Oklahoma picked up its first SEC home win last weekend defeating South Carolina, and on Saturday, the Sooners seek their first win on the road in the SEC at Arkansas.
The Sooners (14-4, 1-4) are hoping the third time is the charm on the road as it was at home a week ago when the OU men broke a two-game home losing streak following losses to Texas A&M and Texas, both former Big 12 schools.
This will be the 32nd meeting in basketball between Oklahoma and Arkansas, with the Sooners leading the all-time series 17-14. Both teams are 9-3 on their home court.
The Sooners and Razorbacks have played each other on a neutral court (BOK Center in Tulsa) the past three seasons as part of the Crimson and Cardinal Classic. Oklahoma won two of the three games.
Interestingly, Oklahoma and Arkansas were members of the same conference (Southwest Conference) from 1915-1919 but did not play each other for the first time until 1938.
Both teams are coming off their first conference wins of the season. The Sooners were 0-4 in the SEC to begin the season, and Arkansas suffered five consecutive losses in league play before picking up its first win.
Oklahoma posted a 20-point home win over South Carolina last Saturday. Meanwhile, Arkansas defeated Georgia, overcoming a 12-point halftime deficit to pull out a 65-63 victory in a game in which the Razorbacks led for just 29 seconds the entire way. It was also the second-largest come-from-behind win in the 31-year history of Bud Walton Arena.
The game will be televised on ESPN and is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. CT tip-off Saturday.
What fans need to know
Oklahoma
The Sooners are led offensively by the one-two scoring punch that includes Jalon Moore, who averages 18.3 points a game and has eclipsed 20 points in three of OU's five conference games. Moore is also Oklahoma's best 3-point marksman, shooting 44% from long range.
True freshman Jeremiah Fears, a projected first-round NBA Draft pick, averages 16.8 points and has reached double figures in 17 of the Sooners' 18 games. The Sooners are the only team in the SEC with two players ranked in the top 10 in the conference in scoring.
Oklahoma ranks dead last in the SEC in rebounding, an area that has been a major problem against SEC teams, which in general have more length and are more physical in the front court. Arkansas is not among the better rebounding teams in the conference, but shot opportunities could be a determining factor in the outcome of Saturday's game.
OU ranks first in the SEC, shooting 80% as a team at the free-throw line. The Sooners rank third in field-goal percentage (48.6) and third in 3-point shooting (37.0), but they are also 14th out of 16 SEC teams, allowing opponents to shoot 43.5% from the field.
An OU win on Saturday would be the Sooners' third victory in the last four games against Arkansas and the 10th in the last 15.
Arkansas
The Razorbacks will be without one of their best players in freshman Boogie Fland, who is a projected top-10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. It was announced earlier this week that the talented freshman, the team's second leading scorer (15.1 per game), will miss the remainder of the season with a hand injury.
6-foot-8 forward Thiero Adou is Arkansas' leading scorer at 16.4 per game. D.J. Wagner, another Razorback starter, averages 10 per game. Watch for Johnell Davis, Fland's backcourt teammate, to pick up some of the scoring lost with Fland's absence. Davis is averaging 8.4 points in 17 games.
Arkansas is 9-2 at Bud Walton Arena this season and has won eight consecutive home games.
The Razorbacks are 2-7 this season when they trail at the 10-minute mark in the second half.
Prediction
Arkansas is a slight favorite in this game (-2.5), mostly because of the homecourt advantage, and the Sooners have struggled in their only two true road games this season (both against SEC foes).
Oklahoma does have some momentum, picking up its first SEC win a week ago, but the Razorbacks are carrying the same momentum into Saturday's showdown, as well as home court.
With the possible exception of the Texas A&M game, OU has started slowly in all of its SEC games so far. The Sooners won't be able to overcome a slow start at Arkansas and rely on a second-half surge to pull it out in the end. Arkansas wins at home.