Oklahoma Sooners Basketball at Northwestern: Preview, Game Thread & How to Watch

The Oklahoma Sooners have won six consecutive games, and they’ll look to enter close this non-conference stretch on a high note as they face the Northwestern Wildcats in Chicagoland.

Oklahoma (10-1) vs. Creighton (8-3): 8 p.m. CT at Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, Ill.)

TV: Big Ten Network

Commentary: Dave Revsine and Jon Crispin

Live Stream: If the Big Ten Network is part of your cable plan, you can stream the game on FoxSportsGo. I am DEFINITELY NOT encouraging you to use a friend’s cable credentials to do this...

Radio: Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM “The Franchise” in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa), Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing

Line: Northwestern -2 (as of 1:30 p.m. CT)

About Northwestern

• The Wildcats are currently 43rd in the KenPom rankings, sitting at 85th in adjusted offense and 30th in adjusted defense. NU is also 40th in the NCAA’s NET Rankings.
• Northwestern’s three losses came at the hands of Fresno State, Indiana and Michigan, with the latter two defeats coming in very close contests.
• NU is led by 6’7” senior forward Vic Law, who is averaging 18.4 PPG and 6.5 RPG while hitting 41 percent of his three-point attempts. Senior big man Dererk Pardon is second on the team with 13.9 PPG and leads the team at 8.8 RPG.
• Last year, Oklahoma scored 68 points in the first half en route to a 104-78 defeat of the Wildcats at the LNC. It was the only previous meeting between the two programs.

Storylines

• Homecoming for Miles Reynolds - Oklahoma shooting guard Miles Reynolds is well-traveled, playing at Pacific and Saint Louis before arriving in Norman as a grad transfer. His roots, however, are in Chi-Town, and his family is expecting a very large cheering section this evening.

• Double-double machine - Christian James didn’t record a double-double in his first 104 college games, but he’s now going on a streak of four in a row. In his four December games, he’s averaging 17.5 points and 12.5 rebounds.

• Bench production - It seems as if one or more bench players always step up in a big way each night for the Sooners. Against Creighton, it ended up being Kristian Doolittle and Rashard Odomes. Each scored 13 points and made a concerted effort to get to the bucket when outside shots weren’t falling for their teammates. OU has nine players who regularly play meaningful minutes, and each one of them is capable of providing a big spark. That’s a nice luxury to have.