The Octagon of Doom, as Kansas State’s Bramlage Coliseum is sometimes called, has been a house of horrors for Oklahoma basketball in recent seasons.
That’s where the Sooners are headed on Wednesday with a chance to record a season sweep over OU head coach Lon Kruger’s alma mater. The problem is, Oklahoma has lost in its last seven visits to Manhattan, Kansas, and is just 2-8 in its last 10 games there.
Even the 2015-16 edition of the Sooners, with national player of the year Buddy Hield, couldn’t get the job done on the road at K-State. falling 80-69.
This is a different time and different players, but the fact remains that the Wildcats have dominated Oklahoma at home with 62 wins and just 36 losses in a series that began in 1920. The overall series has been closely contested, with the Sooners winning 109 times and Kansas State 101.
Oklahoma’s last win in the Little Apple was in 2012 in Kruger’s first season at OU. That was also the last season the Sooners swept the season series against the Wildcats.
Both teams hold decisive advantages on their home court, and this factor held true earlier this month. Oklahoma won the first meeting this season, 66-61, earlier this month in Norman, but it took a 12-0 run to close out the game and avoid the upset.
A prime story line in this game is head coach Lon Kruger’s ties to Kansas State. As a player at Kansas State (1971-74), Kruger was a two-time Big Eight Player of the Year, and he served as head coach at his alma mater for five seasons (1986-90). His jersey number (12) hangs from the rafters in Bramlage Coliseum.
Oklahoma enters Wednesday night’s contest at K-State with an overall record of 13-6 and 3-3 in the Big 12. K-State comes into the game with an 8-11 record and 1-5 in the conference. Both teams are coming off closely contested games in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. OU defeated Mississippi State by a single point, while the Wildcats battled Alabama to the very end, but fell short by a score of 77-74 on the road in Tuscaloosa.
Senior Xavier Sneed and redshirt junior Cartier Diarra are the main offensive threats for Kansas State. Sneed is averaging 14.7 and Diarra 13.2 points per game. Senior Makol Mawien averages close to eight points a game. In the first game this season, Sneed and Diarra combined for 32 points in the first game this season between the two teams.
Mawien is a cousin of Oklahoma 6-foot, 10-inch junior forward Kur Kuath. Both are from South Sudan in Africa.
Firing on all cylinders, OU can play with anybody
The Sooners continue to be one of the few teams in the country to have three starters averaging better than 14 points per game. Brady Manek, averaging a team-best 15.8 per game, has been on fire lately. In his last three games, the junior forward has averaged 23.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and four three-pointers per contest and is shooting 50 percent from the field.
Senior Kristian Doolittle is right there with Manek in the scoring column. The senior is averaging 15.4 a game. Wichita State transfer Austin Reaves is averaging 14.4 a game. The Sooners’ problem has been, if the any of the big three are having an off game, there hasn’t been enough support behind them to make up the difference.
True freshman De’Vion Harmon is averaging 8.4 points a game, but he hasn’t been consistent. Junior college transfer Alondes Williams had his best performance with 12 points in the Sooners’ win over Mississippi State and might be hitting his stride offensively. He’s averaged 8.0 points in his last three games.
The Sooners have not been a good rebounding team, and they are the worst offensive rebounding team in the Big 12. They are also one of the poorest shooting teams in the conference, based on field-goal percentage. These two factors have been largely responsible for Oklahoma’s six losses this season, and it almost cost them in a couple more games that they ended up winning.\
Oklahoma has outrebounded its opponent only seven times in 19 games, and has led in offensive rebounds in just five games.
When OU posts a higher shooting percentage than its opponent, the Sooners are 12-1 this season.
Bottom line
To snap its seven-game road losing streak at Kansas State, Oklahoma is going to have get good games from the big three plus at least one other Sooner, rebound well against a K-State team that is as challenged in that department as OU and force the Wildcats to play from behind.
The Sooners cannot afford to start slow and play catchup against a team, on the road, that likes to slow things down and play games in the 60s.
I’m not convinced this Oklahoma team can check all of those boxes.
Kansas State 68, Oklahoma 64