QUICK PREVIEW
No. 17/17 Oklahoma (17-8, 8-5) looks for its second straight regular season sweep of Texas (17-8, 6-6) when it hosts the Longhorns on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners, who had their five-game winning streak snapped at Kansas State on Saturday (59-56), are 11-1 in Norman and boast a +20.8 average scoring margin in those 12 contests. Texas, which is 4-4 in true road games (3-3 in league road outings), has won three straight games following a four-game losing streak. It is coming off a 56-41 home win over Texas Tech on Saturday.
ON THE AIR
Tuesday's game will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM "The Franchise" in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Sirius 91; XM 91) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck announcing. It will be televised by ESPN2 with Roxy Bernstein and Miles Simon calling the action.
THE SERIES
Oklahoma holds a 51-35 all-time advantage over Texas and is 25-11 in the series in Norman. The teams have each won 22 games in the series since the start of the Big 12 Conference (OU leads 11-7 at Lloyd Noble Center). Texas has won 14 of the last 20 overall meetings, but OU has won each of the last three and four of the last five, including a 70-49 decision Jan. 5 in Austin. In that game, the Sooners earned their first true road win over an AP top-10 opponent in 22 years. The 21-point loss for then-No. 10 Texas tied as its largest at home during the 17-year Rick Barnes era. Texas entered the game ranked second nationally in rebounding margin (+14.4 per game), but OU posted a 42-37 win on the boards. The Sooners used a 9-2 run to start the second half to go up 42-16 and went ahead by as many as 28 three times later in the stanza. Buddy Hield led five Sooners in double figures with 13 points.
PREVIEWING TEXAS
After starting Big 12 play with a 3-6 record, Texas, which was picked by league coaches to finish second in the conference, has won three straight games to move into a sixth-place tie with Baylor. The Longhorns are 3-3 at home and 3-3 on the road in Big 12 action. They rank second nationally by outrebounding their opponents by 9.9 a game and fourth by holding foes to .360 field goal shooting. In Big 12 play, UT ranks sixth in the league in scoring (64.5 ppg), fifth in field goal percentage (.419), seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (.322) and third in free throw percentage (.714). It ranks third in scoring defense (62.6 ppg), third in field goal percentage defense (.393) and eighth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.367).
Sophomore point guard Isaiah Taylor leads four Longhorns who average double figures in scoring. Taylor averages 13.3 points on .406 field goal shooting. Freshman forward Myles Turner and senior forward Jonathan Holmes average 11.3 points each. Turner, who is coming off a 25-point, 12-rebound effort in a win over Texas Tech, averages a team-high 6.5 rebounds and a Big 12-high 2.7 blocks. Holmes ranks second on the team with his 6.3 boards an outing. Junior guard Javan Felix averages 10.3 points a game. In Big 12 play, Felix ranks second in the league with his 2.3 3-pointers per contest and fourth by shooting .460 from long range.
Head coach Rick Barnes is in his 17th season at Texas and is 399-174 there. He is in his 28th season overall and owns a 601-308 career mark. Barnes also coached at Clemson (four years), Providence (six) and George Mason (one).
