Oklahoma and Baylor will tip off tonight in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. The Sooners won their last three regular-season games and are now hoping to be one of the teams selected for the upcoming NCAA Tournament
field.
Without a win tonight, those dreams will probably be dashed. The team finished seventh in the conference standings in the regular season.
Baylor finished tied with the Kansas Jayhawks for the regular-season Big 12 title with a 14-4 record. After running off five straight wins, including one over the Jayhawks, the Bears are ranked third in the AP Top-25 and the Coaches Poll, while Kansas is now sixth in both rankings. The two teams are likely to face each other again before the tournament is over.
The Sooners have been playing solid basketball during their recent three-game win streak to end the regular season. Before that, the team lost four straight games right after getting an upset win over ninth-ranked Texas Tech. Of the four losses, three were against nationally-ranked conference opponents.
The Sooners hope their lineup is strong enough to pull another upset tonight. Tanner Groves is the leading scorer for Oklahoma with 12.4 points per game on a team that’s averaging 68.8 points in each matchup. Umoja Gibson is right behind him with 12.3 points per game.
Jordan Goldwire is the leader in assists, with 3.4, and steals with 1.6 per game. The leading rebounder for Oklahoma is Jalen Hill, who grabs 5.9 per game.
The Bears are winners of five straight games and are looking to move on to the next round of the tournament. They will face the winner of Texas Tech vs. Iowa State on Friday with a victory tonight. The fourteenth-ranked Red Raiders are the last team to beat Baylor and swept them during the regular season.
Adam Flagler leads a very balanced attack for Baylor, with 13.8 points per game. LJ Cryer is second on the team with 13.5 points per contest. James Akinjo is the leading in assists with 5.8 and steals with 2 per game, and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua leads in rebounding with 6.8 per matchup.
The Oklahoma Sooners are 0-8 in their last eight matchups against Baylor and are 5-11 straight up in their previous sixteen games. The total has gone over for Baylor in fourteen of their last sixteen games played in March, and they are 2-4 against the spread in their last six games.
The Sooners are looking for their first win against Baylor this season after two losses and are underdogs in this matchup. The Bears should get the victory at home to set them up for the possible rematch with Texas Tech.
Godds Pick/Prediction: Baylor will win, and the total goes over.