Thursday NCAA: Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma
The Big 12 quarterfinal between Oklahoma State and Oklahoma on Thursday night in Oklahoma City should look familiar, as these two teams played in the regular-season finale, an 82-78 Sooners win led by led by Blake Griffin’s 33 points and 14 rebounds.
OU, which is a 4.5-point WagerWeb.com favorite this time, will have the benefit of having not played since that game on Saturday, while OSU beat Iowa State 81-67 on Wednesday night. OSU struggled early, trailing by three at the half. But Marshall Moses grabbed six rebounds and held Iowa State star Craig Brackins to just eight points and two rebounds in the second half after Brackins had 15 and 10 in the first half.
With about 14 minutes to go and Oklahoma State trailing by one, Terrel Harris intercepted a Craig Brackins pass, went the length of the court and dunked. That gave OSU a 49-48 lead it would never relinquish.
Oklahoma holds a 125-89 (.584) series lead against Oklahoma State, including a 15-12 advantage since the inception of the Big 12. The Sooners have won five straight in the series, seven of the last eight and eight of the last 10. Jeff Capel is 5-1 against OSU as Oklahoma’s head coach.
OU won both of this year’s regular season meetings — 89-81 in Stillwater Jan. 26 and that recent game in Norman. In those two games, the Sooners outshot the Cowboys .577 to .446 from the field and outrebounded them 76-47.
Griffin averaged 29.5 points, 16.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the wins while shooting .808 from the field (21-for-26) and .654 (17-for-26) from the free throw line. He has averaged 23.0 points and 17.7 rebounds since returning from a concussion.
The Sooners struggled on defense late in the season, allowing their last five opponents to average 74.8 points after giving up 67.7 in the first 11 conference games. OSU is the Big 12’s highest scoring team.
This game is historic as it’s the first meeting between these state rivals in Oklahoma City since 1942. The Sooners need to win the Big 12 Tournament to have any hope of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Cowboys are on the NCAA bubble, but a win here probably cinches a berth.
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