After three consecutive games against ranked teams in the Big 12, Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech would appear to be a welcome sight for the Sooners.
Coming home to play an unranked team after playing their last two games on the road against a pair of top-20 teams is certainly preferable, but don’t be fooled by the 2-5 conference record and unranked status of Texas Tech. This Red Raider team is no patsy to anybody, anywhere.
Texas Tech lost games to West Virginia and Baylor by a combined six points and lost to Kansas by 10, but the loss to the Jayhawks was closer than the final score indicates. Those three losses were all at home, but the Red Raiders fell by just seven points at Iowa State, the same place where Oklahoma lost by five points last Monday.
Oklahoma owns a 36-21 record overall against Texas Tech and is 21-7 in games played at Lloyd Noble Center. This will be just the fourth true road game for the Red Raiders this season. They are 1-2 in those games and are 12-6 for the season.
Buddy Hield’s 25.7 points per game scoring average leads the Big 12 and is fourth nationally (first, however, among players in power five conferences). OU’s National Player of the Year candidate has scored 20 or more points in 10 of his last 12 games and is shooting a sensational 51.7 percent from three-point range, the second-best percentage in the country behind teammate Jordan Woodard, who is shooting 55 percent from long range.
As a team, the Sooners’ three-point shooting percentage of 46 percent leads the nation and is better than six Big 12 teams are shooting overall from the field.
Woodard has averaged 15 points a game over his past five games and had a game-high 20 points on Saturday vs. 13th-ranked Baylor.
The Sooners continue to lead the Big 12 in rebounding, averaging 41.6 boards per game, led by Ryan Spangler (9.9) and Khadeem Lattin (6.6).
Texas Tech is led in the scoring column by Devaugntah Williams, averaging 12.5 points per game, and Toddrick Gotcher’s 10.9.
Three Things to Watch for in the Game
- The Sooners seem to thrive on the three-point line. They lead the nation in three-point shooting percentage (46 percent). In the past two games, Oklahoma has made a combined 33 three-point shots. Against Iowa State, more than half of the Sooners field-goal attempts were from behind the three-point line (they made a season-high 17 of 32 treys in that game alone). OU needs to work the ball inside more, where the shots are a higher percentage and defensive fouls are more frequent. The Sooners have outscored badly in the paint the past few games. As long as they stay hot from outside, all is well. What troubles me, however, is what could happen if OU’s long gunners have an off day, which has been a rare day, indeed, this season.
- If the game is close at the end and it comes down to a free-throw-shooting contest, this could spell some trouble for the Sooners. Oklahoma does not shoot badly from the free-throw stripe (71 percent), but the Red Raiders shoot 75 percent as a team from the free-throw line.
- Oklahoma is one of the best transition teams in the country. Against Baylor, the Sooners turned 18 forced turnovers, 13 of which were steals, into 28 points at the other end. Playing at home, Oklahoma likes to get out and run even more. If the Red Raiders are not able to cut down on OU’s transition opportunities, it could be a long game for the visitors and things could get out of hand very quickly.
My pick: Oklahoma 85, Texas Tech 69 – Texas Tech has been playing good basketball in its third full season under head coach Tubby Smith, but this is a veteran Oklahoma team that is explosive offensively, plays sound defense and plays together as well as any team in the country. If Oklahoma plays somewhere near its best and even if Texas Tech protects the ball and shoots well, the Sooners are easily double-digits better than the Red Raiders.