Texas Basketball: White-Hot Horns Renew Red River Rivalry
Texas heads across the Red River tonight for a game with Oklahoma that has both Big 12 and national implications.
The Longhorns - winners of four-straight - and Oklahoma - winners of two in a row - both have an opportunity to move into a tie for third place in the conference standings after Texas Tech fell to Baylor Monday night.
More importantly, it's an opportunity for one of these two NCAA bubble teams to pad their resume with another quality win.
High-pressure games aren't new to Texas, which has been playing for its postseason life for the past four games - all wins.
"It's a fine line, you know, I think sometimes the best performers are somewhat on the brink," Smart said. "so it's a matter of being your absolute best, but you can't lose your mind either."
Both the Longhorns and Sooners knocked off ranked teams in back-to-back games leading into this rivalry contest. Texas beat West Virginia at home, then traveled to Lubbock to vanquish the Red Raiders on the road.
The Sooners blew out Texas Tech at home, then went on the road to beat West Virginia.
Oklahoma junior forward Brady Manek is coming off back-to-back games with 15 points and senior Kristian Doolittle has scored at least 18 points in six of his last seven games.
They're playing terrific," Smart said of the Sooners. "Think play as well as anybody in the league, offensively, but also defensively really defending well, so that'll be a heck of a challenge for us."
Texas will counter with Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey in the backcourt.
Jones was the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week last week after scoring 22 points against both West Virginia and Texas Tech. The Longhorns are shooting 51.9% from the flor during their four-game win streak.
How to watch
Texas and Oklahoma tip off at 8 p.m. on ESPN 2.