OU Hosts Texas in Home Finale

^16/15 Oklahoma

^15/16 Texas

Thursday, March 4 / 8 p.m. CT / Lloyd Noble Center / Norman

Tickets / ESPN / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

NORMAN – Coming off of two tough losses in back-to-back Bedlam, No. 16/15 Oklahoma (14-8, 9-7) returns to Norman for yet another rivalry game when the Sooners host No. 15/16 Texas (15-7, 9-6) on Thursday.

The OU-Texas matchup has been anticipated for quite some time and is now on its fourth scheduled date after inclement winter weather prevented the game from happening in mid-February.

Both Oklahoma and Texas are talented top-20 teams coming off rough stretches in the grind of Big 12 play. The Sooners have lost three straight while the Longhorns have lost five of their last six games against ranked opponents.

ON THE AIR

• The rivalry 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.

• Chuckie Kempf and Robbie Hummel have the call on ESPN and the Watch ESPN app.

TICKETS

• Less than 100 tickets remain available and can be purchased at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and SoonerSports.com/Tickets. Lloyd Noble Center's east ticket windows will open at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

• Digital ticketing will be implemented for 2020-21 to allow fans to seamlessly access or transfer tickets to others via the SoonerSports2Go app. Step-by-step instructions and additional information on how to access and transfer tickets is available at SoonerSports.com/digitaltickets.

GAME DAY POLICIES

• Appropriate cloth or surgical-style masks that cover the nose and mouth completely will be required at all times while on campus and inside Lloyd Noble Center. Other face coverings including clear face shields, gaiters/buffs, bandanas or masks with valves are not permitted.

• OU will continue its clear-bag policy this season. The approved clear plastic tote size is a maximum of 12 inches x 6 inches x 12 inches or a one-gallon clear plastic freezer bag. Even those bags are subject to search.

• Arena doors will open to the public one (1) hour prior to tip off. The general public can utilize the north and east entrances.

• Full details on OU's game day policies at Lloyd Noble Center can be found here.

THREE POINTERS

• Coming off a 20-point performance on Monday night in Stillwater, senior forward Brady Manek enters the regular-season finale just four points shy of becoming the 15th player in program history to total 1,400 career points. Manek, who is fifth in program history for career 3-pointers (222), would join OU legends Hollis Price and Buddy Hield as the only players in school history to produce 1,400 points and 200 3-pointers in a career. Manek has not reached a decision on if he will be take advantage of the NCAA's extra year being offered to all student-athletes, and may be playing his final game at Lloyd Noble Center on Thursday.

• Oklahoma will be on the hunt for yet another top-15 win on Thursday when it hosts No. 15 Texas. Oklahoma has five wins over top-15 teams this season, tied with Ohio State and Kansas for the most in the country. Only eight teams have won six regular-season games over top-15 opponents in the last 25 seasons (most recently Duke and North Carolina in 2018-19). With a win, Oklahoma would become the first Big 12 team in the league's history (founded in 1996) to win six regular-season games against top-15 teams.

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

SERIES HISTORY: TEXAS

• 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, with their one loss coming in Norman last season.

• Oklahoma owns a 29-13 advantage in the series for games played in Norman.

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

• A win would give Oklahoma its first sweep of the Longhorns since the 2014-15 season.

• It wouldn't be a rivalry without some drama – and this series has had plenty of it over the last few seasons, including four games decided at the buzzer since 2016. Buddy Hield sunk the game-winner in Norman with 1.3 seconds to go in 2016. In his freshman season, Texas senior Andrew Jones pulled up to a game-winner with 1.8 seconds remaining in Austin in 2017. 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 in 2020. The first meeting of 2021 ended in Elijah Harkless intercepting a heaved pass in the final seconds to seal the one-point OU victory. Brady Manek

QUICK HITS

• Oklahoma is 10-2 at Lloyd Noble Center this season.

• The Sooners enter the matchup ranked No. 16 in the latest AP-Top 25. During the Lon Kruger era, Oklahoma is 15-2 in home games when both the Sooners and their opponent are ranked.

• OU is in the AP Top-25 for the sixth straight week, and saw a historic rise when first arriving in the poll. 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 on Feb. 22 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 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 11.0 turnovers per game - the second fewest in the Big 12 and 23rd best in Division I.

• The Sooners lead the league in fewest fouls committed per game, fouling an average of 14.8 times - the 19th-fewest in the country. This continues a trend that Oklahoma showed a lot of discipline in last season, committing 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 74.0% rate.

UP NEXT: BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

• Oklahoma heads to Kansas City for the 2021 Big 12 Championship. With such a tight race in the middle of the conference standings, the Sooners could land has high as the fourth seed or as low as the seventh seed.

• OU is 22-20 all-time in the Big 12 Championship, but has not won a game in the conference tournament since 2016. The Sooners earned the No. 3 seed in last year's Championship, but the game was canceled that morning due to the national spread of COVID-19.

• Oklahoma has won three tournament titles at the Big 12 Championship – 2001, 2002 and 2003.

ON THE AIR

TICKETS

GAME DAY POLICIES

THREE POINTERS

SERIES HISTORY: TEXAS

QUICK HITS

UP NEXT: BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elijah Harkless

Brady Manek

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics