No. 17 Oklahoma Takes On No. 10 Texas A&M In First SEC Home Game

The No. 17/16 Oklahoma men's hoops team (13-1, 0-1) plays its first-ever SEC home game when it hosts No. 10/9 Texas A&M (12-2, 1-0) on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. CT inside Lloyd Noble Center. OU is 8-0 at home this season with an average victory margin of 21.8 points.

OPENING TIP

• Former Big 12 Conference mates, Oklahoma holds a 32-10 all-time series lead against Texas A&M, including a 15-3 advantage at Lloyd Noble Center. OU has won the last three meetings, all at neutral sites after the Aggies joined the SEC: 64-54 in Oklahoma City in 2013-14, 64-52 in Houston in 2013-14 and 77-63 in the NCAA Sweet 16 in Anaheim, Calif., in 2015-16.

• OU is 2-1 against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time of competition, besting then-No. 24 Arizona 82-77 on Nov. 28 in the Bahamas and then-No. 24 Michigan 87-86 on Dec. 18 in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C., before losing 107-79 at No. 5/6 Alabama on Saturday.

• Texas A&M has won an average of 24.3 games over the last three seasons under head coach Buzz Williams and has made the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons (reached the second round a year ago). Two seasons ago it went 25-10 and finished second in the SEC with a 15-3 league mark.

• The Aggies rank last in the SEC in field goal percentage (.434) and 3-point field goal percentage (.308) and 14th in free throw percentage (.702), but rank second in the league in scoring defense (62.4 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (.377). They also lead the country in offensive rebounds per game (16.6) and rank fifth nationally in rebounding margin (11.5 per contest).

• Oklahoma's Porter Moser has never faced Texas A&M as a head coach, but his ties to the program are firsthand. Moser served two assistant coaching stints with the Aggies, both under head coach Tony Barone. Moser's intial stop in College Station marked his first assistant coaching job. He was with A&M from the 1991-92 through 1994-95 seasons, and in 1994 helped the Aggies to the NIT, their first postseason appearance in seven years (they finished 19-11). After coaching at UW-Milwaukee in the 1995-96 campaign, Moser returned to A&M for two more seasons.

• The SEC leads the country with an impressive nine teams ranked in this week's AP Top 25 (including six in the top 10): No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Auburn, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 8 Florida, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 14 Mississippi State, No. 17 Oklahoma and No. 23 Ole Miss. Four more teams (Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and Vanderbilt) are receiving votes.

MORE ON THE OU-A&M SERIES

• The Sooners won the first 11 games of the series and 25 of the first 26, but the Aggies have won nine of the last 16.

• The last meeting occurred in the 2016 NCAA Sweet 16 in Anaheim, Calif., with the No. 2-seeded Sooners posting a 77-63 victory over the No. 3-seeded Aggies behind five double-digit scorers: guards Jordan Woodard (22 points), national player of the year Buddy Hield (17) and Christian James (12) and forwards Ryan Spangler and Khadeem Lattin (10 each). Hield also grabbed 10 boards. OU shot. 492 from the field and .440 (11 for 25) from 3-point range, to A&M's .344 and .214 (6 for 28) respective marks. Lon Kruger's Sooners beat No. 1 seed Oregon 80-68 the next game to advance to the program's fifth Final Four.

SUCCESS AGAINST THE SEC

• Including fellow first-year Southeastern Conference member Texas, Oklahoma is 242-195 all-time against SEC programs. OU has played all 15 other SEC programs and has winning records against nine of them.

• Since the start of the 2018-19 season, OU is 13-3 against SEC teams at the time of competition, including 3-0 in 2018-19, 2-0 in 2019-20 and 2-0 in 2020-21.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

• Oklahoma has posted an 86-29 record at Lloyd Noble Center since 2017, including a 14-4 mark in 2023-24 and an 8-0 ledger this season. The Sooners have won 82.8% (619-129) of their games at LNC since the building opened in 1975.

• The 2024-25 campaign marks the 50th season of men's basketball at Lloyd Noble Center. The venue opened before the 1975-76 season and OU played its first game on Dec. 1, 1975, against Texas. The Sooners earned their first victory in the building on Jan. 31, 1976, beating Oklahoma State 57-42.

THE 3 IS KEY

• Oklahoma ranks ninth nationally and second in the 16-team SEC in 3-point field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just .274 from behind the arc. The OU single-season record for 3-point field goal percentage defense is .292 in 2004-05.

• The Sooners have held opponents to a sub-30% 3-point shooting mark in 10 of 14 contests this season. Conversely, OU ranks fourth in the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage offense (.362) and has shot over 30% from 3-point range in 11 games.

20 OR MOORE

• Senior forward Jalon Moore has scored at least 20 points a team-leading eight times this season. That includes career-high efforts of 24 points in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals against No. 24 Arizona and the championship game against Louisville. He has also gone for 20+ in each of the last two games.

• The Birmingham, Ala., product became the first Sooner since Buddy Hield in 2015-16 to open a season with three consecutive 20-plus point outings. Moore scored 22 points in the opener against Lindenwood and followed with 23 against Northwestern State and 21 against Stetson.

ELVIS HITS 1,000

• Graduate guard Kobe Elvis entered Saturday's Alabama game with 993 career points and scored 13 on the day to boost him to 1,006. Elvis, who played one season at DePaul and the last three at Dayton (started 80 of his 86 games with the Flyers), has been a model of scoring consistency. He averaged between 8.5 and 9.4 points each of his three seasons at Dayton and is averaging 9.6 with the Sooners.

FEARS NAMED TO WOODEN AWARD MIDSEASON TOP 25

• Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears is one of 25 players on the Wooden Award Men's Midseason Watch List, it was announced Tuesday.

• Fears ranks sixth nationally among freshmen and seventh overall in the SEC with his 17.9 points per game. He is also averaging 3.6 rebounds per contest and team highs of 4.4 assists and 2.2 steals, and ranks second in the conference with his 75 free throw makes and 89 attempts (shooting .843).

• The two-time SEC Freshman of the Week is the first OU frosh since Trae Young in 2017-18 to score in double figures in each of his first 14 games. He has four performances of at least 20 points to his credit and three more with 18 or 19, helping the Sooners to a 13-1 record, their best start since to 2015-16 Final Four squad won 15 of its first 16 outings.

• OU has produced two winners of the Wooden Award: forward Blake Griffin in 2008-09 and guard Buddy Hield in 2015-16. This year's Wooden Award winner and All-Americans will be honored at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on April 11.