Oklahoma basketball: Sooners seek to even score from earlier defeat to TCU

Oklahoma basketball returns home from a two-game road swing for a quick Monday night turnaround and a Big 12 ESPN “Big Monday” rematch with TCU.

The Sooners (13-8, 3-5) split there two games last week, defeating West Virginia 72-62 before falling to No. 1 Auburn 86-68 on Saturday. TCU (14-4, 3-3) also went 1-1 in its last two outing. The Horned Frogs lost at Texas by 23 on Wednesday but recorded one of the Big 12’s four wins in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday with a 77-68 win at home over No. 19 LSU.

Oklahoma had won seven consecutive games against TCU before falling 59-58 in overtime earlier this month at TCU. The Sooners lead the overall series with the Horned Frogs 27-5. Interestingly, OU has never lost to TCU in Norman. The Sooners have won all 14 games played with the Horned Frogs at the Lloyd Nobel Center.

Both teams are close statistically in scoring offense and scoring defense and both own an average margin of victory of 7.1 points. Where there is a noticeable difference is in shooting percentage (OU leads the Big 12, shooting 49 percent, to 43 percent for TCU) and rebounding (where TCU holds the advantage with a Big 12-best 9.7 rebounding margin; the Sooners are at 1.8).

Free throws are another point of difference. Oklahoma is shooting 75 percent at the free-throw stripe while TCU shoots just 66 percent from the charity line.

The game is scheduled to be televised on ESPN2, beginning at 8 p.m. on Monday. Chuckie Kempf will do the play-by-play with former Baylor player King McClure providing analysis.

What fans should know about Oklahoma vs. TCU on Monday

• Mike Miles is TCU’s leading scorer, averaging 15.6 points a game in addition to 4.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists. The only other Horned Frog who averages in double figures in scoring is Charles O’Bannon at 10.1. O’Bannon is also TCU’s best three-point shooter, averaging 40 percent.
• TCU ranks third in the nation in rebound margin, fifth in offensive rebounds and seventh in the country in total rebounds per game.
• The Horned Frogs also don’t commit many fouls, eighth fewest nationally.
• Tanner Groves and Umoja Gibson lead the Sooners in scoring, averaging 13.1 and 12.5 points per game, respectively.
• In the first game this season against TCU, the Sooners shot just 40 percent from the field, their third worst shooting night of the season. Tanner Groves, OU’s leading scorer on the year, contributed just six points in the earlier overtime loss at TCU.
• Turnovers have been a major problem for Oklahoma this season. The Sooners lead the Big 12 in turnovers per game (15.1) and rank 226th nationally in that category. They had 20 turnovers in the last game with TCU.

Prediction

This is the Big 12, where every game is big and there are no easy ones this season, even when playing at home. Oklahoma is 2-2 at home against Big 12 teams this season, with wins over Kansas State and Iowa State and losses to Kansas and Baylor. The Sooners are going to need to shoot well to neutralize TCU’s rebounding strength and take care of the ball on the offensive end. If they are able to do that, they should win the game. It’s a quick turnaround, but I think OU will come out with something to prove.

Depending on which sportsbook you follow, the Sooners are favored by a five- to six-point margin. I think they’ll do even better. OU wins by plus-eight points and splits the season series.