Sooners Go for Sweep of Longhorns Tuesday

Texas (17-8)

17/17 Oklahoma (17-8)

February 17 | 8 p.m. CT | Lloyd Noble Center | Norman

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.

TICKETS
• Tickets for Tuesday's game are available for $10, $20 and $30 online at SoonerSports.com. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

• OU student tickets cost $10.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES
• 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.

If OU wins Tuesday it will mark the Sooners' second four-game regular season sweep of rivals Texas and Oklahoma State in the 19-year history of the Big 12 Conference.

• If OU wins Tuesday it will mark the Sooners' second four-game regular season sweep of rivals Texas and Oklahoma State in the 19-year history of the Big 12 Conference. OU accomplished the feat last season for the first time.

• OU has flourished at home, posting a +20.8 average scoring margin in its 12 games at Lloyd Noble Center and outshooting its opponents .495 to .357 from the field and .408 to .283 from 3-point range. The Sooners' starting five is shooting .537 from the field in Norman. The junior duo of Hield (41 for 77; .532) and Isaiah Cousins (23 for 43; .535) is shooting a combined .533 (64 for 120) from behind the 3-point arc at home.

• Oklahoma has played a nation-leading 11 games against AP Top-25 opponents (at the time of competition) this season. Entering the week, OU (11), Kansas (10), Oklahoma State (10), Kansas State (nine) and TCU (nine) are the only teams country to play more than eight AP Top-25 foes. OU has also played a nation-high 15 games against teams that have been ranked for at least one week this season. The Sooners are No. 12 in the NCAA RPI.

• A leading candidate for the Big 12 Player of the Year award, Hield has scored at least 20 points in six of the team's 13 Big 12 games and is averaging 14.6 in the other seven (he has scored in double figures in all 13). In conference play, the junior guard is averaging league highs of 19.1 points a game (next highest average is 16.6) and 2.7 3-pointers. He also ranks fourth in steals (1.8 spg), fifth in field goal percentage (.483), ninth in free throw percentage (.788), 10th in 3-point field goal percentage (.402) and 13th in rebounding (5.6 rpg; first among guards). The Freeport, Bahamas, native has led OU in scoring in eight of the last 12 games.

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).

Student Section

SOONER TIP-INS
• Oklahoma's six wins against AP ranked teams (at the time of competition) are tied for the most in school history. OU also won six games vs. AP ranked teams in 1988-89 and 2001-02 (No. 1 NCAA seed in 1989, advanced to Final Four in 2002).

• Oklahoma has held 21 of 25 opponents below their season average in points (at the time of competition). In fact, OU has held its 25 opponents to an average of 10.5 points below their season average. On the year, the Sooners are holding foes to 61.5 points a game and limiting them to .371 field goal shooting (ranks ninth nationally out of 351 teams) and .305 3-point shooting (ranks 37th). By comparison, opponents averaged 76.0 points on .437 field goal and .342 3-point shooting last season.

• OU is holdings its opponents to .371 field goal shooting on the year. Only once in the last 53 years (.398 in 2008-09) have the Sooners held their opponents to a season field goal mark under .400. The last opponent season field goal mark under .375 was .339 in 1959-60.

• Six games ago, the Sooners set a Big 12 record for fewest points allowed in a conference game in their 81-36 win over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders' .212 field goal mark was the lowest by an OU opponent in any game in 11 years. The 45-point win was the team's second largest in the 19-year history of the Big 12 and tied for the eighth largest in the league.

• OU set an NCAA record (against a Division I opponent) Dec. 22 when it went on a 39-0 run against Weber State in an 85-51 home win. The former NCAA record of a 37-0 run was set by Utah State against Idaho on Feb. 15, 2006.

• Oklahoma is the only Big 12 team that has started the same five players in every game this season. Interestingly, OU was one of just seven teams nationally that used the same starting lineup in every game last year. Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins, Ryan Spangler and Jordan Woodard have all started the last 58 games while TaShawn Thomas has started all 121 of his career contests (96 at Houston).

• Each of OU's five starters has scored at least 20 points three or more times in their careers.

• OU has won its 17 games by an average of 19.7 points (all but one by double digits). Four of its losses have been by three points or less.

• Oklahoma has outscored its opponents off turnovers in 15 of the last 18 games and in 20 of 25 contests on the year. In their 12 home games, the Sooners have posted a 248-105 advantage in points off turnovers (21 to 9 per outing).

• The Sooners have held 17 of their 25 opponents to 40-percent-or-lower field goal shooting. They have held six foes to 30-percent-or-lower field goal marks. Only one opponent (Baylor 50.0 percent on Jan. 24) has shot 50 percent or better this year.

• OU led the Big 12 in free throw shooting each of the last two years (.749 last season and .756 in 2012-13) and is shooting .725 this year to again pace the league. Woodard ranks third in the Big 12 (.837) while Hield ranks sixth (.793).

• Cousins has shot at least 50 percent from behind the arc in 13 of the 23 games this year in which he's attempted a 3-pointer, including in 12 of the last 19 such contests. He leads the Big 12 with his .454 season 3-point mark and ranks seventh with his 1.8 treys per game. Cousins shot .250 from 3-point range as a freshman and .404 last year.

• Hield (5.3) and Cousins (5.0), who both stand 6-foot-4, rank second and third among Big 12 guards in rebounds per game. In league play, Hield paces all guards with his 5.6 boards per contest.

• Each of head coach Lon Kruger's first three Oklahoma teams finished higher than where they were picked in the Big 12 preseason poll. Last year the Sooners were picked tied for fifth and finished second. In 2012-13 OU was slotted seventh and finished tied for fourth. In 2011-12 OU was picked ninth and wound up eighth. Kruger's squad was picked third in this year's poll (is in third).

UP NEXT
OU goes back on the road to play Texas Tech on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be televised by ESPNEWS.