Teams preparing for Oral Roberts are supposed to be confused -- to be hit with a sort of paralysis by analysis. Which player are you supposed to focus on? Who, exactly, should be at the top of the scouting report? With plenty of players capable of taking over, it simply becomes a numbers game that is hard to solve. 
 
That’s the plan, at least.
 
“I’ve talked to them about it since day one. If we can have five players that average double digits, we’re really hard to guard,” said second-year Golden Eagles head coach Kelsi Musick. 
 
Her team has embraced that.
 
At 14-5 (5-1), the second-place Golden Eagles are flying in Musick’s up-tempo, dribble drive offense, and on track for the program’s best season in over a decade. UT Arlington transfer Taleyah Jones has been the scoring star, but Musick’s plan has taken shape, with five players averaging at least 11.5 points per game. On any given night, any number of players can play that leading role.
 
“There’s no one necessarily hunting shots,” she said. “They genuinely do share the basketball, but they also embrace the freedom that I give them, and they don’t shy away from taking shots.”
 
Musick’s fast-paced, free-flowing approach provided a jolt to the program when she took over a year ago. The Golden Eagles played at the second-fastest tempo in the country per herhoopstats.com, as guard Hannah Cooper morphed into a first team all-league player and the team finished 12-19 (8-10).
 
This year, the pace is still fast (13th in the country) but the results have been even better.
 
“We have these players that truly do fit our system and they have bought in not only to our system, but to Oral Roberts and our coaching staff,” Musick said. “We are really being able to see the dividends of this recruiting class.”
 
One night it may be Jones (16.8 ppg) leading the way in the creative chaos that comes from ORU’s offense. On another, like last Saturday, it might be Ruthie Udoumoh, who scored 23 points in a big win over North Dakota State. And there’s still Cooper, who has not had to carry the offensive burden she did a year ago, but is still dangerous (12.6 ppg, 4.3 apg). 
 
The way newcomers like Jones, Jalei Oglesby (13.1 ppg), who is the top-scoring reserve in the Summit League, and freshman Emily Robinson (11.5 ppg) have gelled with the returners has created a team that Musick simply trusts to make the right decisions.
 
“They are so coachable that it allows us to make changes in the middle of a game, and I have noticed we almost do better in the flow of things,” she said.
 
Take for example the Golden Eagles’ last second win against Northern Colorado, where the Bears had hit a go-ahead three with 12 seconds left in the game. In a situation Musick said most coaches might take a timeout, she instead let her team play out the final sequence on their own. 
 
It worked. Cooper drained the clock, drove the lane and used a Sara Rodrigues low-post screen to make what would be the winning lay up. 
 
“I just know what they are capable of, and we are just gaining that trust,” Musick said.
 
That mix this year includes Oglesby who, in addition to being the teams’ second leading scorer despite coming off the bench, has a unique connection to her coach. The Arkansas Tech transfer is a former Great American Conference scoring champion, putting up points in the same Division II league that Musick competed in for 13 years as the coach of Southwestern Oklahoma State University. 
 
Oglesby was certainly on her radar. Musick can remember worrying about how her team would guard Oglesby during her freshman year, but Musick never actually got to coach against her due to injuries.
 
Now, the success the former Division II star is having stands out to her coach.
 
“It is pretty neat,” Musick said. “It shows that basketball is played at a high level at a multitude of different divisions.” 
 
The Golden Eagles have reached their own high level not only because of their offense, but also because of a defensive uptick. The team is allowing nearly 10 points less per game than it did a year ago (73.1), which is in part because of Jones, who Musick said does not get enough credit for the offensive work she does while having to often guard the opposition’s best player. 
 
Defensive communication, in addition to free throws and closing games out, are things the team still needs to work on according to Musick. ORU also gets the Summit’s stiffest test with two games against South Dakota State in short succession over the next two weeks. Musick said those games are what you play for: 40-minute opportunities to put your best foot forward. 
 
In their own, up-tempo way, that’s just what the Golden Eagles have done this year. 
 
“The thing about this team is they’re real gritty and coachable,” Musick said. “They really get along and play hard for each other.”

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