OU Basketball: Oklahoma Heads to Missouri Looking for Rebound, Top 25 Win

After suffering back-to-back blowouts against Auburn and Tennessee last week, the Sooners look to bounce back against No. 21 Missouri on Wednesday.

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NORMAN — After a week where Oklahoma battled two top-five foes, the road doesn’t get much easier.

The Sooners hit the road again on Wednesday to battle No. 21 Missouri. Even after losing games against Tennessee and Texas A&M last week, the Tigers are 17-6 and one of the SEC’s more surprising teams.

The Tigers, before their back-to-back losses, collected back-to-back wins against ranked foes the week before. Missouri beat No. 16 Ole Miss before taking down No. 14 Mississippi State on the road a few days later.

In addition to those impressive wins against the Mississippi schools, the Tigers earned marquee victories earlier in the year. Missouri beat Kansas, formerly No. 1, in the non-conference and earned a win against No. 4 Florida a few weeks later.

Missouri’s players have some of the quickest hands in the SEC, averaging a league-best 9.9 steals per game. The Tigers also stand out from deep with a 37.5 percent clip on 3-pointers, which is second best in the SEC.

Individually, the Tigers don’t have one outright star. But their depth in the backcourt makes them a tough matchup.

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Guard Tamar Bates leads Mizzou in scoring, averaging 14 points per contest. Fellow guard Caleb Grill is one of the best 3-point shooters in the nation at 47.7 percent.

Missouri’s top-10 leading scorers this season are all guards. The Tigers have just three players — Josh Gray, Peyton Marshall and Trent Burns — listed on their roster that aren’t guards.

That sets up for a potentially favorable matchup for Oklahoma, which has struggled down low throughout the SEC season.

The Sooners are dead last in the conference in rebounds and blocked shots per game. Missouri is 14th and 15th in those metrics, respectively.

This makes it seem like OU will have a better chance on the glass than it did against Auburn and Tennessee last week.

But the Sooners have to play better.

To start the week, OU fell to No. 1 Auburn 98-60, allowing a once-close game to get out of hand. And at home on Saturday, the Sooners allowed No. 4 Tennessee to shoot 60 percent from the floor and got dominated 70-52. Before the back-to-back losses, the Sooners had won three of their last four games with wins against South Carolina, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

Oklahoma (16-7, 3-7 SEC) has eight games remaining in the regular season, and six of the Sooners’ final opponents are currently ranked in the AP Top 25. OU is tied for 13th in the conference standings with Arkansas.

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OU is No. 44 in the NET rankings and firmly on the bubble. Of the SEC’s 16 members, 14 are ranked in the top 50 of the NET, with OU the 14th-highest ranked squad from the conference.

The Sooners have several more opportunities to collect Quad 1 wins before Selection Sunday, but the time is running out.

Wednesday’s game at Missouri is the first of many remaining chances for Oklahoma to make up for its less-than-ideal start to SEC play.

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