Jamie Dixon – Syndication Server

Sooners top 10 in latest editon of College Wire’s Power Rankings

Oklahoma is ranked 9th in College Wire’s latest power rankings.

Oklahoma is in deep preparation for another war of a basketball game as they ready themselves for their first actual road game. They’ll take on a tough TCU Horned Frogs team coached by Jamie Dixon.

Over the weekend, Porter Moser’s squad opened up Big 12 play with a gritty win against an experienced and talented Iowa State team. The Sooners led the way thru the first 35 minutes of game time. After Iowa State took a late lead, a 7-0 run late pushed Oklahoma over the hump.

As the Sooners prepare for two Big 12 games this week, they’ll be ranked as one of the best teams in the country. Our colleagues at College Wire agree and has the Sooners at No. 9 in their most recent power rankings.

Ahead of Oklahoma at number one sits the Purdue Boilermakers, led by Zach Edey. New Big 12 member Houston is the number two team, but dropped their first game of the season Tuesday night. Behind them are the Kansas Jayhawks, long-time standard bearers of Big 12 hoops. The Sooners travel to Allen Fieldhouse for a Saturday afternoon tilt.

UConn and Arizona slot in at four and five. The only two SEC teams in the top 10 of these power rankings are Tennessee and Kentucky, who come in at six and seven, while the lone ACC representative, UNC, comes in at eight. Behind Oklahoma sits Scott Drew and his Baylor Bears tenth.

In the rest of the power rankings, BYU (18), Texas Tech (23), and Cincinnati (24) round out the rest of the Big 12 representation in the rankings.

Oklahoma faces three of the five Big 12 teams in this week’s power rankings in their next six games. The Sooners have some significant opportunities to add even more impressive wins to an already appealing tournament resume. It starts on Tuesday with a win in Fort Worth.

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LSU continues to struggle in loss to TCU, fourth loss in five games

The second-half run falls short for the Tigers

It was another disappointing for Will Wade’s group today.

When it looked like LSU was getting healthier with a chance to break out of its slump, LSU couldn’t secure a win against TCU to drop to 16-5 on the year.

The first 15 minutes of the game were back and forth, with LSU getting out to a 24-23 lead. After that, TCU went on a run to close out the half that gave the Horned Frogs a 38-29 lead. That run extended into the second half when TCU’s Chuck O’Bannon got hot from three. That put LSU down 16 and gave TCU its largest lead of the day.

LSU was able to go on a 15-2 run and cut the TCU lead to three with 11:00 to go.

TCU found their footing and a foul behind the 3-point line gave the Horned Frogs a few free throws to make it 65-56.

The refs blew the whistle a lot in this game, allowing both teams to reach the bonus fairly early. Darius Days and Eric Gaines both found themselves in foul trouble down the stretch.

The amount of free-throw opportunities LSU handed TCU in the second half is what allowed the Horned Frogs to hold off an LSU comeback.

Tari Eason led the Tigers in points, scoring 16. Days and Gaines added 14 apiece.

For TCU, it was O’Bannon, as well as Mike Miles Jr, who shared the game-high, each scoring 19.

A significant storyline today was the return of Xavier Pinson, though he was still on a minutes limit.

LSU has not looked the same since Pinson left the win over Tennessee earlier this month. LSU has been waiting for his return, hoping he would give a boost to the offense.

He only played seven minutes today. Not enough time to gauge if getting Pinson back is really the magic ingredient for a struggling LSU team.

Days, also returning from injury, only shot 5-14 from the field, but did earn his 20th career double-double.

LSU has now lost four of five. Over the last few weeks, LSU’s offensive struggles have come to the forefront after the defense covered them up the first couple of months of the season.

There are too many instances where LSU isn’t able to finish inside. When pressured, their guards aren’t decisive enough with the ball. There’s no knock-down shooter either that Will Wade can rely on when they need to go on a run.

When LSU isn’t creating points in transition, the offense is almost non-existent. Brandon Murray has offered promise the last couple of weeks, but he’s just a freshman who isn’t ready to be the scorer Cam Thomas was last year.

LSU, once again, showed a fight today after erasing a large deficit. The issue is getting into that deficit in the first place. LSU needs to shoot better out of the gate and now rely on 10-0 runs happening every second half.

Next up, LSU will host Ole Miss on Tuesday as they try to get back on track.

Despite loss to Texas, Oklahoma not on the bubble in latest Bracketology

Oklahoma (18-12, 8-9) took a tough ‘L’ on Tuesday night but not all is lost on the Sooners’ season.

Texas (19-11, 9-8) is one of the hottest teams not just in the Big 12, but in the entire nation. Shak Smart’s mid-season resurrection of the Longhorns winning five-straight conference games to give Texas a chance at making the NCAA Tournament while being without three key players.

Oklahoma’s loss to the Longhorns is being respected as much as it could be. The Sooners are still considered a 10-seed by the Bracket Matrix.

Texas is currently listed as a 12-seed’ and averages an 11.33-seed via the Bracket Matrix, listed on 46 of the 136 brackets tested in the matrix.

Oklahoma’s non-conference is helping its cause yet again. North Texas (13-seed), Stanford (11-seed), Wichita State (11-seed), and Creighton (3-seed) all propel the Sooners into the tournament. While going 1-3 against the four tournament teams, the Sooners played all of them on the road with Stanford being a neutral site game in Kansas City.

Oklahoma has one final regular-season left as they head south on I-35 to Ft. Worth, Texas to take on TCU (16-13, 7-9) on Saturday. The Horned Frogs boast a 14-4 home record, coming off an upset win over No. 3 Baylor last Saturday.

