented to remain in a shooting funk?
"I think he is," Sutton said. "But it has been a mystery for the last three games why he hadn't produced. He hadn't shot the ball well at home all year long. Early, the first month of practice, there was nobody that shot the ball better than he had. It has been a strange season for him."
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
2/2/2008
It's a tricky deal when one of your best players falls into a slump. Is the solution a pat on the back or a kick in the rear?
"Each player is different," Oklahoma State basketball coach Sean Sutton said. "What is going to get one guy to respond might not be the same for somebody else. Maybe he needs a little bit of both."
In this case, the player is Terrel Harris, who is 1-of-13 from the field the last three games.
Harris' shooting woes cost him a starting job. He is expected to come off the bench for a second consecutive game when the Cowboys visit Texas Tech.
Sutton has challenged Harris, scoreless in 27 minutes against OU, to upgrade productivity.
"If he played up to his capabilities the last three games, we might have won all three games," Sutton said.
Because of a youthful roster, Sutton told veteran players in preseason that they couldn't afford to have bad games.
"At (Harris') age, and as much as we depend on him and all those guys, it's their job to be consistent. That's what (Mario) Boggan did last year and that's what JamesOn (Curry) did last year and that's what a lot of the great players that are really good players that have been in this program did. It got to a point in their junior and senior year and they took the responsibility that they had to play and they had to play well every night."
Harris knows sulking would be the wrong way to react. He wants to be mentally tough and work out of the slump. But he said he was "almost-in-tears mad" in recent days.
"It's not the not starting," he said. "Just my whole situation right now . . . how things are going for the team and for me and coach Sean. Just everything is not very good right now."
Harris' support system rode to the rescue after his benching. He said he got at least 20 encouraging calls and texts from friends and family members. One of them is uncle Windell Yancy, a former OSU football player. Yancy always urges his nephew to never get too high and to never get too low.
"I got a little bit too low on myself," Harris said. "So I've got to get back to that even keel where I can't let things affect me and just stay positive."
Harris was asked if there is anything he wants to get off his chest. This is what he said:
"People say I am playing bad right now. I don't really think I'm playing bad. I just think I'm not shooting the ball well."
Harris acknowledged he didn't play well in Bedlam. But he believes he defended well in OSU's Big 12 home games, limiting Texas' A.J. Abrams, Texas A&M's Josh Carter and Texas Tech's Jake Voskuil to 10-of-31 shooting and 1-of-14 accuracy from 3-point range.
But Harris, OSU's leading scorer in road games, is the Cowboys' fifth-leading scorer at home. He is 4-of-33 behind the arc at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
"I'm kind of a streaky shooter, so when I start missing, it's kind of off," he said.
"Once I shoot about three or four and it's off, it's going to be off for a little while. But once it's on, it's on."
Harris believes his shooting wouldn't be a big issue if OSU was winning. The Cowboys have lost five straight games, so problems are magnified.
Is Harris too talented to remain in a shooting funk?
"I think he is," Sutton said. "But it has been a mystery for the last three games why he hadn't produced. He hadn't shot the ball well at home all year long. Early, the first month of practice, there was nobody that shot the ball better than he had. It has been a strange season for him."