It’s not football, but whenever it’s Oklahoma vs. Texas, it’s a big deal, and on Monday night at the Frank Irwin Center in Austin, the two longtime border rivals will battle it out for the right to stay out of the cellar in Big 12 men’s basketball.
The Sooners enter the first of at least two Red River basketball showdowns with archrival Texas this season with a 2-5 record in Big 12 games and 8-10 overall. The Longhorns (1-6, 7-12) have one fewer win than Oklahoma in the conference and overall, but could pull even with the Sooners with a victory on Monday night.
The six conference losses by the Longhorns are a little misleading considering that three of those defeats were by three points or less.
The Sooner men are hopeful of experiencing a different fate than the OU women, who fell by 18 points, 86-68, to the 12th-ranked Lady Longhorns on the road at Texas last week.
Oklahoma leads the all-time Red River basketball series 53-36 and also owns a 21-17 advantage in games between the two teams played in Austin. The Sooners have won six of the last eight meetings with the Longhorns. One of those two losses, however, came the last time the two teams played at Texas.
The Longhorns held home court last season, defeating OU 76-63 with a big second-half run to break up a tight game. Texas might have pulled out the game in Norman last season, as well, were it not for a Buddy Hield three-point dagger at the buzzer to give the Sooners a 63-60 victory.
The Sooners and Longhorns are the two youngest teams in the Big 12, with the majority of both rosters consisting of freshmen and sophomores.
Freshmen players contribute 58 of Texas’ 68 points per game. Sooner freshmen account for 49 of OU’s average 76 points per game.
Oklahoma is led by senior guard Jordan Woodard, who averages almost 18 points per game. Woodard has scored 21, 25 and 27 points in his past three games, 57 of those combined 73 points coming after halftime. The Sooners are 2-1 in those three games.
The Sooners are also getting strong contributions in the last couple of games from the freshman duo of Kameron McGusty and Kristian Doolittle. McGusty had 19 points in OU’s loss at home to Iowa State on Saturday and has scored at least nine points in all seven of the Sooners’ Big 12 games.
On Saturday vs. Iowa State, Doolittle recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Texas forward Jarrett Allen had a monster game in a losing effort at Kansas over the weekend. The 6-foot, 11-inch freshman torched the Jayhawks in the paint, scoring 22 points and pulling down 19 rebounds. He will be a load for the Sooners’ Khadeem Lattin and Jamuni McNeace to handle down low.
The Longhorns are having to regroup after losing top scorer Tevin Mack to an indefinite suspension earlier this month. Mack was averaging 14.8 points a game this season. Texas has three other players averaging right at double figures in the scoring column. sophomore Kerwin Roach Jr., freshman Andrew Jones average 11 points per game, and senior Shaquille Cleare contributes 10 a game.
Both teams have struggled this season finding offensive and defensive consistency, largely the result of having so many new players. There is talent on both sides, but is still very much a work in progress for both head coaches.
OU and Texas are at the bottom of the conference in scoring margin, field-goal percentage, assists and turnover margin, which serves to underscore the fact that the two teams are fairly evenly matched.
Game Prediction
As he has been all season, Jordan Woodard will be the key to the Sooners chances of getting out of Austin with a victory. If the senior guard and his teammates play like they did at West Virginia last week and for a full 40 minutes (hopefully not longer), Oklahoma should have enough to get the win. But this is a rivalry game, which makes the outcome highly unpredictable ,and frankly a little scary if you are a Sooner fan. Oklahoma 74, Texas 69.