Here we go over some of the keys for Auburn basketball as they hit the road to take on Oklahoma, a Final Four team from a year ago.
Auburn basketball enters its most crucial week of the out-of-conference schedule with games against Oklahoma and UCONN.
The journey starts on Wednesday as they travel to Connecticut to play Oklahoma in the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Led by star Buddy Hield, the Sooners made it all the way to the Final Four last year where they lost to the eventual champs in Villanova.
We knew Oklahoma wouldn’t be quite as good this year, but the 6-4 start is definitely disappointing, especially after losing their last two games to Wichita State and Memphis by a combined nine points.
Their best win so far this year is over Clemson, while Auburn’s best win is against another Big 12 foe in Texas Tech.
Senior guard Jordan Woodard leads the team in scoring averaging 17.6 points per game and in assists with 36, and he’s second on the team averaging 5.2 rebounds per game. Of course a lot of that has to do with the fact the he averages five more minutes per game than the next highest player.
Meanwhile, sophomore guard Christian James has burst onto the scene this year averaging 12.6 points per game and shooting 56 percent from downtown.
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The teams leading rebounder is 6-foot-9 junior forward Khadeem Lattin at 6 rebounds per game.
Overall this team averages 81.1 points per game and gives up 72.9 points.
To be honest, I really think these two teams matchup pretty well, and there is nothing about the Oklahoma team that scares me.
Both teams scoring averages are about the same, although Oklahoma has probably played a little bit better competition to this point.
The main key to beating Oklahoma will be shutting down Woodard. He does it all for this team, and when he’s on, the Sooners win. But if Auburn can slow him down I really like the Tigers chances of winning this game.
Oklahoma doesn’t have anyone that’s going to dominate the boards and exploit Auburn’s weaknesses.
With Austin Wiley in the mix and Horace Spencer coming back to go along with LaRon Smith, I really like how Auburn is shaping up defensively in the paint.
I don’t know that the Sooners have anyone defensively that can matchup with Danjel Purifoy or Mustapha Heron. If those two are aggressive and don’t get caught up in the hype of this game, I think Auburn wins.
Prediction:
Auburn – 84
Oklahoma – 79
