Auburn Tigers

Oklahoma Basketball: Numbers to Know in Advance for OU Men, Women

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:39 p.m. ET

Fansided, Chip Rouse/FanSided via Stormin in Norman

The students are away at OU and other Big 12 schools for semester break, and so is Oklahoma basketball, as both the Sooner men and women are on the road through midweek.

Mar 6, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Gioya Carter (25) and Oklahoma Sooners forward Kaylon Williams (42) reach for a rebound in front of Baylor Bears guard Niya Johnson (2) and Baylor Bears guard Alexis Prince (12) in fourth quarter during the women

The OU men are headed east to Connecticut to take part in the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Birthday of Basketball doubleheader and a game with Auburn. The women are off in the opposite direction, to Las Vegas, where they will play three games in as many days as one of the participating teams in the Puerto Rico Classic.

If you are wondering why the Puerto Rico Classic is being played in Las Vegas, it’s because of health concerns with the Zika virus in Puerto Rico.

The Sooner women face Xavier, off to a 7-1 start this season, on Monday. That will be followed by games on Tuesday and Wednesday with California and Portland State, respectively. OU is 7-2 and ranked 20th in the latest Associated Press poll.

The Sooners have gotten a huge boost from their bench players in the last two games. The players coming off the bench for Sherri Coale’s women’s team have scored a total of 103 points (51.5 per game) in the last two contests, convincing wins over Texas Rio Grande Valley and Tulsa.

Oklahoma is 4-0 all-time in women’s games played in Las Vegas.

The Sooner men go into their Tuesday game with 8-2 Auburn at 6-4 on the season, their worst start to a season in six years under head coach Lon Kruger. Senior Jordan Woodard leads Oklahoma in scoring, averaging 17.6 points per game. He is followed by sophomore Christian James, who is averaging 12.6.

Auburn has two players, Daniel Purifoy and Mustapha Heron, averaging 16 points a game.

Both the Sooners and the Tigers like to get out fast and score early on their opponents this season.

Oklahoma owns a scoring margin of plus 79 in the first quarter. Auburn is 69 points better than its opponents in the opening 20 minutes. That margin goes down significantly in the second half for the Sooners and the Tigers. The Sooners have outscored their 10 opponents by just 14 points in the second half; Auburn is plus 21 in the second half.