Game: Oklahoma Sooners at Missouri Tigers
LINE: (-4)
Who’s No. 2?
The Sooners (26-3 SU, 14-10 ATS) are in second place in the Big 12 with a record of 12-2 and trying to play their way into a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament later this month. The Tigers (24-5 SU, 12-9-1 ATS) are coming off a 90-65 drubbing at first-place Kansas, their worst loss of the season, but can still catch Oklahoma for the second seed in next week’s conference tournament as they come in with a league mark of 11-3.
Missouri likely lost any chance of a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament with its blowout loss in Lawrence, and anything but a win over the Sooners will continue the freefall down the board.
The Tigers have quality wins over Kansas, Cal and USC this season and had won seven in a row and have exceeded last year's victory total by eight games.
Meantime, 21 of Oklahoma’s 31 regular season games are against teams that made the postseason last year, but the Sooners have thrived with the difficult slate by executing at the most basic levels: Taking high percentage shots and playing good defense. They are 14-2 in their past 16 games in which they have outshot the opposition, 50.3 percent to 39.9 percent.
Can a Lyon beat a Griffin?
Oklahoma big man and National Player of the Year candidate Blake Griffin (21.9 ppg, 13.9 rpg) is rounding back into form after suffering a concussion late last month.
But don’t expect Missouri forward Leo Lyons (14.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg) to give him much time to adjust to the Tigers’ up-tempo style.
“I really like his game,” Kansas forward Cole Aldrich told reporters of Lyons. “He’s tough. He had 20 tonight. He’s one of those players that has a little length and can really shoot outside. He got me off my feet once in a while by just jab-stepping me and going up and hitting a jumper. That’s really tough to guard. He jab-steps, but he can still get to the rim.”
Lyons has eight 20-point outings this season and has reached double figures in all but three games. Conference play has been his biggest strength with Lyons reaching double figures in 17 of his past 18 Big 12 regular-season games because he is shooting nearly 84 percent from the free-throw line.
But don’t forget about Griffin, who set a single-season school record this year with 391 rebounds.
"Have you guys ever seen the movie, ‘The Terminator’? That's what that kid is like," Texas Tech coach Pat Knight told reporters after Griffin went for 40 points and 23 rebounds in a game earlier this season. "That kid has no facial expressions. He just plays and it's like every kid out there on him is like Sarah Connor, and he's just going to take his time and kill him. That kid is good.”
Defense wins championships
Missouri has coined the phrase the “Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball” to describe its high intensity defense and up-tempo offense. And the results speak for themselves:
The Tigers have a school-record 315 steals through 29 games and are averaging 10.9 steals per game, tying the 1998-99 Nebraska team for the most in Big 12 history.
“We just weren't ready for the intensity, so it was real frustrating,” Kansas State coach Frank Martin told reporters after a 94-74 loss. “We're at 24-20 and we decide to throw it to them seven straight times so they can go dunk the ball. It’s hard to win when you do that."
And those turnovers are quickly turned into points. Missouri is forcing 19.4 turnovers per game -- better than one every four opponent’s possessions -- and is averaging 22.6 points off those giveaways. A staggering 30 percent of its points this season are off turnovers.
But Oklahoma is no stranger to keeping the ball out of its own basket.
The Sooners have one of the toughest defenses in the nation. They are allowing opponents to shoot just 39.5 percent from the floor, the team’s best defensive effort in nearly half a century. Oklahoma has held 14 of its 29 opponents below 40 percent and don’t even think about getting easy looks in the low post -- the team is third in the Big 12 in blocks averaging 4.4 per game.
"That was simply an old-fashioned butt-kicking," American coach Jeff Jones said after an 83-54 loss to the Sooners. "They beat us about every way you can beat a team. They were even more physically imposing than we thought they were coming in."
The final score for both teams figures to be difficult to predict, as neither Missouri (6-6 O/U) or Oklahoma (13-7 O/U but just 3-5 O/U on the road) are strong plays.
Home sweet Columbia
Missouri forward DeMarre Carroll said coach Mike Anderson’s halftime message was simple as the team trailed Kansas by 14 in the team’s meeting earlier this season at Mizzou Arena: "Coach just looked at us and kind of laughed, like 'You're at home, calm down. Everybody looked at each other and started laughing and we said, 'Let's go and get it.'"
The Tigers ended up rallying for a 62-60 win over the Jayhawks, their biggest victory of the year. But winning at home is nothing new for Missouri, which is 17-0 in its own gym and has won 18 straight there, the sixth-longest streak in the nation. The Tigers will try to finish the year unbeaten at home for the first time in 15 seasons.
The Sooners have won 12 of the past 17 games against the Tigers, but haven’t won in Columbia since a 63-61 win in 2003. Oklahoma also is 8-2 in true road games this season, the team’s most wins on an opponent’s floor since winning nine times away from home floor in 1947.