Oklahoma Takes on No. 2 Baylor in Waco

Wednesday, January 6

Waco, TX

8:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

Baylor

Photo by: Ty Russell

Oklahoma Takes on No. 2 Baylor in Waco

January 05, 2021 | Men's Basketball

ESPN2 Listen Live Live Stats Game Notes

By: Ben Coldagelli

^RVOklahoma

²Baylor

Wednesday, Jan. 6 / 8 p.m. CT / Ferrell Center / Waco, Texas

ESPN2 / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

NORMAN – Coming off a win over No. 9 West Virginia, RV/RV Oklahoma (6-2, 2-1 Big 12) continues its stretch of opening 2021 with three straight top-10 opponents by heading to Waco for a Wednesday night matchup with No. 2/2 Baylor (9-0, 2-0 Big 12).

The Sooners and Bears are the top two highest-scoring teams in the Big 12, but in order to pull off an upset Oklahoma will need to rely on a strong defensive performance. Baylor is second in the country in scoring with an average of 92.9 points per game while shooting it at a 51.6% clip. The Bears are off to a 9-0 start, winning by a nation-leading scoring margin of 30.3 points.

Oklahoma has shown strong defensive bursts - such as holding West Virginia to four points over a 10-minute stretch on Saturday - and will need to combine it with strong shooting from its senior-heavy roster.

ON THE AIR

• Wednesday's game will tip at 8 p.m. CT and air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Tune In Radio App) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing.

• Rich Hollenberg and Chris Spatola have the call on ESPN2.

THREE POINTERS

• Wednesday's game will be a homecoming for Waco native Umoja Gibson, who attended University High School - just four miles from Baylor's campus. The junior guard enters the matchup in his hometown coming off a career performance against No. 9 West Virginia on Saturday. Gibson poured in 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting (8-of-11 from 3-point range) while adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals. His 29 points are the second-most off the bench by any major-conference player this season. His career-high eight 3-pointers are tied for the most by a non-starter in any Division I game this season. Gibson received a rush of honors after the performance, being named the Big 12 Player of the Week, Big 12 Newcomer of the Week and NCAA.com National Player of the Week.

• Gibson isn't the only Sooner with an eye-popping performance this season. In Oklahoma's eight games this season, three different Sooners have reached at least 29 points in a game. Brady Manek produced 29 points against UTSA (Dec. 3) and Austin Reaves scored 32 at TCU (Dec. 6). Oklahoma is the only team in the country with three different players boasting 29-point performances this season. The OU trio's scoring milestones account for three of the five highest-scoring games by Big 12 players this season.

• Senior forward Brady Manek is expected to make his 100th career start on Wednesday. A staple of Lon Kruger's teams the last four seasons, Manek will be the 16th player since 1980 to start in 100 games for Oklahoma.

SERIES HISTORY: BAYLOR

• Oklahoma owns a 45-19 record over the Bears, including a 19-10 advantage in Norman. Despite the lopsided all-time series, Baylor has had the advantage in recent years, winning six straight against the Sooners. Oklahoma last defeated the Bears on Jan. 30, 2018 in Norman.

• OU last won in Waco in 2016. The Bears have won the last four matchups at Ferrell Center.

• The Sooners won an incredible 30 straight games against Baylor from 1979 through 2009. After that dominant stretch, the Bears have won 14 of the 24 games since. Oklahoma is 8-12 against Baylor during the Lon Kruger era.

• This is the second season in a row that OU is facing a top-2 Baylor squad on the road. In last season's matchup at Ferrell Center, the then-No. 1 Bears held off the Sooners 61-57. The Sooners trailed by eight with 90 seconds to play but cut the Baylor lead to two with 3-pointers by Austin Reaves and Brady Manek on back-to-back possessions. Kristian Doolittle forced a Bears turnover to set up a fast-break opportunity. Reaves attempted a go-ahead corner 3 with four seconds remaining, but his shot barely missed and Baylor pulled down the final rebound of the night. Manek led the Sooners with a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double. De'vion Harmon, Jalen Hill

LOOKING BACK AT SATURDAY'S WIN

• Oklahoma opened 2021 with a top-10 win over No. 9 West Virginia on Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center.

• The Sooners led by 18 at halftime following a dominant defensive frame. West Virginia scored only four points in the final 10:25 of the first half. Oklahoma totaled nine first-half steals and held the Mountaineers to 23% shooting in the frame.

• The Mountaineers got hot from 3-point range (9-of-14 from deep in the second half) and fought all the way back to tie the game late in the second half. The Sooners never surrendered their lead, but entered the final five minutes tied at 60. Oklahoma regrouped and retook the lead, holding off the road Mountaineers in the final minutes.

• Oklahoma was sparked by a career performance from junior guard Umoja Gibson, who came off the bench to score a game-high 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Gibson sunk a career-high eight 3-pointers on 11 attempts and added five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

• Senior guard Austin Reaves added 13 points (nine in the second half), four rebounds and three assists.

• Senior forward Kur Kuath pulled down a career-best nine rebounds, helping the Sooner outrebound the Big 12's top rebounding team 41-36.

• West Virginia entered the matchup averaging 15.6 offensive rebounds per game. The Sooners crashed the boards and held the Mountaineers to just eight offensive rebounds.

