Sooners Big 12 basketball schedule is set

It’s the final season for Sooners basketball in the Big 12 conference. And now we know the schedule as the Big 12 released it Tuesday morning.

OU, in its third season under head coach Porter Moser, will begin at home vs. Iowa State on Jan. 6. The Sooners will close the Big 12 against future SEC rival, Texas, in Austin on March 9.

Sooners highlights

*OU gets one last crack at trying to win in Lawrence. The Sooners are at Kansas relatively early in the season as the third conference game, Jan. 13. OU has not won at KU since 1993.

*Welcome back, Kelvin Sampson. The former OU head coach who took the Sooners to the Final Four in 2002, returns to Norman when Houston comes to town March 2.

*The final installments of Bedlam will be in a two-week span. OSU comes to Lloyd Noble Center one more time Feb. 10. Then the Sooners will go to Stillwater on Feb. 24. Interestingly enough, it is OU’s only game that week. The Sooners will play OSU twice in four games.

*In terms of the newcomers, OU has a home/home with Cincinnati. OU goes to Central Florida, and Houston and BYU are coming to Norman.

*Oklahoma will host Iowa State (Jan. 6), West Virginia (Jan. 17), Texas (Jan. 23), Texas Tech (Jan. 27), BYU (Feb. 6), Oklahoma State (Feb. 10), Kansas (Feb. 17), Houston (March 2) and Cincinnati (March 5). OU will make trips to TCU (Jan. 10), Kansas (Jan. 13), Cincinnati (Jan. 20), Kansas State (Jan. 30), UCF (Feb. 3), Baylor (Feb. 13), Oklahoma State (Feb. 24), Iowa State (Feb. 28) and Texas (March 9).

*All 18 games will be on the ESPN family of networks, including 11 games on ESPN+, per OU press release. The Sooners’ home contest against Kansas on Saturday, Feb. 17 and away outing against Texas on Saturday, March 9 will be aired on ESPN. OU’s away games at TCU on Wednesday, Jan. 10 and Baylor on Tuesday, Feb. 13 will be broadcast on ESPN2 or ESPNU. Oklahoma’s home contest against Texas on Tuesday, Jan. 23 and away outing at Oklahoma State on Saturday, Feb. 24 will be aired on ESPN or ESPN2. The Sooners meeting with Houston on Saturday, March 2 will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Sooners schedule home/away breakdown

Home-and-away: Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas
Home-only: BYU, Houston, Texas Tech, West Virginia
Away-only: Baylor, UCF, K-State, TCU

Moser hoping for big things

After missing the NCAA tournament in the first two seasons, Moser is hoping the third season proves to be the charm.

“This group – we’re noticeably longer and more athletic,” said Moser at his last media availability. “That’s the first thing that jumps out. It was intentional in how we recruited. Being more athletic. I think we have the pieces to be really, really good defensively. I think we have the pieces to be way more up-tempo, think offensive rebounding, steals. Everything with our length is going to be improved.

“In the summertime when you bring in a lot of new guys; it’s almost becoming the new normal. You look around the country and it seems like everybody has over half their team is new. You just got to come together. And this team, these eight weeks, they’ve spent a lot of time on their own off the floor. On the floor. I think we’ve got a group of gym rats that are in the gym a lot shooting. I’ve also seen some leaders emerge.”

The Big 12 tournament will be in Kansas City from March 12-16.