Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech
Tip: 6:00 PM (Central)
Location: LNC
TV: ESPN 2
There’s nothing like being thrown into the fire, for a test of your resolve, and it’s about to get incredibly hot for the Sooners. After a 5-1 start to the season (1-0 in conference) Oklahoma hosts #15 Texas Tech for its Big 12 home opener.
Tonight’s game with Texas Tech is the first in a stretch against four straight teams currently ranked in the top 15 of the latest AP Top 25 poll. Following the Red Raiders, Oklahoma will face No. 7 West Virginia at home before playing road games at No. 3 Kansas and No. 2 Baylor. Should all four teams remain ranked, it will be just the third time in program history that Oklahoma has played four straight regular-season games against ranked opponents (most recently in 2015). The Sooners have never faced four straight top-15 foes.
Fire Power Needed!
Brady Manek (16.7 points, 4.8 rebounds) and Austin Reaves (16.3 points, 6.2 assists) pace an Oklahoma offense that ranks second in the Big 12 with 85.3 points per game. A total of 8 Sooner players have had a game of at least 10 points scored this season. They’ll need all of that to move past the Red Raiders.
Series History
The Sooners are 10-8 against Tech in the Lon Kruger era (7-2 at home). OU won the most recent meeting, topping the Red Raiders 65-51 in a home game played at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City in February.
The home team has won nine of the last 10 meetings in this series. The only time the road team won in the series during that stretch was in 2019 when Texas Tech pulled out a victory in Norman.
184 And Climbing
With 184 victories at Oklahoma, head coach Lon Kruger is closing in on surpassing Hugh McDermott (185 wins from 1922-38) on the Sooners’ all-time wins list. Only three OU head coaches compiled more than 185 victories: Billy Tubbs (333), Kelvin Sampson (279) and Hall-of-Famer Bruce Drake (200).
Among The Big 12’s Best
The Sooners rank in the top three of the Big 12 in all three shooting categories: field goal shooting (47.9%, second), 3-point shooting (36.1%, third) and free throw percentage (82.1%, first).
The Sooners also lead the league in fewest fouls committed per game, fouling an average of 13.0 times – the fifth-fewest in the country.
Follow us on Twitter: @SportsHeartland