Oklahoma (9-4) at Texas (11-2)
When: Tuesday, January 26th, 2021
Where: Erwin Center,
Austin, TX
Time: 7:00 ET | TV: ESPN
Opening Odds: Texas -5/141
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The Oklahoma Sooners continue to climb up the Big 12 and national standings, but haven’t had much success on the road. They will travel to Austin, Texas on Tuesday night to take on rival Texas in a key game for conference positioning. The Sooners are coming off three-straight impressive home victories over TCU, Kansas State and most recently, No. 9 Kansas on Saturday. The last three road games have not been so kind to them, but in fairness, they were tough. Losses at Xavier, Kansas and Baylor dropped the Sooners to 1-3 away from home, but the 75-68 win Saturday got the team back into the top 25. Oklahoma outrebounded Kansas by 10 in the win and the defense has held opponents to just 42.6 percent shooting in the last five games. The Longhorns will be playing for the first time in 10 days, which has been a theme for many teams across the country this year. Texas last played on Jan. 16 – an 82-67 win over Kansas State and the team is all the way up to No. 5 in the national rankings. Starter Greg Brown and key reserves Brock Cunningham and Kai Jones were held out of the win over the Wildcats because of Covid-19 protocols. Texas’ ensuing two games, at Iowa State and at TCU, were postponed because of Covid issues within their opponents program. The teams split the two meetings a year ago, with the road team winning both including an Oklahoma 72-62 win in Austin as 3-point underdogs. The road team is 5-0 ATS in the last five meetings.
Devion Harmon was the star for the Sooners in their win over Kansas, scoring 22 points to go with four rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes of action. Austin Reaves had 16 points, while Umoja Gibson contributed 10 points. Oklahoma is 51st in the nation with 77.5 points per game and 83rd with 66.6 points allowed per contest. However, OU is 11th overall in the nation with just 10.3 turnovers per game and eighth with just a 12.8 turnover percentage. Oklahoma has covered the spread in seven of its last 10 games overall, while the under has gone 8-2 in that span. The Sooners will step out of conference and host Alabama on Saturday.
Four Texas starters scored in double figures in the win over Kansas State 10 days ago, led by Andrew Jones, who had 19 points and six rebounds. The Longhorns shot 52.5 percent from the field and also hit 12 three-pointers. Texas has drained a total of 25 threes on 56 attempts over the last two games and have hit 10 triples in four games this season. Texas is averaging 76.2 points per game, while allowing just 65.2 points per contest. Andrew Jones led the way in the Kansas State game with 19 points, while Kamaka Hepa added a career-high-tying 15 points. Jericho Sims and Courtney Ramey each scored 14 points. Hepa had seen action in just three of Texas’ first 12 games and played a combined total of 8:15 before logging 25:42 against the Wildcats.
I really like the way Oklahoma is playing right now, and without any real home court advantage, taking the points seem like the logical play here.
Pick: Oklahoma +5
