Oklahoma @ Kansas State preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 16, 2019 ) Kansas State 74, Oklahoma 61

Oklahoma will look to play spoiler a second straight time on Saturday as it visits No. 17 Kansas State, who enters the season’s final game tied with Texas Tech atop the Big 12 standings. For the first time in 14 years, a program other than Kansas will claim the conference's regular-season title after the Sooners posted the statement victory for which they'd been waiting, an 81-68 triumph over the 14th-ranked Jayhawks on Tuesday.

“Anyone who watched the game (on Tuesday) feels good about the way we played in terms of being a tournament team,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger told reporters after his team led wire-to-wire against Kansas. “Regardless, we’ve got to approach it like we’ve got to win another one. That doesn’t change.” The Sooners’ first double-digit victory over the Jayhawks since 1990 boosted the program’s chances of earning an NCAA Tournament bid as the win was their fourth in five contests since snapping a five-game losing streak on Feb. 16 against TCU. The Wildcats earned their seventh Big 12 road win of the season on Monday – their most during conference play since 1958-59 – as they saw a 21-point, second-half lead diminish courtesy of a 16-4 run by TCU but still escaped with the 64-52 victory. “After that little run, I thought we did a better job of getting stops and getting some steals and finishing the game, so it was a nice road win,” Wildcats coach Bruce Weber told reporters. “Still in first place going into the last day.”

TV: 6 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT OKLAHOMA (19-11, 7-10 Big 12): Kristian Doolittle led the Sooners' attack on Tuesday as he registered an efficient 24 points (7-of-11 shooting) while also pulling down a team-best 11 rebounds. Brady Manek went 3-for-7 from 3-point range against Kansas en route to a season-best 21-point performance – well above his average of 12 points. Rashard Odomes, playing in front of his home fans for the final time, scored in double digits for the first time since Feb. 9 as he finished with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 26 minutes.

ABOUT KANSAS STATE (23-7, 13-4): Barry Brown Jr. led four double-digit scorers on Monday with a team-high 16 points as the Wildcats moved to 12-1 this season when having four players register 10 or more points. The starters did most of the damage against TCU as they accounted for 61 of team’s 64 points, 25 of their 29 rebounds and 13 of their 15 assists. The Wildcats did a much better job of capitalizing on the Horned Frogs’ mistakes as they scored 21 points off 14 TCU turnovers while they gave away the ball 13 times themselves but surrendered just eight points.



TIP-INS

1. The Wildcats are ninth in the Big 12 in 3-point shooting on the season (33.9 percent) but second during league play (36.6 percent).

2. Oklahoma G Christian James (14.8 points) leads the team in scoring but is averaging 10.8 points over his last 10 games.

3. Kruger was a point guard for Kansas State from 1971-74 and its coach from 1986-90.

PREDICTION: Kansas State 80, Oklahoma 76