Oklahoma Basketball: Quick Look At Second Meeting With Texas Tech

The Oklahoma Sooners will take to the road for the second consecutive game as they travel to The Twilight Zone Lubbock, Texas to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders. After starting 2-4 in conference, the Red Raiders have dropped six consecutive games. Regardless of the 2-10 record in the Big 12 TTU is not a team to be taken lightly as they have a win over the Iowa St. Cyclones. The Sooners will be looking to bounce back after an emotional loss to the Oklahoma St. Cowboys in overtime and could fall victim to playing Tech's style of ball.

Points in the paint are going to play a major role in this game. In a bit of a surprise performance, Dejan Kravic had his way inside the paint finishing with 20 points in Lloyd Noble Arena. As of late, Kravic has struggled with the more physical teams like the West Virginia Mountaineers. However, he could get going once again to keep the Red Raiders within striking distance.

Romero Osby will most likely be matched up against Kravic in Coach Kruger's favorited man-to-man defense. Osby will be giving up roughly three inches which could translate to offensive rebounds for Texas Tech and eventually second chance points.

Points in the paint TTU 34 | OU 34
Points off turnovers TTU 10 | OU 16
2nd chance points TTU 13 | OU 12
Fast break points TTU 4 | OU 6
Bench points TTU 18 | OU 28

To equal things out, the Sooners will be looking to have a strong bench performance yet again. Lon Kruger has grown accustomed to running a nine man rotation. Without Buddy Hield and Casey Arent, that number has dropped to eight. That doesn't mean the personnel isn't there. Sam Grooms is coming off an 18 point performance and will be looking to continue his success.

Defensively, Tech will be looking to slow things down to combat the athleticism of Oklahoma.. Jaye Crockett is a fun player to watch but he has come off the bench in 20 of their 23 contest and can't carry this team alone. Look for them to try to set up the offense while finding Crockett to take a high number of shots when compared to the rest of his teammates.

As a team, TTU has not been successful in getting to the charity stripe. Take for instance, their most recent game against the Mountaineers. In that game alone, WVU shot 41 free throws to the Red Raiders 18. If Texas Tech wants to have a legitimate shot at winning this game, they must make attacking the rim a priority.

The game will tipoff today at 6:02 PM CST as Oklahoma looks to finish the regular season on a high note.