The last time Texas played Oklahoma, the Longhorns were missing Jericho Sims, Courtney Ramey, and Brock Cunningham. Greg Brown, Matt Coleman, and Royce Hamm all fouled out. Blake Nevins checked in on the final play to make the pass to Kai Jones for the attempted last-second shot. Shaka Smart was in quarantine. Texas only lost by one.
It was the start of Oklahoma’s rise, and the start of Texas’s fall, and it shouldn’t have really been either of those things because the prevalent emotion coming out of it was, “How did Texas keep it that close?”
Anyway, chance for vengeance tonight:
The Game
Texas at Oklahoma
The Time
8:00 PM Texas Time
The Television
ESPN
The Opponent
Oklahoma is “reeling,” having lost three straight. To be fair, one of those came at the hands of Kansas State, but really, this is the same Oklahoma team it’s been all along. They’re solid. They don’t make many mistakes. They aren’t overwhelmingly talented.
What Texas Needs to Do
The Longhorn vibe would stand to benefit from a W. Get themselves to Fort Worth with a winning streak, take care of business there, make some noise in the Big 12 Tournament and then go get Shaka Smart the contract extension he deserves.
On the Court
Oklahoma does the little things exceptionally well. That’s how they hang with these good teams they’ve beaten. To take them down, Texas can’t shoot itself in the foot. That isn’t to say Oklahoma isn’t talented at all. They’ve got a ton of talent. But they don’t have Texas’s talent. Play a clean game, let the talent do the rest, purge some of the bad mojo.
Hook ‘em.
