Bedlam Rematch Set for ESPN's Big Monday

^7/8Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Monday, March 1 / 8 p.m. CT / Gallagher-Iba Arena / Stillwater, Okla.

NORMAN – It's Bedlam...again. Roughly 52 hours after Saturday's overtime thriller concluded, No. 7/8 Oklahoma (14-7, 9-6) and Oklahoma State (16-6, 9-6) will meet again, this time on ESPN's Big Monday.

The Sooners will need another big performance from the duo of Austin Reaves and De'Vion Harmon, who combined for 55 points in Saturday's loss. Oklahoma was outrebounded by 17 in the four-point overtime defeat and will look to improve its performance on the boards in Round Two.

Oklahoma has won at least one game in the Bedlam matchup in all but one season since 2005 and will look for revenge to ensure that remains the case on Monday.

ON THE AIR

• The Bedlam matchup tips at 8 p.m. CT and will 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.

• Bob Wischusen and Fran Fraschilla have the call on ESPN and the Watch ESPN app.

THREE POINTERS

• Bedlam Round Two will offer another matchup between the top two scorers in the Big 12. OSU's Cade Cunningham leads the Big 12 in points per game (19.8 points per game) and scored 40 points in the first meeting while OU senior Austin Reaves (17.5 points per game) is second in the league and scored 22 Saturday. Cunningham and Reaves are the only two Big 12 players to have a 40-point game in the last two seasons (Reaves scored 41 at TCU last season). Reaves has scored at least 20 points in four straight games and averaged 22.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists during the month of February.

• Although the Associated Press Poll won't be released until earlier in the day on Monday, it is very likely that both the Sooners and Cowboys will be ranked in the Top-25. If so, Monday will be the first Bedlam meeting where both teams are ranked since Jan. 17, 2015. Oklahoma has been ranked in seven meetings since then while the Cowboys have not been in the Top 25 for a Bedlam matchup the last six seasons.

• Oklahoma forced 20 turnovers in Saturday's first round of Bedlam – the most by an OU opponent this season. Elijah Harkless led the way with five steals.

SERIES HISTORY: OKLAHOMA STATE

• Oklahoma owns a 140-101 all-time advantage in the series. The Sooners' 140 wins over OSU are their most over any opponent in program history.

• Oklahoma is 22-13 in Bedlam games since 2006 and has won at least one game against Oklahoma State in all but one season since 2005. The Sooners have swept the Cowboys on seven occassions since 2006 (OSU has one regular-season
sweep during that same span).

• OU has won three of the last five meetings. The Cowboys broke OU's three-game winning streak last season in Stillwater and now the Pokes are on a two-game streak.

• The Sooners are 12-8 against the Cowboys under Lon Kruger. OSU head coach Mike Boynton is 4-4 in Bedlam matchups.

• Oklahoma State owns a 64-47 all-time advantage in Bedlam games played in Stillwater, but Oklahoma has won four of the last seven meetings at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

• The Sooners swept the Cowboys in 2018-19, giving Oklahoma its seventh Bedlam sweeps since 2006 (Oklahoma State has swept just once in that span). The two teams split last season with each school winning their home game by double digits.
Elijah Harkless

QUICK HITS

• Oklahoma enters the matchup 4-4 in Big 12 road games this season. The Sooners – who went a combined 7-29 in conference road games the previous four seasons – can finish above .500 in Big 12 away contests for the first time since 2014 with a win in Stillwater. Dating back to last season, Oklahoma has won six of its last 10 Big 12 road games.

• Oklahoma has five wins over top-15 teams this season, tied with Ohio State for the most in the country.

• Oklahoma has won eight of its last 11 games.

• The Sooners were picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll and did not make an appearance in the AP Top-25 until Jan. 25.

• The Sooners are in the top-12 of the AP-Top 25 for the fourth straight week, checking in at their season-best No. 7 position. Oklahoma jumped into the top-10 for the first time this season on Feb. 1 after being ranked No. 24 the previous week. The 15-spot increase is tied for the largest single-week jump by an already ranked team since the poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989 (Arizona jumped from 19 to 4 in 1995-96).

• Oklahoma's No. 7 ranking is its highest position in the AP Top-25 since being ranked No. 4 in January 2018.

• On Feb. 13, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee announced its top 16 teams in a mock bracket selection, pegging Oklahoma as a No. 3 seed. Should the Sooners continue to hold ground in the committee's mind, Oklahoma could become just the eighth team in the last 25 years to earn a top-4 seed after being unranked in the AP Top-25 until at least Jan. 25. The highest seed obtained in the last 25 years by a team that was unranked through at least Jan. 25 was a No. 2 spot by South Carolina (1997) and Iowa State (2000).

• One of the main factors to OU's historic rise in the polls is from a stretch in late January where the Sooners beat three top-10 teams in eight days. By defeating No. 9 Kansas, No. 5 Texas and No. 9 Alabama, Oklahoma became just the third team in NCAA history to beat top-10 teams in back-to-back games, joining Michigan (2014) and Iowa (1987).

• In the month of January, Oklahoma became the first college basketball team since 1974 to beat four top-10 teams in one calendar month.

• The Sooners are 9-1 when scoring at least 78 points. OU is averaging 80.4 points per game in victories and 69.4.2 in losses.

• Sometimes the key to victory is as simple as making shots. Over the last two seasons, the Sooners are 27-3 when they have a better field goal percentage than their opponents.

• Oklahoma is committing only 10.9 turnovers per game - the fewest in the Big 12 and 22nd best in Division I.

• The Sooners also lead the league in fewest fouls committed per game, fouling an average of 14.7 times - the 16th-fewest in the country. This continues a trend that Oklahoma showed a lot of discipline in last season, commiting only 14.4 personal fouls per game in 2019-20 – the third fewest in the country. This year, OU opponents are shooting an average of 13.2 foul shots per game, compared to OU's 18.0 free throw attempts. OU is making the most of its trips to the line, ranking second in the Big 12 in free throw percentage with a 74.1% rate.

UP NEXT: TEXAS

• The Sooners will play in their third straight rivalry game when they host Texas in the regular-season finale on Thursday. The matchup will tip at 8 p.m. CT on either ESPN or ESPN2.

• Oklahoma and Texas will square off for the 99th time on Tuesday with Oklahoma holding a 57-41 advantage in the all-time series. OU has won three of the last four meetings.

• Texas holds a 23-19 advantage when hosting the Sooners in Austin. Oklahoma won inside The Drum last season.

• The Sooners are 10-9 against Texas under Lon Kruger.

• Four of the last five OU-Texas men's basketball meetings have been decided by 3 or fewer points, including the last two meetings which were each won by one point.

• It wouldn't be a rivalry without some drama – and this series has had plenty of it over the last few seasons, including three games decided at the buzzer since 2017. In his freshman season, Texas senior Andrew Jones pulled up to a game-winner with 1.8 seconds remaining in Austin. In 2019, OU held a two-point lead by blocking a would-be game-winner from Matt Coleman. Coleman got revenge in his next trip to Norman, sinking a game-winner at the LNC last season to stun the Sooners.