Oklahoma Ready for Rubber Match Against No. 14 Texas Tech in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY — Oklahoma came to Kansas City with one simple goal: emerge as Big 12 Champions.
The Sooners (18-14 overall, 8-11 Big 12) took an unlikely first step on Thursday night, knocking off the No. 3-ranked Baylor Bears 72-67 at the T-Mobile Arena.
Where, How to Watch:
- Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Texas Tech, Friday, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2
It was a crucial must-win for the Sooners to try and play their way into the Big Dance, but bracket experts say Oklahoma still has more work to do.
After the victory over Baylor, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi moved Oklahoma into his First Four Out, slotting OU in the fourth spot among the group left out of the NCAA Tournament field.
Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser isn’t concerned about the outside noise, and he said the Sooners’ body of work speaks for itself.
"Look at our strength of schedule. Look at every rating on that,” Moser said after the win over Baylor. “… We just knocked off one of the top teams on the one line.
“… I know our case for our team. We're in the hardest conference in the country. We have the hardest schedule in the country. We schedule up. Our ratings, our everything is elite.”
As Moser has pointed out over and over this season, the Big 12 offers an opportunity every night, and Oklahoma will likely punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a second win in Kansas City on Friday.
Awaiting the Sooners are the No. 14-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders (24-8, 13-6), who entered the Big 12 Tournament as the 3-seed.
Oklahoma and Texas Tech split the season series, with each team delivering an emphatic home win.
On Feb. 9, Umoja Gibson exploded for 30 points on 9-of-14 shooting to hand the then-No. 9 Red Raiders a 70-55 thumping. To weeks later, Mark Adams’ squad returned the favor, handling Oklahoma 66-42 in Lubbock.
Umoja Gibson
Rob Ferguson / USA TODAY Sports
In the road loss, the Red Raiders dominated the rebounding battle 31-17. Oklahoma will have to cut that margin considerably to hang around on Friday.
But over their four-game winning streak, the Sooners have been much more physical on the boards. OU even won the battle on the glass against Baylor 35-34 on Thursday night despite the team’s second-leading rebounder in Tanner Groves only playing 15 minutes.
Regardless of the magnitude of the contest, Moser said the Sooners are just taking things one game at a time, because that’s what it’ll take to cut down the nets in Kansas City.
“We're ready to go, ready to keep chasing,” Moser said. “… We're focused on winning this tournament. We're focused on that, and that's what our mind and our focus is on.”
Tip-off between the Sooners and the Red Raiders is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Friday night.
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