Oklahoma basketball: From frying pan into fire; OU hosts Big 12 leader Texas Tech

Every game is a battle, so you better bring your "A" game. That is a common theme throughout the ultra-competitive Big 12 this season, and the Oklahoma basketball men are getting a double-dose of it this week.

So what else is new, right? Coming off of their first home loss of the season on Tuesday against unranked but previously ranked Texas, the Sooners now have Big 12 leader Texas Tech (15-3, 4-1) coming into the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday.

The 11th-ranked Sooners (15-4, 3-3) fell flat on their face at home to Texas on Tuesday, losing 75-60. That came on the heels of OU's first true road win of the season last Saturday over Cincinnati.

This will be Texas Tech's third straight game against a ranked conference opponent. The 20th-ranked Red Raiders split those two contests, losing 77-54 at No. 4 Houston last weekend, then rebounding for an 85-78 win at home earlier this week against No. 21 BYU. Tech trailed by 16 points at halftime against the visitors from BYU and stormed back in the second half to win the game.

This will be the only game between the Sooners and Red Raiders on the hardwood this season because of the Big 12's unbalanced schedule. Oklahoma leads the all-time series 42-32 and owns a 26-10 record against Texas Tech in Norman.

The game will tip off at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday. It will not be televised on commercial or cable TV but will be streamed on ESPN with Mark Neely and King McClure on the call.Key things to know about this game

Key things to know about this game

• Texas Tech has won seven of the last 10 games in the series. The Sooners and Red Raiders split the two games a year ago with both teams posting road wins.

• Pop Issacs leads Texas Tech averaging 16.9 points per game. He scored a career-high 32 points in the win over BYU earlier this week and leads the Big 12 with a 19.8 average in conference game and 44 percent on three balls.

• Three Texas Tech starters score in double digits. Besides Issacs, Joe Toussaint averages 13.3 points a game and Warren Washington 10.3 along with 7.9 rebounds. Darrion Williams is just under at 9.3. Toussaint and Washington are both transfers, from Arizona State and West Virginia, respectively.

• Siena transfer Javian McCollum leads Oklahoma in scoring averaging 14.6 points per game. Sophomore Otega Oweh is averaging 13 per game.

• Texas Tech leads the Big 12 in free-throw percentage (77.4), Oklahoma is second in that category (76.1).

• The Red Raiders are the third-best three point-shooting team in the conference, shooting, hitting 36.7 percent of its three-balls. The Sooners rank second in the Big 12 in three-point shooting percentage defense (28.5).

Prediction

Oklahoma is a 3.5-point favorite at home over Texas Tech. I believe the loss to Texas will give the Sooners a little extra bounce in their step. The keys will be to start fast and get in front early, take care of the ball, create offense from defense and finish strong. Easier said than done, especially in the Big 12. OU gets it done. Oklahoma 77, Texas Tech 73