OU Basketball: What to Know Ahead of Oklahoma’s Battle With No. 1 Auburn

The Sooners face their toughest test yet on Tuesday when they hit the road to battle Auburn, No. 1 in both the AP poll and the NET.

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NORMAN — There hasn’t been a “gimmie” since Oklahoma started conference play, and there won’t be the rest of the year.

But Tuesday’s game is tougher than the rest.

The Sooners battle No. 1 Auburn after beating No. 24 Vanderbilt on Saturday. Not only do they face the nation’s top-ranked squad, they do so on the road.

The Tigers’ resume is unmatched.

Auburn (20-1, 8-0 SEC) is the only one-loss team in NCAA Division I college basketball. The Tigers’ lone defeat came against Duke, now ranked No. 2, on the road in the third week of the season. Since beginning SEC play, the Tigers have collected ranked wins against Mississippi State, Georgia, Tennessee and Ole Miss.

What stands out most about the Tigers is their depth.

Auburn has five players averaging more than 10 points per game, and their sixth-leading scorer (Chaney Johnson) is averaging 9.5. Nine Tigers are averaging double-digit minutes.

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Forward Johni Broome, a fifth-year senior that began his college career at Morehead State, is the Tigers’ lead man. The 6-foot-10 forward is averaging 18.3 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per contest and is also shooting 52 percent from the field.

The Tigers only have two players that are 6-foot-10 or taller, but they’re still very strong in the paint. Auburn leads the SEC in blocks per game (6.8) and is fifth in rebounds per game (38.8).

Both Auburn and Oklahoma enter Tuesday’s game on only three days of rest. The Tigers took down Ole Miss 92-82 on Saturday, while the Sooners beat No. 24 Vanderbilt 97-67 after outscoring the Commodores 61-27 in the second half.

After an 0-4 start to SEC play where the Sooners lost to Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia and Texas, OU has played better basketball lately.

Oklahoma (16-5, 3-5) has won three of its last four games, with its only defeat coming on the road against No. 13 Texas A&M. Before taking down the Commodores on Saturday, the Sooners beat South Carolina at home in mid January and beat Arkansas on the road in their next game.

The Sooners’ blowout win against Vanderbilt propelled them from No. 45 to No. 38 in the NET rankings, used heavily by the NCAA Tournament selection committee to determine which teams are picked for the tourney.

According to that metric, Oklahoma has collected four Quad 1 wins, and all of its five losses are considered Quad 1 defeats. The Sooners’ No. 38 ranking is the 12th-best spot in the SEC, as 14 of the conference’s 16 members are ranked in the top 50.

Of the Sooners’ final 10 regular-season opponents, eight are currently ranked in the top 25 of the AP Poll, with LSU and Texas being the only exceptions.

Obviously, with Auburn being ranked No. 1 in the NET and the AP poll, Tuesday’s game will be another chance for the Sooners to collect a Quad 1 win and bolster their resume.

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