One of the best rivalries in the country will renew itself Monday night in a Big 12 showdown as Oklahoma State visits Norman to take on the Sooners.
These two met twice a season ago. OSU fell at Oklahoma by nine early in the year and then won the re-match in overtime some six weeks later. Both games were illustrations of how evenly matched these clubs were and still are.
Lon Kruger’s club has been predicated on guard play. They have a stable of quality scorers at the ball handling positions and also feature the conference’s leading scorer in Cameron Clark. They have a free flowing offense that creates motion and misdirection in an effort to get the defense off balance and create advantageous one on one scenarios.
OSU is similar in approach as they have one unique forward scoring option in Le’Bryan Nash. Nash is capable of beating you in the mid range game, but he is also a fluid scorer around the basket and in the low block. He is accompanied by a trio of guards capable of sizable scoring figures on their own as well.
The Cowboys had been cruising along to start their season prior to losing forward Michael Cobbins. Cobbins was injured in the Robert Morris win, and the Cowboys immediately dropped their next game against Kansas State. They also went down in Lawrence two weeks later against a very good Kansas squad, and Cobbins’ absence has had an adverse affect on their rotation depth and interior abilities in general.
This is still an extremely talented club, but the lack of Cobbins in this game could be a factor given how well Oklahoma forward Ryan Spangler is playing. The 6’8 sophomore who transferred over from Gonzaga after the 2012 season has been dynamic on the glass and extremely active on the defensive end as well.
More important to this game, however, is the way in which Oklahoma is playing in total right now.They have won three in a row, including two impressive road wins. They knocked off Baylor in a slugfest last Saturday and also handled Texas Tech this past weekend with ease. Texas Tech is no juggernaut, but handling that game the way they did given the ease with which they could have overlooked it prior to this date should be noted.
While the Sooners are not very good on the defensive end, they understand and know how to deal with the opposition here. Both offenses are very similar, and the familiarity these players have with one another is important as well.
The Sooners will be four point dogs at home for this one, and that is a bit too high. Saturday witnessed this Cowboys team struggle with a west Virginia club that was in many ways built similarly to OU. It was an up and down affair during which the Mountaineers scored with relative ease. They grabbed 14 offensive rebounds despite having a very inexperienced front court, and that has to be concerning for Travis Ford.
I had this game at pick ’em, and while there is little doubt that Oklahoma State is the better club, I do not believe they should be favored by the given number. This team has a plethora of talented guards and will have the crowd behind them. If they can be physical with Okie State in the same manner WVU was, they should be able to frustrate Marcus Smart and Co. enough to pull the upset.
Oklahoma +4 and ML
