Red River Rivalry Hits Lloyd Noble Center Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, January 31

Norman, Okla.

1 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Texas

Tickets From $23 - $105

Tae Davis shooting a jump shot during a game against Arkansas

Photo by: Brendall Vargas/University of Oklahoma

Red River Rivalry Hits Lloyd Noble Center Saturday Afternoon

January 30, 2026 | Men's Basketball

ESPN2 Live Stats Listen Tickets OU Game Notes Texas Game Notes

NORMAN — The men's basketball version of the Red River Rivalry comes to Norman for the only time in 2026 when Oklahoma (11-10, 1-7 SEC) and Texas (12-9, 3-5) meet for the 108th time on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

Saturday's game will be televised by ESPN2 with Roy Philpott (play-by-play) and Jon Crispin (analyst) announcing. It will air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry on the call.

OU is 8-3 at home this season, with four players averaging at least 11.3 points per game and another averaging 9.5. It is outshooting opponents 49%-43% from the field and 38%-32% from 3-point range in the 11 contests. Texas is 1-4 in true road games (beat No. 13 Alabama 92-88 on Jan. 10; lost to No. 5 UConn, No. 21 Tennessee, Kentucky and Auburn).

The Sooners are led by guards Xzayvier Brown (16.3 ppg) and Nijel Pack (16.0 ppg), who are one of just three SEC teams with two players who each average at least 16.0 points per contest. Texas guard/forward Dailyn Swain ranks sixth in the league by averaging 17.5 points an outing.

Oklahoma vs. Texas
Date: Saturday, Jan. 31
Tip Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Norman, Okla.
Arena: Lloyd Noble Center

ESPN2
LIVE STATS
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GAME NOTES

SCENE SETTERS

• Conference cohorts for 28 years as members of the Big 12, Oklahoma and Texas officially joined the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024. Saturday's game will mark the third SEC meeting on the hardwood between the two men's hoops programs (the teams split two matchups last season).

• OU is the only SEC team and one of just seven out of 361 nationally to start the same lineup every game this season. Its starters have been guards Xzayvier Brown and Nijel Pack, forwards Tae Davis and Derrion Reid and center Mohamed Wague. Texas has started five different lineups.

• Pack, a first-year Sooner, has faced Texas four times in his career (three times with Kansas State and once with Miami [Fla.]). He averaged 18.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in those games, shooting 49% from the field, 38% from 3-point range (9 for 24) and 81% from the foul line (13 for 16). His high was 22 as a freshman with K-State in 2020-21. He scored 15 for Miami in an 88-81 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight win over the Longhorns in 2023 and was named Midwest Region Most Outstanding Player.

• Over the last two games, Pack is averaging 23.5 points and has made 11 3-pointers on 19 attempts (58%).

• Texas is in its first year under head coach Sean Miller, who is in his 21st year overall and has 499 career wins. He has coached teams to eight regular season conference titles, four conference tournament championships and 22 NCAA Tournaments, including four Elite Eights.

• Miller faced Oklahoma twice as a player at Pitt. In his freshman season of 1987-88 in Norman, the No. 11 Sooners posted an 86-83 win over the No. 6 Panthers behind 28 points from Harvey Grant. Miller was held to three points on 1-of-9 shooting (1 for 8 from behind the arc). OU went on to play in the national championship game and finished 35-4 under Billy Tubbs. The next year, unranked Pitt secured a 99-91 home win over the No. 3 Sooners. Miller hit three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. Mookie Blaylock (OU) and Brian Shorter (Pitt) each scored 37 points.

OU LEADS SERIES VS. TEXAS

• Saturday's game will mark the 108th meeting between OU and Texas, with the Sooners holding a 58-49 series lead. That includes a 29-18 advantage in Norman (20-15 at Lloyd Noble Center).

• Six of the last seven OU-Texas meetings in Norman and nine of the last 11 have been decided by four or fewer points. Four of the last seven meetings in Norman have been one- or two-point outcomes.

• Oklahoma held a 42-16 (.724) series lead through the 2001-02 season. Since then, Texas holds a 33-16 (.673) series advantage. The Longhorns have won eight of the last nine matchups, five of them by four or fewer points.

LAST YEAR VS. LONGHORNS

• OU and Texas met twice last season, with the road team picking up the victory both times. UT won the first meeting 77-73 in Norman on Jan. 15, and the Sooners posted a 76-72 win in Austin on March 8 in the regular season finale.

• In Norman, the Sooners trailed by 23 but rallied to within two points with 15 seconds to go before falling by four. Down 53-30 with 16:15 left in the second half, Oklahoma went on a 23-3 run to cut UT's lead to 56-53 with 7:45 remaining. Senior forward Jalon Moore was the catalyst, scoring 26 of his 29 points after halftime (his previous career high for an entire game was 24), including 19 of OU's 22 points during one stretch. He was 8 for 8 from the field (three 3's) and 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the second half. He also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds on the night. Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears scored 20 points.

• In the rematch, Oklahoma committed a season-low five turnovers and posted a 20-6 advantage in points off turnovers in the four-point win to snap an eight-game series losing streak. Six Sooners scored in double figures for the only time of the season. Guard Brycen Goodine led the way with 14 points, Fears added 13, Duke Miles 11 and Moore, Luke Northweather and Glenn Taylor Jr. 10 each. OU had six fewer offensive rebounds than Texas (13-7) but posted a 15-9 advantage in second-chance points. The Sooners held SEC Freshman of the Year Tre Johnson, who entered the game as the league's leading scorer at 20.6 points per contest, to seven points, all from the free throw line. Johnson was 0 for 14 from the field.

