There is no venue that has been less accommodating to the Oklahoma basketball program than having to play the Kansas Jayhawks at historic Allen Field House.
In fact, having to play either school from the Sunflower State on their home hardwood has been an act of futility for the Sooners in recent years. Oklahoma’s two-game winning streak is in serious jeopardy on Saturday, when the Sooners play at No. 3 Kansas.
The Jayhawks (21-3, 10-1) have lost one game at home this season — and even that was a rarity — to No. 1 Baylor, who the Sooners face immediately after Kansas, next Tuesday.
Kansas has owned Oklahoma on the basketball court, a reversal of the two team’s football history. The Jayhawks all-time record against the Sooners is a staggering 149-68. And the winning percentage gets even higher when the game is played in Lawrence, Kansas. KU is 76-16 at home against Oklahoma, a winning percentage of 83 percent.
To underscore the Sooners’ struggles on the road at Kansas, they have lost 18 consecutive games there. Oklahoma’s last win at Allen Field House was an 80-77 victory in 1993. Ryan Minor, a future Big Eight Player of the Year, was a freshman on that OU team and Jeff Webster and Terry Evans were also on that team, coached by Billy Tubbs.
What to watch for from Kansas
This is not head coach Bill Self’s best shooting team at Kansas, even though they lead the Big 12 in both scoring (74.3 points per game) and field goal percentage (48.5). On the other hand, this year’s edition of Jayhawk basketball may be the best, or at least one of the best, defensively in the Self era.
The high field-goal percentage is largely attributed to big man Udoka Azubuike’s 75-percent average around the basket. The 7-foot senior is averaging 12.7 points a game, and is absolutely deadly when he’s within five-feet of the basket. Azubuike is also among the league leaders in blocked shots, averaging nearly three a game.
Guard Devon Dotson leads the Big 12 in scoring with a 17.9 average. Dotson did not play in the earlier game in Norman, sitting out with a hip pointer. The Jayhawks won that game, 66-52.
The Jayhawks generally have a very balanced offense, with three starters averaging double digits and seven players averaging at least seven points a game.
Kansas is a good rebounding team. This was readily apparent in the first matchup this season. The Jayhawks outrebounded the Sooners in Norman by a 14-board margin (46-32).
If the perennial league-champion Jayhawks have an Achilles heal, it’s free-throw shooting and a tendency to turn the ball over.
Keys to an Oklahoma victory
As every Sooner fan knows by now, the OU offense flows through Brady Manek, Kristian Doolittle and Austin Reaves. Those three starters contribute 63 percent of Oklahoma’s scoring, and all three rank in the top 10 in the Big 12 in scoring. When all three are knocking down shot, the Sooners are difficult to beat.
In their last two games, back-to-back wins over No. 14 West Virginia and Iowa State, Manek and Doolittle have averaged 14.1 and 23.1 points, respectively.
Oklahoma is just 2-6 away from the Lloyd Noble Center this season and is 1-4 on the road in the Big 12. The lone conference road win was at Texas (72-62).
There is no question that to beat Kansas on its home floor, the Sooners need to shoot well. They also will need to limit the Jayhawks’ rebounding advantage, especially on the offensive glass, because OU can ill afford to give KU extra offensive possessions.
In the first meeting the Sooners shot just 31 percent. That isn’t going to get it done at Allen Field House.
Needless to say, OU must guard against looking past Kansas and the matchup next Tuesday against No. 1 Baylor. Not since the 1989-90 season have the Sooners played consecutive games against teams ranked in the top-three nationally. That season, Oklahoma defeated No. 1 Missouri on a Saturday and followed that by beating newly ranked No. 1 Kansas two days later.
Let that serve as a rallying cry.
Bottom line
There is a good reason Oklahoma has lost 18 consecutive games at Allen Field House. Think of it as the basketball version of Kansas playing Oklahoma in football at OU, or anywhere, for that matter.
Kansas is a really good basketball team and they play in front of one of the most supportive crowds in the country. They are packed in (rarely and empty seat), 17,000 strong and extremely loud.
The momentum of a two-game winning streak aside, Saturday’s game at Kansas is probably not going to be a happy outcome for the visitors from Norman.
Kansas 82, Oklahoma 66