Oklahoma and TCU tip-off at 3p.m. on ESPN2.

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Oklahoma cruises to an easy victory on a historic night, beat TCU 83-63

Oklahoma (12-5, 3-2) found their rhythm against TCU (12-5, 3-2) to the tune of an 83-63 victory.

Arguably their most complete game of the season, Lon Kruger’s squad allowed the Horned Frogs to have the lead for just 31 seconds.

Brady Manek started out hot and didn’t let up. The junior shot 7-of-9 from 3-point range, setting new career highs for points (31) and made 3s (seven) while exiting to a standing ovation with just under a minute left after making two free throws that put him in the 1,000 point club.

“It’s pretty cool,” Manek told reporters postgame.
Growing up as a fan of OU, the Sooners, and coming to games and now playing here and I’ve reached that mark. Got to give it up to my teammates over the years. They’ve found me. A lot of my points have been catch-and-shoot, so I got to give it up to them.”

Manek knew he was close, but was sweating out while at the free-throw line with under a minute left to officially hit the 1,000 point mark.

“I knew I was close. I didn’t know exactly how close, but I knew I was close,” Manek said. “We couldn’t get a guy subbed in over there and it was frustrating. I was ready to shoot the free throw.”

The frustration turned into laughter as he drew a collective chuckle out of Lon Kruger, Kristian Doolittle, Austin Reaves, and the media. Manek left the court after making both free throws to a standing ovation as the eighty-seven hundred fans were alerted to his achievement.

With three proficient scorers that can go off on any given night, it’s easy to keep feeding the hot hand. However, the Sooners did exactly the opposite. Oklahoma made the extra pass, finding the open man on what seemed like every possession. A season-high 20 assists, Oklahoma moved the ball effectively.

“I thought that was the best ball movement we’ve had for a while,” Kruger said postgame. “I thought guys did a really good job driving and kicking and making the extra pass. They’ve been doing a pretty good job of that, but you got to make shots to create the assist.”

The Sooners have a quick turnaround as they head to No. 2 Baylor (15-1, 5-0) on Monday night. The Bears got a scare on Saturday against Oklahoma State, leaving Stillwater, Okla. with a 75-68 win.

Oklahoma and Baylor will be broadcasted on ESPN at 8p.m. CT.

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3 takeaways from Oklahoma’s 83-63 win over TCU

Oklahoma (12-5, 3-2) got back to their winning ways, beating TCU (12-5, 3-2) 83-63.

The Sooners shot lights-out all afternoon in a much-needed performance to keep their two-game losing skid from becoming a three-game losing streak.

HOT SHOTS

Oklahoma took a 12 point lead into the half, leading TCU 38-26. The lead was thanks to the Sooners shooting 46% and five of 14 from deep. Oklahoma started hot early with Brady Manek scoring seven of the Sooners’ first 12 points. His heat check continued in the second half, starting the final 20 minutes with a trio of three’s to help the Sooners open a 20-point lead, which they would maintain throughout the rest of the game.

Manek finished with a new career-high in points (31), made three’s (seven) and checked out of the game after hitting the 1,000 point mark for his career.

HARMON IS BECOMING WHO WE THOUGHT HE WAS

Freshman De’Vion Harmon has become who he was advertised to be. The guard was electric against Kansas, finishing with 11 key points and energy on both ends of the court that gave Oklahoma a chance until the final four minutes.

In his efforts against TCU, Harmon continued giving max effort baseline to baseline while scoring double-digits once again. His play sparks the other four men on the court to match his energy. Finishing with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists, and a steal, his play cannot be measured simply by numbers.

MOVING DAY

The Sooners moved the ball very well, maybe the best they have all season, against TCU. Oklahoma’s passing kept the Horned Frogs on their heels, making the extra pass to find open guys for easy shots, leading to their 54% shooting performance.

Oklahoma’s next game is Monday night when they head down to Waco, Texas to take on No. 2 Baylor. The game can be found on ESPN at 8p.m. CT.

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3 keys for Oklahoma basketball against TCU

Oklahoma (11-5, 2-2) squares off against TCU (12-4, 3-1) at 1p.m. CT on ESPN+.

Both teams are coming off of losses. For the Sooners, they need to stop their two-game losing skid before it becomes a losing streak. TCU is looking to bounce back following a 32-point loss on the road against West Virginia.

Here is what Oklahoma needs to do to come away with a win against Jamie Dixon’s Horned Frogs:

KEEP PLAYING DEFENSE

The Sooners are playing grit and grind defense against their Big 12 opponents so far this season. Holding their Big 12 opponents at or below 70 points each time out is a good recipe for success for Lon Kruger’s young team. If Oklahoma can hold TCU to under the 70-point mark and force a few turnovers here and there, the Sooners should be able to defend their home-court with relative ease.

WHERE IS REAVES?

Austin Reaves was nearly non-existent against Kansas. With a season-low four points on 1-9 shooting and 0-5 from deep, Reaves needs a bounce-back game to keep his confidence in his first year of Big 12 basketball. Averaging 14.9 points per game, Reaves is currently the eighth leading scorer in the Big 12, behind fellow Sooner Kristian Doolittle who is fourth in the conference (16.6 ppg).

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If the Sooners got just a few favorable bounces against Kansas, they would be one of the hottest teams in the conference. However, they can bounce back with a solid win against a well-coached team before matching up with a giant in No. 2 Baylor on Monday.

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