Dominant Sooners
Norman,Ok – Oklahoma has not lost to Baylor in 30 years, though its dominance of the series has wavered recently.
These Big 12 foes meet in Norman for the first time since an overtime thriller when the sixth-ranked Sooners face the Bears on Saturday afternoon.
Oddsmakers from Online Sportsbook Sportsbook.com have made the Oklahoma -7.5 point spread favorites for Thursday’s game against the Baylor. Current College Basketball Public Betting Information shows that 54% of more than 184 bets for this game have been placed on the Oklahoma -7.5.
Oklahoma (18-1, 4-0) has won 28 in a row versus Baylor (15-3, 3-1) since a 75-67 defeat in 1978. Only one of the 12 meetings at the Lloyd Noble Center during that streak was decided by less than double digits until the Bears nearly pulled off a win on Feb. 19, losing 92-91 in overtime.
Sooners guard Tony Crocker hit a four-point play with 7.3 seconds remaining in overtime before Baylor’s Curtis Jerrells missed two free throws with a second to go.
Oklahoma has won the last three meetings overall by a combined 11 points after winning the previous four by an average of 35.3 points.
Sooners star Blake Griffin, averaging 22.3 points and a Division I-best 13.6 rebounds this season, had a then-career-high 29 points and 15 rebounds in the overtime win over the Bears. He had 17 points and 15 boards off the bench in Oklahoma’s 77-71 road win over then-No. 25 Baylor last Jan. 26.
The sophomore forward posted his 15th double-double of this season with 27 points and 18 rebounds in a 72-61 win over visiting Nebraska on Wednesday night. He set a Big 12 record with his eighth game this season with at least 20 points and 15 boards.
However, it was a tough win for the Sooners, who missed 16-of-25 from 3-point range in a game that was tied midway through the second half.
"It doesn’t always look pretty, it drives me crazy sometimes," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said. "But I like being 18-1."
Senior Austin Johnson continued his solid play by hitting 3-of-6 on 3s and scoring 15 points. The current Big 12 player of the week is averaging 16.3 points and 5.3 assists in the last three games.
"What he has done the past three games is he has scored. He is a confident basketball player right now," Capel said. "He is taking good shots and there is calmness when he is on the floor for our basketball team."
Baylor likes where it stands following an 83-65 win at Kansas State on Wednesday night. The Bears won their second straight behind 33 points and a school record-tying nine 3-pointers from sophomore guard LaceDarius Dunn, who has hit a 3-pointer in 23 straight games.
"(LaceDarius is) going to shoot on every possession if he can," Baylor coach Scott Drew told the school’s official Web site.
The Bears hit a season-best 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from 3-point range on Wednesday to raise their season average to 39.6 percent – 16th in the nation.
Baylor is shooting a conference-best 49.5 percent from the field, but faces one of the nation’s stingiest defensive teams on Saturday. Oklahoma’s opponents are shooting 35.6 percent and averaging 61.0 points during the Sooners’ six-game winning streak.
Jerrells had 18 points and five assists against Kansas State. The senior guard is averaging 18.0 points and shooting 51.3 percent from the field in six career games against Oklahoma, including 29 points in last year’s trip to Norman.
Jerrells needs one assist on Saturday to reach 400. He will be the Bears’ second player ever with 1,000 points, 400 assists and 100 steals.
Oklahoma leads the all-time series 33-5.
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Posted: 1/24/09 1:05AM ET