Oklahoma basketball: Sooners to play Villanova in Big 12/Big East Challenge

Men’s Oklahoma basketball will play Villanova as part of the 2022-23 Big 12/Big East Challenge

The two teams will play at Villanova on Dec. 3. The Big 12/Big East Challenge is in its fourth year of a four-year agreement that started in 2019.

The Sooners are 0-3 in the Big East Challenge series, having lost at Creighton 83-73 in 2019, 99-77 at Xavier in 2020 and 66-62 at home to Butler last season.

This year’s Big 12/Big East Challenge will run from Nov. 29 through Dec. 4 with 10 games scheduled, five at Big 12 locations and five at Big East schools.

Oklahoma and Villanova have played five times previously in men’s basketball. Villanova holds a 3-2 advantage.

The most recent time OU and Villanova met on the hardwood was twice during the 2015-16 season. The two teams during the nonconference schedule and again in the Final Four of the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma defeated Villanova 78-55 early in the season in the Pearl Harbor Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Wildcats crushed Buddy Hield and the Sooners 91-55 when it counted the most, however, in the Final Four in Houston that same season. Villanova went on to win the national championship that season, defeating North Carolina 77-74 in the championship game.

The 2022-23 season will be the second for the Sooners under head coach Porter Moser, who guided Oklahoma to a 19-16 overall record in his first season despite inheriting just four scholarship players from his predecessor, Lon Kruger, who announced his retirement after the 2020-21 season.

Here is the complete 2022 Big 12/Big East Challenge lineup:

Nov. 29 — Baylor at Marquette

Nov. 30 — Providence at TCU

Nov. 30 — Georgetown at Texas Tech

Nov. 30 — Kansas State at Butler

Dec. 1 — Creighton at Texas

Dec. 1 — Oklahoma State at Connecticut

Dec. 1 — Seton Hall at Kansas

Dec. 3 — Oklahoma at Villanova

Dec. 4 — St. John’s at Iowa State

Dec. 4 — West Virginia at Xavier