Oklahoma vs. LSU: A Matchup of the Two Best Players in College Basketball
By Chip Rouse
It doesn’t get much better than this: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. LSU in a game showcasing arguably the best two players in college basketball this season.
Oklahoma heads back out on the road for a date at LSU (12-7, 6-2) on Saturday as part of the Big 12-SEC Basketball Challenge. Most of the attention in this game will be focused on Oklahoma senior Buddy Hield and LSU freshman sensation Ben Simmons.
Hield leads the Big 12 in scoring for a second straight season, averaging with a 25.9 points a game, and most of those points come from dead-eye three-point shooting. He is shooting an incredible 52 percent from three-point range, the second-best percentage in the college basketball averaging 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the three-point arc and 90 percent from the free-throw line.
LSU superstar Simmons is averaging 19.8 points, 12.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.8 steals for a day’s work on the court. He has 15 double-doubles this season in points and rebounds, and shoots for a high average himself (55 percent from the field), but most of those points have come from close range or at the rim. The 6-10 Simmons has attempted only three treys all season. He gets to the free-throw line a lot, though, and when he is there he shoots 71 percent.
Both teams have four players averaging double digits in scoring. Besides Simmons, the Bayou Tigers’ second-best scorer is 6-4 senior guard Keith Hornsby, who is averaging 13.2 points per game. Junior Jordan Woodard, who leads the nation in three-point percentage at 55 percent, is No. 2 in the scoring column for the Sooners, averaging 14.9 points per game.
The Sooners lead the country in three-point shooting. The five Oklahoma starters are averaging 49.3 from three-point range. The Sooners average 11.2 three-pointers per game, and in 13 of their 19 games this season they have made 10 or moBothre three-point shots.
LSU is 11-1 at home this season in the Pete Maravich Center. The Tigers have 77 wins all-time against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 at the time the game was played. Thirty-seven of those 77 wins are over teams ranked in the top-10. The Tigers already have a win over a top-10 team this season. They defeated then-No. 9 Kentucky earlier this month.
The No. 1 team in this week’s AP poll, Oklahoma has played six ranked teams this season, winning four of the six contests.
Three Key Things to Watch for in the Game
- Both teams average more than 80 points a game on offense, but the Sooners have performed better on the defensive end. OU leads the Big 12, holding opponents to 39 percent shooting, which ranks 23rd nationally, and 71 point a game. LSU is going to need more than that if its plans to take down the high-scoring Sooners. The team that plays the best defense will win this game.
- Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield and the Tigers’ Ben Simmons are going to get the most attention in this Big 12-SEC matchup (wouldn’t it be terrific it the two conferences were to do something similar in football?), and rightfully so. That is why the contributions of the supporting casts on both sides is going to be an important factor in determining the outcome.
- Protecting the rim: When Ben Simmons heads to the rim, as he no doubt will do often in this game, he will probably find the Sooners’ Khadeem Lattin waiting. The 6-9 Sooner sophomore is averaging almost three blocks per game, and in the last three games alone he has forged a combined total of 15 blocked shots, including a career-high eight against Texas Tech earlier this week.
My pick: Oklahoma 86, LSU 77 – For the Tigers to pull off the upset over the No. 1-ranked Sooners, they are going to have to shut down the potent Oklahoma offense – and that means slowing down or containing more than just Buddy Hield – while hitting a high percentage themselves. The more veteran team will hold serve in this one.