Oklahoma basketball has had its success when the men play in enemy territory in Austin, but it hasn’t come easily and it hasn’t been recently.
In the all-time series between Red River rivals Oklahoma and Texas, the Sooners actually hold a narrow 22-19 advantage when the two teams square off deep in the heart of Longhorn Country. But that road advantage has been slowly slipping away, with Oklahoma losing in its last four visits to Austin.
The two longtime rivals match up pretty evenly statistically, including their 10-3 records. Texas is a three-point favorite, according to The Action Nework, largely because of home court. I, too, sided with the Longhorns in my earlier preview of the game, but in the anticipation it would be a close one at the end.
While my head is overriding my heart in predicting the outcome of this Red River Showdown, I do believe Oklahoma has a chance to steal a win and return home with a perfect 2-0 record in the conference before heading back out on the road at the end of the week to play at Iowa State.
A couple of factors to keep a close eye on as the game progresses:
- Oklahoma may be the worst first-half team in the country so far this season. Interestingly, the Sooners have been outscored by just three points in the first half of games this season (455 to 452), yet they have led at the intermission in just four of 13 games. Three of the four games in which OU led at the break, however, were away from Norman. They only lost one of those games. If Oklahoma leads Texas at the half on Wednesday night, and the advantage is at least three points, the Sooners will win the game.
- Oklahoma is one of only two major teams with three player averaging at least 14 points per game. Kristian Doolittle leads the Sooners with a 16.9 scoring average, Wichita State transfer Austin Reaves averages 16.6 and Brady Manek contributes a solid 14.9 points per contest. The Sooners also are one of five teams from major conferences with two players scoring at least 16 points per game. If two of the three of the Sooner starters equal or exceed their scoring average and the third at least reaches double digits in the scoring column, Oklahoma will come away with the road victory at Texas.