Oklahoma @ Texas preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 23, 2019 ) Texas 67, Oklahoma 69

Oklahoma will look to hand conference rival Texas its first home loss of the season Wednesday when the Sooners travel to Austin to face the Longhorns. Texas has won all four of its home contests against Oklahoma during head coach Shaka Smart’s five-year tenure and are 18-5 all-time in Big 12 home openers.

The Longhorns dropped their conference opener 59-44 to No. 4 Baylor on Saturday as they were limited to a season-low in points scored while converting 3-of-16 from downtown and 5-of-15 from the free throw line. “If you add up our missed free throws, some of the layups we missed, and then just some good looks that we didn’t knock down… It’s a game you still can go take,” Smart told the media. “You have to, as a competitor, be able to say ‘I’m going to make the next play’. Whether it’s a rebound, whether it’s a stop, whatever it is.” The Sooners needed a strong defensive effort to secure a 66-61 victory over Kansas State Saturday in their first conference matchup of the season as they rallied from 11 points down in the second half thanks to junior transfer Austin Reaves scoring 18 of his team-high 21 points in the final 11 minutes. “Everybody wants to do something that helps the team win,” Reaves told reporters. “(You) have to play every second on the court because it all counts. It can change in seconds, so we prepared like that.”

TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT OKLAHOMA (10-3, 1-0 Big 12): While Reaves was 4-for-8 from downtown Saturday, the rest of his squad went 1-for-15 with the lone triple coming from sophomore Jamal Bieniemy, who is now 6-for-39 from 3-point range this season (15.4 percent). Senior Kristian Doolittle added 19 points and 12 rebounds against the Wildcats and leads the team with 16.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. The Sooners commit the sixth-fewest turnovers per game in the country entering Tuesday (10.5) while also logging the sixth-fewest fouls (13.8).

ABOUT TEXAS (10-3, 0-1): Junior forward Jericho Sims notched his second consecutive double-double – and third in 82 career games – as he finished with a season-best 13 points against Baylor while tying his career high with 15 rebounds. Sophomore Courtney Ramey was the only other Longhorns player to hit double figures against the Bears as he netted 11 points off the bench while leading scorer Matt Coleman III (12.3 points per game) was held to nine points on 4-of-10 shooting. Junior guard Jase Febres has knocked down a conference-best 35 triples this season and is averaging 10.2 points on 37 percent shooting.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Oklahoma outscored Kansas State 23-5 at the free throw line Saturday and own a conference-best 78.9 percent success rate at the line – seventh-best nationally entering Tuesday.

2. Texas F Kamaka Hepa made his third career start Saturday and matched his personal best with three assists while setting a career high with two steals during 29 scoreless minutes.

3. The Longhorns are looking to become the 18th Division I program to reach 1,800 victories as they enter Wednesday one win shy of the mark.

PREDICTION: Oklahoma 72, Texas 64