QUICK PREVIEW
In a three-way tie for second place in the Big 12 (one game out of first place), No. 16/17 Oklahoma (19-8, 10-5) goes for its eighth win in nine games when it hosts TCU (17-11, 4-11) Saturday at 1 p.m. CT inside Lloyd Noble Center. If it wins its final three conference games, OU will finish with at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title. The Sooners, who are coming off a 79-75 overtime win at Texas Tech last Saturday, beat TCU 68-56 in Fort Worth on Jan. 7. The Horned Frogs, who have won three of their last four games, posted a 71-54 home victory over Texas Tech on Wednesday. OU is 12-1 at home while TCU is 2-6 in true road games.
ON THE AIR
Saturday’s game will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM "The Franchise" in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Sirius 113; XM 200) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck announcing. It will be televised by ESPNU with Anish Shroff and Reid Gettys calling the action.
THE SERIES
Oklahoma owns a 15-2 all-time record against TCU and is 7-0 in Norman (has won those seven home games by an average of 25.7 points; won 77-69 last season). The Sooners have won seven of the last eight meetings, including a 68-56 contest in Fort Worth three weeks ago. Ryan Spangler (9 for 12 field goal shooting) paced OU with a career-high-tying 21 points while Buddy Hield tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Isaiah Cousins 11 points. OU held TCU to a 31.5-percent field goal mark and posted a 16-8 advantage in points off turnovers despite committing three more miscues (17-14).
PREVIEWING TCU
Picked by Big 12 coaches to finish ninth in the 10-team league, TCU won all 13 of its non-conference games before starting 1-10 in league play. The Horned Frogs have rebounded to win three of their last four contests, all at home. TCU, which ranks 23rd nationally in field goal percentage defense (.387), is averaging 62.6 points per Big 12 game (ranks seventh in the league) on .398 field goal shooting (eighth), .271 3-point shooting (last) and .590 free throw shooting (last). They allow opponents to shoot .427 from the floor (seventh) and just .303 from long distance (second).
Senior point guard Kyan Anderson is the lone Horned Frog who averages double figures in scoring. Anderson is averaging 13.1 points a game on .391 field goal, .317 3-point and a Big 12-best .858 free throw shooting. He has made a team-high 44 3-pointers and ranks fourth in the league in assists per game (4.3) and sixth in steals (1.4). Senior guard Trey Zeigler, who played two years at Central Michigan and one at Pitt, is a first-year Horned Frog who ranks second on the squad with his 9.3 points and 2.1 assists per contest. Zeigler is shooting .464 from the field but has not made a 3-pointer in 10 attempts. Sophomore forward Kenrich Williams averages 8.6 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds in 26.3 minutes a contest. He is shooting .492 from the floor. Senior forward Amric Fields, a high school classmate of former Sooner Tyler Neal at Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City, contributes 7.6 points in 17.8 minutes a game with the help of .507 field goal shooting.
Trent Johnson is in his third year as TCU’s head coach and owns a 37-54 record. He is in his 16th year overall (also coached at Nevada, Stanford and LSU) and owns a 263-239 mark.
