Oklahoma basketball tips off the new year and its Big 12 schedule on Saturday afternoon with the Sooners hosting head coach Lon Kruger’s alma mater, the Kansas State Wildcats.
The Sooners head into their 2019 Big 12 opener with a 9-3 record, the fourth best nonconference mark to begin the season in head coach Lon Kruger’s nine seasons at OU (the Sooners opened the season 11-0 in 2015-16, Buddy Hield’s senior season, 12-1 in Trae Young’s debut in 2017-18 and 11-1 last season).
Of Oklahoma’s 12 games thus far, only five have been played at home at the Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners are 5-0 at home this season and 5-3 away from Norman.
A reunion game for head coach Lon Kruger
This will be the 17th time Kruger has faced his former team and alma mater since becoming the head coach at OU in 2011. He is just 6-10 against K-State, but 5-3 when the Wildcats come to Norman. The Sooners have a decided advantage all-time (63-28), however, when playing at home against Kansas State.
After finishing 25-9 a year ago and as co-champions in the Big 12 with a 14-4 record, Kansas State is struggling a bit this season, going 7-5 against nonconference opponents to begin the 2019-20 campaign.
Kansas State is last in the Big 12 in scoring offense through 12 games, averaging just 66.8 points a game, but the Cats make up for that with the best scoring defense, holding teams to 60.3 points a contest.
The Sooners, led by the trio of Kristian Doolittle, Austin Reaves and Brady Manek, all averaging in double figures in scoring, average 75.3 points a game. All three players rank in the top 10 in the Big 12 in scoring (Doolittle at 16.7, Reaves 16.3 and Manek 15.3).
Doolittle sat out OU’s last game, a win over the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley because of what Kruger called a violation of team rules. The Sooner head coach has not said whether the suspension is one game or more, but Oklahoma definitely needs Doolittle on the floor on Saturday against Kansas State.
Defense could be the deciding factor in this game
So the difference in this game would appear to be which team is able to dictate the style of game it likes to play. Oklahoma likes to get up and down the floor and play at a quicker pace. Kansas State, on the other hand, enjoys a style of play that is very similar to the Wildcat football team: slower and deliberate and looking to create offense with good defense.
With fewer scoring weapons than in the past couple of years, Kansas State wants a game in the 60s instead of the 70s or 80s.
Senior Xavier Sneed leads K-State in scoring, averaging 14.4 points a game. Cartier Diarra is averaging 12.8. Mike McGuirl is the Wildcats best three-point shooter, making 45 percent of his three-ball attempts.
Ball security has been a big plus for Oklahoma this season. The Sooners rank sixth in the country, averaging just 10 per game.
If the game is close down the stretch — and this is likely to be the case if the game is played to K-State’s liking, in the high 50s or 60s — Oklahoma will have the advantage at the free-throw line. The Sooners lead the Big 12, shooting close to 80 percent as a team from the charity stripe.
The game should be close, but I give the Sooners the edge because of playing at home.
Oklahoma 66, Kansas State 59