Staying Focused
Norman,Ok – Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel is keeping his club focused while it continues the best start in school history.
The Sooners try for their first 13-game winning streak in seven seasons Saturday afternoon when they host a Texas Tech team that has dropped eight of 10.
Oddsmakers from Online Sportsbook Sportsbook.com have made the Oklahoma -18 point spread favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Texas Tech. Current College Basketball Public Betting Information shows that 53% of more than 194 bets for this game have been placed on the Oklahoma -18.
Second-ranked Oklahoma (24-1, 10-0 Big 12) returns to the Lloyd Noble Center following Wednesday’s 78-63 road win over Baylor. It was the Sooners’ 30th straight victory against the Bears.
"The streak doesn’t really mean a lot to me," Capel said. "We put up on our board before the game, we have one goal, that’s to get to 24-slash-10. That was our goal, 24 wins overall and 10 wins in the conference. That’s all we focused on. We didn’t talk about the past or what’s happened before. It was just that."
If sophomore Blake Griffin keeps playing at his current pace, Saturday could mark the program’s first 13-game winning streak since Nov. 28, 2001-Jan. 16, 2002. The Sooners won their first 12 games this season before falling to Arkansas 96-88 on Dec. 30.
Griffin posted his seventh consecutive double-double Wednesday with 18 points and 10 boards. He has a Division I-best 21 double-doubles this season and needs just one more to set the single-season school record.
Griffin just missed a double-double in Oklahoma’s last game against Texas Tech (12-12, 2-7) on Feb. 16, 2008, in Lubbock. He shot just 2-of-9 from the field but had nine points and a season-high 17 rebounds in the Sooners’ 66-64 win.
Austin Johnson hit a career-high six 3s and scored 20 points in that game as Oklahoma won its third straight over the Red Raiders, who also lost 63-61 on Jan. 19, 2008 in their last trip to Norman.
Johnson made 4-of-5 from 3-point range and had 17 points in Wednesday’s victory, including six in the final 8:06 after Baylor trimmed the Sooners’ lead to 52-49.
"We knew they were going to have a run,” Johnson said. "It came, we kept playing and got through it."
Juan Pattillo continued his strong play Wednesday with his first career double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds. The junior transfer is averaging 10.0 points and 4.3 boards in his last six games.
While Oklahoma looks for its 10th straight home conference win, Texas Tech is trying to snap a 10-game slide on the road. The Red Raiders’ last road win was 87-69 over Colorado on Feb. 20, 2008.
Texas Tech fell to 0-8 on the road this season with Wednesday’s 85-73 loss to Kansas State. The Red Raiders started 2-of-14 from the field and trailed 30-6.
"It just killed us," Texas Tech coach Pat Knight said. "You can’t get off to a start like that."
Nick Okorie hit a season-high five 3s in nine attempts and scored a season-best 21 points Wednesday, while Alan Voskuil had 17. Voskuil averaged 12.5 points and 3.5 boards in two losses to Oklahoma last season.
The Sooners lead the all-time series 27-16. The Red Raiders have lost nine of their last 10 visits to Norman.
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Posted: 2/14/09 12:32AM ET
