Kuol Atak fuels high hopes for Moser and Sooners … as long as it doesn't stay in Vegas
You really have to hand it to Dayton Forsythe.
Not only did the Dale legend and Sooner sophomore come back from injury to play the final 12 games of the season prior to Wednesday, bolstering the bench and helping propel Oklahoma on a late-season run that dang near took it from nowhere all the way to the NCAA tournament.
As reported by The Oklahoman’s Colton Sulley, he also chose to get the surgery required to address his injuries, two torn ankle tendons and a floating piece of bone, earlier this week.
That meant, naturally, Porter Moser, with a new lease on his coaching life, had to pull 6-foot-9 freshman wing Kuol Atak off the bench and onto the court after he had seen no action since Feb. 21 against Texas A&M.
Not the NCAA tournament and not the NIT, the latter an invitation OU declined, the Sooners were back on the court Wednesday night in Las Vegas to face Colorado in a made-for-Fox event called the College Basketball Crown.
Unique in its appeal, the CBC offers its teams — OU, Colorado, Baylor, Minnesota, Stanford, West Virginia, Rutgers, Creighton — a guaranteed $50,000 in NIL funds for reaching the semifinal round, $100,000 for reaching the final and $300,000 for winning the championship.
Against the Buffs, OU trailed from the moment Colorado went up 5-4 on a 3-pointer from Ian Inman 71 seconds after the tip to the moment it took the lead 61-58 on a 3-pointer from Nigel Pack with 8:28 remaining.
The Sooners, who trailed by ten points 1:14 before the half, only to hit the break within 41-37, eventually pushed their own lead to seven only to give it away and face overtime, an extra session they led most of the way only to trail both 83-82 and 85-84 before pushing their free-throw streak to 15 straight, on a night they made 28 of 32, to finally prevail 90-86.
Sorry for the long sentence, but now you know.
Kuol Atak.
He hit two of those free throws down the stretch, the ones that put OU back in front after Colorado grabbed its original overtime edge, which alone would have been huge had they been his only points.
As far as Atak knew, OU needed them to win, so the game and season were on the line and, for crying out loud, he hadn’t attempted a free throw since facing Texas A&M, not on Feb. 21, but the first time around, on Jan. 10 on the Aggies’ home court, almost three full months ago.
Crazy.
Yet, not only did he make the free throws, he hit 4 of 11 from 3-point range — better than anybody on his team save Derrion Reid, who made 1 of 2 in only 12 minutes, a consequence of foul trouble — added a 2-pointer and finished with 16 points, all of which the Sooners needed.
It’s not the first time he’s looked like OU’s next big thing.
The former four-star prospect out of Haltom City, Texas, Atak scored 18 points opening night against St. Francis, 24 in the Sooners’ final non-conference game against Mississippi Valley State and 14 in OU’s next game, an 86-70 victory over Ole Miss.
In that one, he knocked down 5 of 10 shots, 4 of 9 from 3-point range, and added a driving dunk out of OU’s half-court set that you can watch right here.
Moser, doing postgame media alongside point guard Nigel Pack, who led the Sooners with 20 points, offered a hint at why Atak had been so scarce for so long by paying him a specific compliment.
“Kuol got to play really big minutes and he got to play really big minutes on the defensive end,” he said. “That’s going to help him grow.”
It’s the defensive end that’s held him back.
Remember his game against Ole Miss, a contest OU won by 16? Atak was just plus-4 over his 22 minutes on the court despite his offensive output. Against the Buffs, he was plus-5 over 22 minutes in a four-point victory.
Potentially, it’s fantastic news for Sooner hoops.
Because Atak’s offensive game, even with plenty of room to grow, is beautiful.
His shot is quick, smooth and a little majestic, and when he knocks down a couple it feels like there’s more coming and often there is and who doesn’t want to watch that.
Also, given OU chose to chase a postseason despite missing the Big Dance, chose one that will put additional money in its players’ pockets, and given new athletic director Roger Denny’s insistence more resources are on their way into the program, if Moser can mostly keep his roster together through the next transfer portal window, April 7 to April 21, next season could be a big one for his team.
Because a team that brings back Xzayvier Brown, Reid, Forsythe and a new, improved and perpetually gifted Atak, whose defense no longer keeps his offense on the bench, along with a few portal additions who can play, might just have something.
Way back when, I didn’t want Moser to get a third season.
Coming up, maybe his sixth earns him a seventh, finally for the right reasons.
Discovering Atak all over again and continuing this Vegas run makes all of it more likely.
Just your typical narrow overtime victory in a tournament you don’t set out to reach.
Continued momentum, too.
OU gets Baylor at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Kind of fun.
This is the kind of story that should get Oklahoma fans interested—but not carried away.
Kuol Atak clearly has potential. He came in with a reputation as a shooter and spent a year developing, which matters. But right now, he’s still mostly projection. We haven’t seen him do it consistently at this level yet.
What really stands out isn’t just Atak—it’s that Porter Moser finally has more depth and flexibility on the roster. There are more options, more size, and more ways to put lineups together than in past seasons.
The issue is whether it all comes together.
This team has a lot of new pieces, and that usually takes time. If Atak contributes and the rest of the roster clicks, Oklahoma could be better than expected. If not, it’s another season where things look promising on paper but don’t fully translate.
So there’s a reason to be optimistic—but it’s still a wait-and-see situation.