The regular season comes to a close for OU basketball on Saturday with the Sooners taking to the road to face TCU in Ft. Worth.
The Sooners are going after their 24th win of the season and No. 12 in Big 12 action and hoping to finish out the regular season with consecutive wins for the first time in over a month.
TCU is led in scoring by a pair of sophomore guards. Chauncey Collins and Malique Trent average 11.8 and 11.7 points a game, respectively. Collins has scored in double figures in each of the Horned Frogs’ last four games, and he has been perfect from the free-throw line in three of the last five games and in 11 games this season.
TCU averages just 67 points a game this season, but they also have held 13 opponents under 70 points. By contrast, Oklahoma ranks third in the Big 12 in scoring offense and 19th nationally, averaging 81.1 per game through all games.
Three Things to Know About This Game
- TCU has the second worst field-goal-percentage defense in the Big 12, allowing opponents to average 44-percent shooting from the field. Oklahoma ranks second in the Big 12 to Kansas in field-goal defense, holding opponents to 40-percent shooting.
- TCU has shot 223 fewer three-pointers this season than the Sooners, who have launched 720 three-balls this season, the most in the Big 12. Believe it or not, there are quite a few teams in Division I college basketball who have put up more three-point shots this season than Oklahoma, but there are only six other teams that have made more than the Sooners’ 308.
- Ryan Spangler, the Big 12 leader in rebounds, averaging almost 10 per game, has scored in double figure in seven of OU’s past 12 games, and reached double digits in rebounds in six of those games. He scored a career-26 points in Oklahoma’s victory nine days ago over Bedlam rival Oklahoma State. he also had 14 rebounds in that game, 10 of them on the offensive glass.
My pick: Oklahoma 80, TCU 65 – I’m inclined to say this will be an easy win for the Sooners, but the way they have closed out games the past two games, I’m hesitant to say that about any Sooner game for the rest of the season. I believe season-long wear and tear and plenty of minutes on the court is beginning to take its toll on this talented and experienced group of Oklahoma starters. I do believe, though, that OU has more firepower and defensive ability than TCU – I’m happy we aren’t talking football right now – to put away the Horned Frogs and close out the regular season on a winning note.