Recent history is not on Oklahoma's side as the Sooners head south across the Red River to take on chief rival Texas to close out the 2025-26 regular season.
With three consecutive wins and in five of the last seven, the Sooners have managed to catch the attention of ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi, who this week listed OU as an NCAA Tournament bubble team, but with the important caveat that 10 other teams are on the proverbial bubble ahead of the Crimson and Cream.
Any conversation about an NCAA Tournament path for Oklahoma, however, becomes null and void without a victory over Texas on Saturday. The Longhorns (18-12, 9-8) defeated the Sooners 79-69 earlier this season in Norman and have won three of the last four games between the two teams in Austin.
This will be the 109th meeting all-time in the Red River Rivalry basketball series, with Oklahoma holding a 58-50 advantage. Through the 2001-02 season, the Sooners led 42-16 in the series, but since then, Texas is 34-16 in head-to-head matchups with OU on the hardwood, including victories in nine of the last 10 games while OU has been under Porter Moser.
While Oklahoma comes into Saturday's regular-season finale winners of five of its past six games, the Longhorns have lost three of their last four, including a 105-85 beatdown at No. 20 Arkansas on Wednesday.
The game on Saturday will be televised on SEC Network at 7:30 p.m. CT, with Lowell Galindo (play-by-play) and Pat Bradley (analysis) announcing.
What to know about Texas
Texas has four starters averaging at least 12.6 points per game and averages 84.3 points as a team, its highest mark since the 1994-95 Longhorn team averaged 92.9. Individually, Xavier transfer Dailyn Swain leads the team with a 17.7 scoring average, and 7-foot Matas Vokietaitis is a problem in the interior, averaging 15.7.
The Longhorns rank second in the SEC with a field-goal percentage of 49.3. They are also a strong rebounding team, having outrebounded 25 of their 30 opponents this season, and have a 36.6 offensive rebounding percentage, which ranks 20th nationally.
Texas ranks No. 39 in the current NCAA NET rankings (Oklahoma is 57th). The Longhorns rank 14th nationally in offensive efficiency, but are 246th in defensive efficiency. Those numbers are comparable to Oklahoma's efficiency rankings (17th on offense, 274th of 365 teams defensively).
Texas averages 10,800 fans at Moody Center and is 53-16 in home games played there since the facility opened in April 2022. The Longhorns are 12-4 at home this season and are 2-1 in the three games there with Oklahoma since the facility opened.
What to know about Oklahoma
Oklahoma leads the SEC, shooting 38.9% from three-point range and ranks third in the conference averaging 9.7 triples per game. On the season, the Sooners are averaging 10.0 made three-pointers per game (the school record is 10.3, set by the 2015-16 Final Four team). OU's Nijel Pack leads the SEC with a 45.4 three-point field goal percentage and 3.3 treys per game.
In the earlier game against Texas this season, Oklahoma jumped out to a 23-9 lead, but was outscored by the Longhorns 70-46 the rest of the way, including 24-8 over the final eight minutes, to close out the game with a 79-69 road victory in Norman. Pack had 23 points for OU in that game, and Derrion Reid and Xzayvier Brown each added 15.
During their current three-game winning streak, the Sooner have trailed their opponents for a combined 1:54 (0:15 to Auburn, 1:08 to LSU and 0:31 to Missouri).
Oklahoma is averaging 24.2 bench points in its six SEC wins, compared to 15.1 points from the reserves in the team's 11 league losses.
Prediction
This is an important game for both teams, but even more so for Oklahoma, which probably -- short of winning the SEC Tournament (which would require five wins in five days) -- needs the win over Texas, plus two or three more in the SEC Tournament, to reach the NCAA Tournament. This is Senior Day at Texas, which will add some extra juice in the arena among the players and the fans.
The Sooners have won a couple of road conference games this season (at Vanderbilt and LSU), but the rivalry alone makes this one a different animal and with much more at stake. Texas has completed a regular-season series sweep four times in the past five seasons. Make it five of six.