Big 12 Basketball: Baylor, Texas remain on top in 2020-21 power rankings

The relevancy of Oklahoma’s basketball program relies on a superstar player within the program. Although that is the criteria for a lot of programs, it stands out in Norman. Oklahoma does not have a superstar guard in Buddy Hield or Trae Young. They also do not have a dominant big down low like Blake Griffin.

Oklahoma is coming off a 76-61 loss to Baylor, where they struggled mightily shooting the ball. Apart from Reaves and Manek, there is not a true offensive threat and can be stagnant on offense. If those two aren’t shooting well, some Big 12 games could get ugly.

The Sooners are also going through a brutal four-game stretch, with four of the top five teams in the conference. The slate would not get any easier as the Sooners traveled to play Kansas on Saturday.

Oklahoma gave the Jayhawks all they can handle but escaped the Sooners. Oklahoma was close to winning in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since 1993. The Sooners were without Brady Manek and was still able to compete with No. 6 Kansas in Lawrence. Even if this team is not playing their best stretch of basketball, that’s an impressive performance.

Austin Reaves led all scoring for the Sooners, with 20 points on 7-14 shooting from the field. He and De’Vion Harmon were the only players that shot better than 50 percent in the contest.

Oklahoma played excellent defense, didn’t foul often, and only turned the ball over nine times. When the opportunity to pull ahead was there, they could not cash in.

After playing four straight ranked teams, Oklahoma will go back to unranked play. They will face off against TCU on Tuesday. They will conclude the week with Bedlam in Stillwater on Saturday.