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Texas Basketball: Keys to a road victory at Oklahoma

By Jason Burgess

AUSTIN, TEXAS - JANUARY 29: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns reacts as his team plays the Kansas Jayhawks at The Frank Erwin Center on January 29, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TEXAS - JANUARY 29: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns reacts as his team plays the Kansas Jayhawks at The Frank Erwin Center on January 29, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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AUSTIN, TEXAS – JANUARY 19: Jaxson Hayes #10, Matt Coleman III #2 and Kerwin Roach II #12 of the Texas Longhorns listen to “The Eyes of Texas” after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 75-72 The Frank Erwin Center on January 19, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TEXAS – JANUARY 19: Jaxson Hayes #10, Matt Coleman III #2 and Kerwin Roach II #12 of the Texas Longhorns listen to “The Eyes of Texas” after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 75-72 The Frank Erwin Center on January 19, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /

A key battle in the Big 12 takes place on Saturday afternoon in Norman, Oklahoma when the Sooners host Texas. Here is a look at three keys to a Texas Basketball road victory.

Note: All rankings and statistics are through the teams’ last games

The middle of the Big XII is muddled much like the middle of the other major conferences in college basketball. On Saturday, two of the teams caught up in the mess of the conference do battle, hoping to separate themselves from the rest of the pack, proving themselves worthy of consideration for an NCAA Tournament berth. The Texas Longhorns (15-11, 7-6) travel to Norman to face the Oklahoma Sooners (16-10, 4-9).

Despite being just 7-6 in conference, Shaka Smart’s team currently sits in sixth place, which would allow them to avoid playing in the first round of the tournament. Texas enters this game having won three of their last four, including a win over the team directly ahead of them in the standings, Baylor. With three of the Longhorns’ last four games against the Bears, Iowa State, and Texas Tech, the Longhorns can’t afford to slip up against an Oklahoma team that snapped a five-game losing streak against TCU in their last game. With many opportunities to improve their profile ahead of them, Texas can ill afford to take two steps back if they hope to take any steps forward as they close out the regular season.

Texas won the first meeting between the two teams 75-72 and in order to complete the season sweep of Lon Kruger’s Sooners and earn just their third road win of the season, Texas will have to continue the elevated level of play they have shown the last three-plus weeks. Here are the keys to Texas accomplishing just that.

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