OU Basketball preview: a look at Florida, bubble watch, schedule

Oklahoma (16-9, 3-9 SEC) faces its third top-5 opponent in five games when it visits No. 2 Florida (22-3, 9-3) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT in Gainesville.

This marks OU’s first-ever game at UF, which boasts a 12-1 home record. The Sooners previously played No. 1 Auburn (Feb. 4) and No. 4 Tennessee (Feb. 8), making this just the second time in program history they’ve faced three top-5 teams in a five-game span (last in 1989-90).

Riding a four-game losing streak, Oklahoma continues a grueling stretch of their schedule. Four ranked opponents remain in the final six games for the Sooners.

OU’s last win over an AP top-2 team came in 2022-23 when it upset No. 2 Alabama 93-69 under coach Porter Moser. The 24-point margin remains its largest against a top-5 opponent.

Both teams have two players ranking in the SEC’s top 16 in scoring—OU’s Jalon Moore (9th, 17.2 ppg) and Jeremiah Fears (14th, 15.2 ppg), and Florida’s Walton Clayton Jr. (8th, 17.2 ppg) and Alijah Martin (16th, 15.1 ppg). Oklahoma leads the all-time series 3-2, winning the last three matchups. This game will be the first between the teams in Gainesville.

The SEC dominates the AP Top 25 with nine ranked teams, including five in the top seven: No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Florida, No. 4 Alabama, No. 6 Tennessee, and No. 7 Texas A&M.

Sooners on the bubble

Jerry Palm from CBS Sports has Oklahoma squarely on the bubble in his latest version on Bracketology.

The Sooners have been sliding down the bracket the last few weeks and find themselves as a No. 10 seed now. That is just above the last four teams in the bracket, an area already populated with three SEC teams. Oklahoma's next five games are all against teams seeded in the top 25 of the bracket, although this is the toughest of those. The last game before the SEC Tournament is at fellow bubbler Texas. It is probably going to be a nervous Selection Sunday if they don't split these last six games.

USA Today currently has Oklahoma listed as the first four school out of the tournament along with North Carolina, Xavier, and Georgia.

Due to the strength of the SEC, Oklahoma has a number of opportunities to build their tournament resume with one of multiple wins. Three of the final 6 games are at home against ranked opponents, Mississippi St (21), Kentucky (17), and Missouri (15).