Texas Basketball: 3 most difficult remaining games this season

3. Oklahoma Sooners (16-10, 6-7 Big 12)

The biggest rival of the Texas basketball program on the hardwood, the Oklahoma Sooners, is going to be a difficult triumph before the conclusion of the regular season. What makes this even more of an interesting hurdle for the Longhorns is the fact that each team could carry the same record in Big 12 play by the time this game arrives.

Oklahoma was rolling earlier in the regular season, but hit a rough patch of late. The Sooners saw their record in Big 12 play fall below .500 with a more difficult stretch of the conference schedule. Oklahoma has now lost two in a row and three of their last five. But they’ve also faced the likes of the Kansas Jayhawks, Baylor Bears, West Virginia Mountaineers, and Texas Tech Red Raiders in their last five.

Where Texas needs to take advantage of this difficult stretch of the Big 12 schedule for Oklahoma is with a healthy team coming back. Junior guard Matt Coleman should be back and ready to go by the time Texas takes on Oklahoma on March 3. That can help counter the likes of Kristian Doolittle and Brady Manek.

When Texas faces Oklahoma in the second edition of the Red River Showdown on the hardwood this year, it will be the second to last game of the regular season. Texas finishes off their regular season slate with the Oklahoma schools. They get head coach Mike Boynton and the improving Oklahoma State Cowboys at home at the Erwin Center on March 7 in the regular season finale.