Oklahoma basketball: Sooners back home for Red River revenge rematch

Times have become a bit desperate for Oklahoma basketball, and here come the hated Texas Longhorns, the team that started the Sooners’ current four-game losing streak.

The Sooners, ranked 23rd in the country this week, are back home at Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday for a late-morning tip against Texas, which won the first game between the two teams a couple of Saturdays ago, coming from behind to pull out a 79-74 victory.

Now the scene shifts to OU, where the 23rd-ranked Sooners have revenge in their minds and are desperate for a win to get back to .500 in Big 12 play. The Sooners have won the last five games against Texas at the Lloyd Noble Center and seven of the last 10.

Oklahoma owns a 54-38 advantage in the all-time series with Texas, but is 28-11 when the game is played in Norman and has won of the last 10 against their archrival in the Lloyd Noble Center.

Round two of the Red River roundball rivalry features a contrast in styles. Texas doesn’t score that many points. They’re dead last in the Big 12, averaging 72.4 points a game. But they don’t give up that many, either. Longhorn opponents average 68.0 points a game, that’s 20 points below what Oklahoma is averaging on the offensive end.

Texas (15-11, 5-8) is currently in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Big 12 standings, but is just one game back of Oklahoma (16-9, 6-7), which is tied with Baylor in the No. 5 position.