OU'S 'X' FACTOR

• Junior guard Xzayvier Brown has scored at least 18 points in nine of the last 12 games and is averaging 18.7 in those 12 contests on 49% field goal, 39% (24-for-62) 3-point and 92% (48-for-52) free throw shooting. Included were four 20-point games in SEC play (23 in a win over Ole Miss, a season-high 24 against No. 19 Florida, 21 vs. No. 18 Alabama and 22 at South Carolina).

• Brown's four 20-point games in SEC play are tied for the league's fourth most.

• In OU's four SEC home games, Brown is averaging 20.3 points. He is 9 for 19 (47%) from 3-point range and has committed just five turnovers.

• Brown leads the SEC by shooting 91% from the free throw line (72 for 79). His streak of 27 makes ended Jan. 13 vs. Florida but he has made 50 of his last 54 attempts (93%).

• After scoring at least 20 points in 14 of 35 games last year at Saint Joseph's (40%), Brown has a team-high nine games of 20-plus in 21 outings this season (43%; Nijel Pack ranks second with five such efforts). Brown has 29 career games of at least 20.

PACK MENTALITY

• First-year Sooner guard Nijel Pack surpassed the 2,000-point mark Jan. 11 at Texas A&M and now has 2,058 for his career to rank third nationally among active players.

• Pack ranks third in the SEC with his 3.2 3-pointers per game and fourth with his .430 3FG percentage.

• Pack has made at least one 3-pointer in 19 of 21 games, at least three in 13 contests and at least four in 10 outings. He buried at least three treys in six consecutive games between Nov. 11 and Dec. 2, the first Sooner to accomplish the feat since consensus national player of the year Buddy Hield during OU's 2015-16 Final Four campaign.

• A sixth-year collegian, Pack spent his first two seasons at Kansas State (he was a first-team All-Big 12 pick as a sophomore when he averaged 17.4 points and made 95 3-pointers and shot a league-high .436 from behind the arc) and the last three at Miami, Fla. (he helped the Hurricanes to their first Final Four his junior season and was named the Midwest Region Most Outstanding Player). He has started 142 of his 143 career games.

ELATONTSEV MAKING AN IMPACT

• OU announced Dec. 28 the signing of 23-year-old Kirill Elatontsev (pronounced kee-REEL EE-el-uh-tahn-suv), a center from Russia who is averaging 5.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per contest over his nine games. He is shooting 64% from the field, 64% (7 for 11) from 3-point range and 69% (11 for 16) from the free throw line. He has made at least one 3-pointer in four of the last five games.

• On Jan. 13 vs. No. 19 Florida, Elatontsev scored 17 points on 4-for-4 field goal shooting (all 3-pointers)after totaling two points over OU's first three league games. Over the last five contests he is averaging 7.6 points on 11-for-15 (73%) field goal and 7-for-10 (70%) 3-point shooting and has seven steals.

• From Krasnoyarsk, Russia, the 6-11, 240-pound Elatontsev has one semester of eligibility remaining. He most recently played for Lokomotiv Kuban in the VTB United League, which is regarded as the top tier of Russian professional club basketball. In February 2024 he was called up to the Russian National Team.

MORE OU NOTES AND NUGGETS

• Oklahoma has scored at least 85 points in 11 of its 21 games (52%), already its most 85-point efforts in a season since 2017-18. For comparison, OU's last four teams scored 85-plus a combined 21 times in 133 games (16%; nine times last year, six in 2023-24, two in 2022-23 and four in 2021-22).

• OU's 83.5 scoring average is its highest through a season's first 21 games since 2017-18 and fifth highest in the last 32 years. Similarly, its 9.7 3-pointers per game are its third most through 21 contests in the 40-year 3-point era.

• The Sooners' top four scorers are all transfers in their first year in the program. Xzayvier Brown averages a team-high 16.3 points per game, while Nijel Pack (16.0), Tae Davis (13.0) and Derrion Reid (11.8) also average double figures. Mohamed Wague rounds out the starting five with his 6.8 per contest.

• Reid has scored at least 12 points each of the last four games and is averaging 13.3 (54% field goal shooting) and 6.8 rebounds during the stretch.

• Wague (3.1) and Davis (2.6) rank fourth and sixth in the SEC in offensive rebounds per game. Davis had 11 offensive boards against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, OU's most in a contest since at least the 1995-96 season. He surpassed 1,000 career points and 500 rebounds this season (has 1,156 and 558).

• Davis went 41 for 66 (62%) from the free throw line over OU's first 17 games, but is 14 for 15 (93%) over the last four.

• Wague's three highest career point totals have come this season (16 in the opener vs. Saint Francis, 20 vs. Oral Roberts and 15 vs. Stetson), as have his two highest rebound totals (14 at Wake Forest and 15 vs. Ole Miss in the SEC opener).

• Redshirt freshman forward Kuol Atak ranks third on the team with his 26 3-point makes (shooting 39%) despite averaging just 12.1 minutes over his 17 games. He is 19 for 39 (49%) from long distance in home contests, including 10 for 19 (53%) over his last three outings at Lloyd Noble Center. He has played in just one of the last four games (one minute at South Carolina).

• Long Beach State transfer Jadon Jones, who is in his second year with OU and first year playing, provides 6.0 points per game off the bench in an average of 20.9 minutes over his 17 outings. He has also drawn 10 fouls while attempting a 3-pointer. Jones missed all of last season and this year's first four games due to injury. The 2021-22 Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Year has 10 steals and eight blocks over the past four games.

• Nine of the 15 players on OU's roster are new in 2025-26, and three more were on last year's team but redshirted.