QUICK HITS

• Year after year the Big 12 proves itself to be one of the toughest and deepest conferences in college basketball. The Sooners currently in a stretch that proves how daunting of a league the Big 12 can be, facing four straight teams ranked in the top 15 of the latest AP Top 25 poll. Following matchups with No. 15 Texas Tech (Dec. 22) and No. 9 West Virginia (Jan. 2) at home, the Sooners now face No. 2 Baylor and No. 6 Kansas this week.

• This is just the third time in program history that Oklahoma has played four straight regular-season games against ranked opponents (most recently in 2015). This stretch is the first time that the Sooners have ever faced four straight top-15 foes.

• Oklahoma is facing three straight top-10 teams for just the second time in program history. The only other occurrence took place in the 1957-58 season (No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Kansas State and No. 7 Kansas).

• Oklahoma has won four of its last seven games against ranked teams.

• A win would give Oklahoma its first ever road win against a team ranked in the top two of the AP Top 25. Baylor would be the highest-ranked opponent OU has defeated in a road game since winning at No. 3 Wichita State in 2017.

• A Sooner victory would also be the first time in over 25 years that Oklahoma defeated top-10 opponents in back-to-back games. The feat last occurred when the Sooners bested No. 9 Missouri and No. 1 Kansas in consecutive games in February 1995.

• Defeating Baylor would give Oklahoma its first win over a top-two team since topping No. 1 Kansas in the championship game of the 2002 Big 12 Tournament. The Sooners have lost 11 straight games against teams ranked in the top two of the AP Top 25.

• With 185 victories at Oklahoma, head coach Lon Kruger is now tied with Hugh McDermott (1922-38) for the fourth on the Sooners' all-time wins list. Only three OU head coaches compiled more victories than Kruger: Billy Tubbs (333), Kelvin Sampson (279) and Hall-of-Famer Bruce Drake (200).

• Oklahoma's 81.8 points per game rank second in the Big 12. The Sooners are joined by Baylor (92.9) as the only Big 12 teams averaging over 80 points.

• The Sooners rank in the top four of the Big 12 in all three shooting categories: field goal shooting (46.4%, fourth), 3-point shooting (35.6%, third) and free throw percentage (77.8%, first).

• Oklahoma's roster holds two of the Big 12's top four 3-point shooters. After his electric peformance on Saturday, Umoja Gibson now leads the leage in both 3-pointers per game (2.8) and 3-point percentage (48.9%). Senior forward Brady Manek is fourth in the conference in 3-point field goals with 2.4 per game. Both Gibson and Manek have sunk eight 3-pointers in a game this season.

• Senior guard Austin Reaves continues to stuff the stat sheet on a nightly basis. He is the only major-conference player averaging 15.5 points, 5.4 assist and 5.0 rebounds. He's doing so while shooting 44.3% from the field and 87.0% from the foul line.

• Sometimes the key to victory is as simple as making shots. Over the last two seasons, the Sooners are 22-1 when they have a better field goal percentage than their opponents. Their only loss when owning a better field goal percentage was on the road at then-No. 1 Baylor last season.

• The Sooners also lead the league in fewest fouls committed per game, fouling an average of 13.4 times - the fourth-fewest in the country. This continues a trend that Oklahoma showed a lot of discipline in last season, committing only 13.4 personal fouls per game in 2019-20 – the third fewest in the country. This year, OU opponents are shooting an average of 12.3 foul shots per game, compared to OU's 19.8 free throw attempts.

• The Sooners boast two of the top four free throw shooters in the Big 12 in guards Austin Reaves (87.0%, third) and De'Vion Harmon (87.0%, fourth).

• Oklahoma is committing only 11.5 turnovers per game - the second lowest in the Big 12.

• Austin Reaves' 32 points against TCU (Dec. 6) are the most by a Big 12 player this season. Brady Manek's 29 points against UTSA (Dec. 3) and Umoja Gibson's 29 vs. West Virginia (Jan. 2) are the third-most by a league player.

• Lon Kruger returns a veteran-heavy team which returns over 70% of its scoring from last season's squad that claimed the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Championship.

• Kruger utilized a starting lineup with four seniors on opening night in Austin Reaves, Alondes Williams, Brady Manek and Kur Kuath. It was the first time since the 1992-93 season that Oklahoma started at least four seniors in the first game of the season.

UP NEXT: KANSAS

• Oklahoma concludes its stretch of four straight games against top-15 opponents (and three against top-10 foes) when it heads to Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday to face No. 6 Kansas on CBS. The matchup tips at 3:30 CT.

• Kansas is the only Big 12 team with a winning all-time record against the Sooners, leading the series 150-68.

• The Jayhawks are 78-16 against the Sooners in Lawrence. Oklahoma is looking for its first win in Allen Fieldhouse since 1993. The Jayhawks have defeated the Sooners in 19 straight games in Lawrence. It's not just the Sooners who have struggled in The Phog. Kansas is 269-15 at home during the Bill Self era.

• Not one, but two Sooners are high school teammates of Jayhawk players. OU sophomore guard De'Vion Harmon grew up playing with KU redshirt freshman forward Jalen Wilson at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas. Sooner freshman guard Trey Phipps and Kansas freshman guard Bryce Thompson were teammates at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa.