Oklahoma welcomes No. 17 Kentucky to Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday with a chance to post back-to-back home wins over top-25 teams.
The Sooners (17-10, 4-10) defeated then-No. 21 Mississippi State on Saturday to stop a five-game losing streak and keep their razor-thin hopes alive of making it into this season's NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma's last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2021 in Lon Kruger's final season as head coach.
A win by OU over a depleted Kentucky team making its first-ever visit to Norman would give the Sooners their first wins in back-to-back games against AP-ranked opponents since January 2021. That season, Oklahoma defeated No. 9 Kansas, No. 5 Texas and No. 9 Alabama in successive outings.
Oklahoma and Kentucky have faced each other just three times prior to this season. The Wildcats won all three games, the most recent being in the first round of the Maui Invitational in 2010-11.
Kentucky (18-9, 7-7) represents Oklahoma's eighth ranked opponent in the last nine games. It marks the first time in program history that the Sooners have played that many AP-ranked opponents in a nine-game span.
Wednesday night's game is scheduled to tip-off at 8 p.m. CT and will be televised by the SEC Network. Roy Philpott will do the play-by-play with Richard Hendrix providing analysis.
What fans need to know
Oklahoma
- OU's freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears is coming off a week in which he averaged 24.5 points, five rebounds and six assists in two games, and for the third time this season was honored as SEC Freshman of the Week.
- Senior Jalon Moore, in his second season at Oklahoma after transferring from Georgia Tech, continues to lead the Sooners in scoring and rebounding, averaging 17 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest.
- Oklahoma is 11-4 at Lloyd Noble Center this season. The Sooners have shot over 50% from the field in five of their SEC home games, including the 93-87 win over Mississippi State last weekend, as well as wins over South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
- The Sooners rank 19th nationally in 3-point percentage defense, holding opponents to just 29.9% from behind the arc. Kentucky leads the SEC and ranks 23rd in the country in 3-point percentage offense (37.9).
Kentucky
- Kentucky's leading scorer this season is former Oklahoma Sooner Otega Oweh, who is averaging 15.7 points per game. Oweh spent his first two seasons at Oklahoma, starting 28 games in 2023-24 and averaging 11.4 points. Before last Saturday against Alabama, when Oweh scored just two points, the former Sooner had scored in double digits in 25 consecutive games.
- The biggest question mark for Kentucky coming into the Oklahoma game is the health of two starting guards: Jaxson Robinson and Lamont Butler. Robinson, who averages 13.3 points per game, has missed the last four games, and Butler, who averages 12.5 and 4.6 assists, has been out three games.
- Seven-foot Kentucky center Amari Williams will pose a problem for the Sooners down low in the paint. Williams averages 11 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, second-best in the SEC.
- Kentucky is one of the highest scoring teams in the nation. The Wildcats average 85.7 points per game. That ranks second in the SEC and third-best in the country. They rank 15th out of the 16 SEC teams, however, giving up 76.4 points per game.
Prediction
Despite being short-handed and on the road, Kentucky is favored (-3.5) in this game. There's little doubt the Sooners must shoot well and limit turnovers to be able to beat Kentucky, which is likely going to be without some key players against Oklahoma.
The Wildcats are another good rebounding team. If OU can limit Kentucky's second-chance opportunities and take care of the ball on the offensive end, the Sooners will have a chance to pull off the upset.
Big ifs, given how the Sooners have played against SEC teams. Kentucky wins and covers the spread.