OU Basketball: Oklahoma Hosts No. 4 Tennessee for Second Top-Five Game of Week

After falling to No. 1 Auburn on the road earlier in the Week, the Sooners will welcome another top-five squad to the Lloyd Noble Center.

John Reed-Imagn Images

NORMAN — Oklahoma is in the midst of a week more challenging than any other team has played — or will play — this season.

The Sooners, just days after losing to No. 1 Auburn on Tuesday, host No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday. OU (16-6, 3-6 SEC) had won three of its last five games before the loss to the Tigers.

Since beginning league play on Jan. 4, the Sooners haven’t played any easy stretches.

All 16 SEC squads are ranked in the top 100 of the NET rankings, and 14 of them are ranked in the top 50. This week’s AP Top 25 saw nine teams from the conference included in the rankings with three (Vanderbilt, OU and Texas) receiving votes.

Still, this week is even more daunting than the others.

First, OU had to travel to The Plains to battle the 21-1 Tigers, whose only loss came to Duke in the non-conference. The Sooners kept up in the first half before Auburn broke the game apart and won 98-70. 

Then they had to travel back to Norman and get ready for their next top-five foe. Fatigue aside, weeks like this are something the Sooners enjoy.

“That’s the beauty of the game,” senior forward Jalon Moore said. “I love being able to travel, going to play away games in those types of environments, then come back and have another chance to get a Quad 1 win, it’s exciting. It’s kind of the beauty of the game and the beauty of this league.”

The Volunteers (19-4, 6-4) are also No. 4 in the NET, collecting seven quad wins so far. Their average winning margin of 15.3 points is the third-highest in the SEC, behind only Auburn and No. 6 Florida.

With guards Chaz Lanier, Zakai Zeigler and Jordan Gainey, the Volunteers have one of college basketball’s best backcourts. Lanier is third in the SEC in three-point percentage (42.2%) and seventh in scoring (17.5 points per game).

Tennessee dealt with its own gauntlet recently, losing to Auburn and Kentucky in back-to-back games. The Vols, though, rebounded with wins against Florida and No. 15 Missouri.

OU coach Porter Moser believes the mental aspect of this brutal week is the toughest thing to overcome.

OU Basketball: No. 1 Auburn Dominates Oklahoma in Second Half, Sooners Are 3-6 in SEC

“It's the mental fatigue, to me, that's way more than the physical fatigue,” Moser said. “Coming back, getting yourself up. You get down after a loss, and you've gotta pick yourself back up. You're very high after a win, you've gotta get grounded.”

In the Auburn game, the Sooners struggled in that department.

Moore and Jeremiah Fears were both given technical fouls in the game. Moore’s was for jawing at an opponent after a made basket, while Fears’ came in the second half in a verbal spat with Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara.

The emotions got too high against the Tigers. That can’t happen on Saturday for OU to have a chance at the upset.

“It's about how you're gonna handle the mental fatigue, the mental stress,” Moser said. “It's an elite game every game. This is daunting, and I think every coach in the league will tell you that.”

Saturday’s game between the Sooners and Volunteers will begin at 11 a.m.

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