Shot clocks for high school basketball remain a no for nearly half the states

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Jim Norick Arena has hosted state tournament basketball games in Oklahoma since 1966. It is slated to be demolished after this year’s championships but as one tradition ends an even older one will remain.

Because Oklahoma does not use shot clocks, teams still will be able to hold the ball as long as they wish to slow the action.

In Wednesday’s games, Lincoln Christian’s girls attempted just 14 shots in the second half of a Class A quarterfinal win over Madill. Locust Grove and Kingfisher both attempted just 37 shots each in another quarterfinal.

The National Federation of State High School Associations says 21 states and Washington, D.C. will use shot clocks in some capacity by the start of the 2026-27 season. Others are studying it.

The 20 or so holdouts include Oklahoma, where the Secondary School Activities Association voted 8-7 against shot clocks in 2023. Weeks later, Weatherford defeated Anadarko 4-2 in a result that drew national scorn.

Coaches say there are benefits in the discipline required to control the game through time management, but they also believe adding a shot clock would help player development. Lateshia Woods, who coaches the high-scoring Oklahoma City Douglass girls team, said the change is overdue.

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“The game has elevated,” she said. “And if you are playing in high school and your plan is to go to college, you’re going to have a shot clock (in college). So we need to really be training these kids to be able to play at the next level. I never want to dumb down the sport. But if we don’t continue to elevate it to where they can play at the next level … that’s what we’re doing.”

Perhaps the most famous example of stalling at the high school level made it to the big screen. Back in 1954, tiny Milan High School in Indiana won the all-class championship by beating Muncie Central in the final, an upset that inspired the 1986 film “Hoosiers.”

For all the excitement of the final game in the film, the reality is that Bobby Plump — the real-life Jimmy Chitwood — held the ball unchallenged for four minutes in the fourth quarter with Milan trailing by two, slowing the game against a bigger and more athletic opponent and eventually helping to put him in position to hit the game winner in the closing seconds.

Teams don’t usually take it that far these days. But a shot clock would eliminate the possibility altogether.

University of Oklahoma women’s coach Jennie Baranczyk, who watched the games at the Big House on Wednesday, said the best way to learn if prospects can function well with a shot clock is to watch them play with one. That means she has to watch players from Oklahoma and states that don’t have shot clocks play on summer teams to see how they handle the pressure. She said she sees both sides of the issue, but noted that there are numerous pros to having a shot clock at the high school level.

“I think it can teach players how to manage the game,” she said. “It’s fun. It gets a lot of possessions in the game, especially if they want to keep playing.”

Joe Adkins is the boys high school coach at Grind Prep in Oklahoma City. His team played most of its games out of state with a 24-second clock. He said when his teams play with a clock, his opponents get about 60 possessions per game. When the team returns to play games in Oklahoma, that number sometimes drops into the 30s.

“Of course, there are benefits to it,” Adkins said. “Pace of play, entertainment. I mean, when you have people paying (to watch games), they want to see something.”

Woods said her team operates as though it is playing with a shot clock. Even as Douglass was trying to hold on in a 58-47 win over Bethany, the Trojanettes were aggressive and took open shots.

“Honestly, the women’s side of basketball, we’ve progressed so much -- we don’t want to slow it down,” she said. “We want to speed it up.”

Fort Gibson girls coach Scott Lowe said back when he was an assistant coach, his team struggled to get into its sets, so he suggested that the team practice with a shot clock. The head coach agreed, and the team got good results.

“Through it, we found that it helped us develop mentally,” he said. “And so I think it helps kids because I think it teaches you to go set screens quicker and crisper instead of just dragging or lulling around the floor.”

Lowe said shot clocks won’t always be ideal for teams trying to hold big leads, but ultimately, they are good for the game. He thinks it’s a matter of time before Oklahoma joins the majority of states that are at least experimenting with it.

“I think it’s going to happen,” Lowe said. “I’m pretty sure it’s going to happen.”

Adkins said it will be an adjustment for players and coaches if Oklahoma makes the change.

“You’re going to have to live with some of those quicker shots,” he said. “But because we do coach with so much discipline, that’s a good thing because Oklahoma kids are taught well. They’re disciplined. They’re fundamentally sound.”