It looks like the January 11th Oklahoma at Texas betting matchup is set up to be a good one. OU’s only loss over the last six games came on the road at #1 Baylor, but they’re heading to face a Longhorns squad that has gone 10-0 at the Frank Erwin Center this season.
While Texas is great at home, they’re coming off a 64-51 loss at Oklahoma State on Saturday as -3.5 favorites. The Longhorns had won six in a row of their own before that however, and oddsmakers like them in this spot as -6.5 home favorites. These two teams split last season with both games being decided by a total of five points, but these programs look much different in 2021/22 with each having new head coaches and a bevy of transfers.
Oklahoma Coming Together
We could have expected some growing pains with Porter Moser coming to Norman from Loyola-Chicago, but that hasn’t really been the case as the team is off to a 12-3 start. The Sooners have lost to Utah State (73-70) and Butler (66-60 OT) both as favorites so hiccups are possible, but the team has also won five of their last six with their only loss coming to the #1 team in the country.
Moser seems to be finding his rotation a bit, with Tanner Groves and Umoja Gibson combining for 36 points in Saturday’s 79-66 win over then #11 Iowa State. What Moser has to really like in the win over the Cyclones was the contributions off the bench with Jacob Groves scoring 9 points in 10 minutes and Bijan Cortes being an absolute spark with 4 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. The freshman point guard Cortes came into the game with 9 minutes left and OU down 5, and he never left posting a +/- of +18 down the stretch.
Oklahoma has the #4 scoring offense in the Big 12 (74.7 ppg) but they are also up against a Longhorns defense that leads the conference in points allowed (53.1 ppg). Texas had held six straight opponents to under 60 points prior to Saturday’s 64-51 loss at Oklahoma State.
Texas Aims to Regroup
What the Longhorns really need to do in the January 11th Oklahoma at Texas betting matchup is to ensure that Saturday’s game was a once off and doesn’t become a trend. Chris Beard’s team has looked very unenthused the last two games, falling down 35-29 at the half against Kansas State (eventually a 70-57 win) and getting outscored 34-23 in the second half in the loss to the Cowboys. Both of those could be attributed to being on the road though.
Texas has a world class defense that is #2 in the country allowing just 53.1 ppg, and that’s a good thing because there offense leaves some things to be desired. Timmy Allen leads the team in scoring but at just 11.9 ppg. Allen and Andrew Jones were the only Longhorns players to score in double figures against Oklahoma State but with a mere 10 points each.
Free January 11th Oklahoma at Texas Betting Pick
Even though there are a lot of new faces on both teams, these squads played each other tight last season with Texas getting a 69-65 win and OU prevailing 80-79 each on the other’s home court. The road team has actually won four straight in the series, which is good enough to take the +6.5 points in what could be a lower scoring game with the tempo that Texas runs.
Sooners 63 – Longhorns 65
Free Pick: Sooners +6.5
