Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma Basketball: TCU Next Up for No. 1 Sooners

By Chip Rouse

Jan 30, 2016; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Isaiah Cousins (11) celebrates after a game winning basket with teammates guard Jordan Woodard (10) and guard Dinjiyl Walker (2) during the second half of a game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Oklahoma defeated LSU 77-75. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 30, 2016; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Isaiah Cousins (11) celebrates after a game winning basket with teammates guard Jordan Woodard (10) and guard Dinjiyl Walker (2) during the second half of a game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Oklahoma defeated LSU 77-75. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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Next up for the Oklahoma basketball Sooners is a home date with TCU on Tuesday night.

The Sooners are seeking their 18th consecutive win at Lloyd Noble Center and their 19th victory in the 2015-16 college season. TCU is one game under .500 overall this season, at 10-11, but has won just once in eight Big 12 contests.

The Horned Frogs, led by head coach Trent Johnson, are coming off one of the seven Big 12 wins in the Big 12-SEC Challenge on Saturday. TCU, like the Sooners against LSU, turned around a 14-point deficit in the second half to win by 12 against Tennessee. The Horned Frogs shot a sizzling 62 percent in the second half of the Tennessee game, while holding the visiting Volunteers to just 23.5-percent shooting in the second stanza and 0 for 15 from three-point range.

Jan 23, 2016; Waco, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Jordan Woodard (10) goes for a shot against Baylor Bears forward Johnathon Motley (5) at Ferrell Center. Oklahoma won 82-72. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 23, 2016; Waco, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Jordan Woodard (10) goes for a shot against Baylor Bears forward Johnathon Motley (5) at Ferrell Center. Oklahoma won 82-72. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports /

TCU’s Malique Trent led the Horned Frogs with 15 points against Tennessee and is the team’s leading scorer on the season, averaging 11.2 points per game. Trent also leads the team in steals, averaging nearly two per game. Viad Brodziansky and Chauncey Collins both average over 10 points a game.

The Horned Frogs only victory against a Big 12 opponent so far this season was a one-point win at home over Texas in early January.

TCU is 7-0 this year when it holds its opponent below 40-percent shooting. The problem with that stat, from a Horned Frogs perspective, is that the high-scoring Sooners have shot worse than 40 percent from the field only once in a regulation game this season (33 percent vs. West Virginia and 39 percent against Kansas). And on eight occasions, OU has shot better than 50 percent, including a 62 percent outing against Baylor.

Three Things to Watch for in this Game

  • Oklahoma is the fifth highest-scoring team in the country, averaging 85.4 points per game. TCU averages just 68.6 points per game and is yielding an average of 68.3. The Sooners have been held under 80 points just four times in 20 games, and the Horned Frogs are not likely to accomplish that in a game played in Norman.
  • The Sooners continue to rely on deadly three-point shooting and lead the nation in that category, knocking down 46.8-percent of their shots from three-point range. TCU has limited its opponents to 32-percent three-point shooting, but the Sooners have too many weapons from deep to completely take away OU’s scoring ability from behind the three-point line (four starters firing at a better than 40-percent clip from long range), and – say no more – they have Buddy Hield, who has proven unstoppable when he gets it going, which is often.
  • Oklahoma is the Big 12’s best rebounding team, with 6-8 Ryan Spangler and 6-9 Khadeem Lattin patrolling the boards. TCU is the worst rebounding team in the conference. This translates into added scoring opportunities for the Sooners, which is bad news for the Horned Frogs against a team that shoots close to 50 percent from the field.

My pick: Oklahoma 83, TCU 67 – Too much offense for a team that doesn’t play defense all that well and against an opponent that bothers to play solid defense as a big catalyst for its high-powered scoring machine.

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