Texas-Oklahoma Preview

3/14/2008 4:53 PM

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
STATS Editor

Neither team shot well when Texas and Oklahoma met twice in the regular season, but that didn't stop the Longhorns from continuing their recent success in the series.

Sixth-ranked Texas looks to defeat the Sooners for the sixth straight time Saturday in a Big 12 tournament semifinal matchup.

The Longhorns (27-5) shot a combined 37.9 percent in two wins over Oklahoma this season, but held the Sooners to 29.9 percent from the field. Oklahoma turned in two of its four worst shooting performances of the season in the Texas games - a 64-54 loss on Feb. 6 and a 62-45 loss on Feb. 23.

"We defended them well enough," Sooners coach Jeff Capel said. "We have to be able to score points twice against Texas this year. That was our downfall."

All five wins in this streak have come by double digits for Texas, which has never won six in a row against its former Southwest Conference rival.

For Oklahoma (22-10) to end its skid against Texas, it likely will need to give freshman star Blake Griffin some help. Griffin, the first Sooners freshman to earn first team all-conference honors since Wayman Tisdale in 1982-83, averaged 17.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in the first two meetings.

The Sooners also must try to limit the effectiveness of Texas point guard D.J. Augustin, who had two 19-point performances against them with a total of 10 assists and only four turnovers.

Augustin has been playing well and helped lead Texas to a 66-59 win over Oklahoma State in Friday's quarterfinals. The sophomore matched a career high with five 3-pointers and scored 24 points, and he is averaging 23.7 over his last seven games.

"D.J. obviously with the ball in his hand I mean, a lot of good things are going to happen because so many people are concerned about him," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "You are going to have to help somebody from somewhere to help on him."

Texas can advance to its third straight Big 12 tournament title game, where it has lost to Kansas each of the last two seasons. The Longhorns have reached the championship four times, but have never won it.

Damion James added his sixth double-double in his last nine games on Friday with 23 points and 11 rebounds for Texas, which has won 11 of 12.

Oklahoma survived one of Griffin's worst performances to advance with a 54-49 win over Colorado on Friday. The forward made 2-of-7 shots for four points in just 15 minutes.

"I didn't really get into the flow," said Griffin, who's been bothered by two knee injuries this season. "I just tried to rebound and run the floor. We had other guys step up and play well and that helped a lot."

The Sooners got a team-high 12 points from Tony Crocker, but shot 32.8 percent as they struggled against the defensive-minded Buffaloes.

"I don't think we played well, but at this time of year it's about surviving and advancing, and that's what we were able to do," Capel said. "We were able to make some plays. I thought we did some good things at times, but we couldn't be consistent with it."

This is the sixth meeting between Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament. The Sooners won the first four before the Longhorns won 66-63 in 2004.