Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma basketball: Tale of the tape in Sooners’ quest vs. No. 1 Zags

By Chip Rouse

Missouri Tigers guard Dru Smith (12) drives past Oklahoma Sooners guard Alondes Williams (15) during the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 20, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. Mandatory Credit: Barbara Perenic/IndyStar via USA TODAY Sports
Missouri Tigers guard Dru Smith (12) drives past Oklahoma Sooners guard Alondes Williams (15) during the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 20, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. Mandatory Credit: Barbara Perenic/IndyStar via USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Oklahoma basketball plays in one of the nation’s best conferences, but at no time this season have they faced a team like this year’s prohibitive national champs.

OK, Baylor might have something to say about that, and soon. But for right now, it is No. 8 seed Oklahoma going up against the overall top seed in this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The Sooners played Baylor once this season (the second game was postponed because of COVID issues within the Baylor program and later cancelled). The game was played at Baylor in early January, and the Big 12 champions prevailed 76-61.

The Crimson and Cream will face a similar tall order — or make that a gigantic order — when they take on the Godzilla’s of the college basketball world Monday afternoon at iconic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Hinkle setting is fitting for OU’s underdog status versus Gonzaga, being the venue represented in the popular 1980s movie “Hoosiers,” one of the great underdog stories of all-time. In that now classic film, tiny Indiana school Milan defeated much-larger Muncie Central for the 1954 Indiana High School state championship.

OU and Gonzaga have played just three times before, with the Zags winning two of the three. The two teams have not faced each other since 2012 at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando. Gonzaga won that game 72-47. The Sooners are 15-8 all-time against members of the West Coast Conference.

The Sooners are 7-14 all-time against the top-ranked team in the Associated Press Top 25. OU is 2-3 when facing No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament since the tournament field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Here is what Oklahoma is up against versus the undefeated and No. 1 ranked Gonzaga, which has been the nation’s top-ranked team every week this college basketball season.

Scoring average

Gonzaga: 92.3

Oklahoma: 74.7

Scoring margin

Gonzaga: 23.7

Oklahoma: 5.5

Field-goal percentage

Gonzaga: 55.1

Oklahoma: 44.1

Opponents field-goal percentage

Gonzaga: 41.4

Oklahoma: 42.0

Three-point percentage

Gonzaga: 37.3

Oklahoma: 34.2

Opponents’ three-point percentage

Gonzaga: 32.5

Oklahoma: 35.7

Free-throw percentage

Gonzaga: 73.1

Oklahoma: 74.7

Rebounding margin

Gonzaga: +7.9

Oklahoma: +0.2

Turnovers per game

Gonzaga: 12.1

Oklahoma: 10.9

Winning percentage

Gonzaga: 27-0, 1.000

Oklahoma: 16-10, .615

Home/Oklahoma Sooners