It’s Red River week in basketball. The No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners (15-3) play host to the Texas Longhorns (13-5) on Tuesday night.
The Longhorns defeated what was then the No. 9 ranked Baylor squad on Saturday. It was just the beginning of a difficult stretch of basketball in the Big 12 conference.
Oklahoma begins a difficult stretch of five games in which the team faces four ranked opponents and three road games. No. 4 Houston and No. 23 Iowa State are the teams Texas faces at home.
The quickest way to ensure a successful stretch begins with defeating a tough Oklahoma team. That will be easier said than done. Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser who put Loyola-Chicago on the map in his time there has his Sooners operating at a high level.
Oklahoma’s leading scorer Javian McCollum averages 14.9 points per game behind a 45.2% field goal shooting percentage and a 93% average from the free throw line. Fellow guard Otega Oweh is next highest on the team in scoring with 14.1 points per game and a scorching 59.3% three point percentage.
Just as you could have guessed, Moser’s team can shoot. The question for the Longhorns is whether or not the team can match the Sooners’ scoring output.
On the year, Oklahoma averages 79.3 points per game to Texas’ 77.2 scoring average. The Sooners allow 65.1 per contest to Texas’ 67.4 allowed per game.
ESPN’s matchup predictor gives Oklahoma a 71.3% chance to win the matchup. Texas will look to beat those odds on Tuesday night.