Texas Longhorns vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys

The Texas Longhorns were ranked number one for the first time in school history recently, but that ranking seems like such a long time ago. The Longhorns will almost certainly drop from their current sixth position when the need rankings are released Monday morning after losing three of their last four following the best start in school history.

The Longhorns (18-3, 4-2) will look to get back on track when traveling to Stillwater to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys (16-5, 4-3) on Monday night, looking for their 17th consecutive win at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Texas’ latest loss was their closest and hardest to take. The Longhorns were down big early, rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half and held a two-point lead with less than a second left in regulation against the 24th-ranked Baylor Bears at home on Saturday.

Looking at the face of victory, the Bears tied the game with 0.3 seconds left to force overtime which Baylor won 80-77. The game once again showed a weak point in the Longhorns bag of tricks, at the free throw line where they missed 11 of their 31 opportunities.

Texas is one of the worst teams from the lines this season, at 61.8 percent, even lower at 54.1 percent over the last four games, and it has spoiled their effort of averaging 85.3 points per game.

Another effort wasted, was that of Damion Jones, who scored 20 points and set a career-high with 19 rebounds in the loss to Baylor.

Texas could see even more free falling through the rankings when faced with a challenging week that begins with Oklahoma State and also includes a home game with the second-ranked team in the nation, the Kansas Jayhawks.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys saw their three game win streak snapped with a 95-80 loss in Missouri on Saturday. James Anderson notched his season high of 31 points in the losing effort and he is averaging 22.5 points per game while scoring in double figures 35 straight games.

One of those games was last February 28 when Anderson scored 16 points to lead the Cowboys past the Longhorns 68-59, giving Oklahoma State their first victory in seven tries.

Texas has dominated the series with Oklahoma State since the Cowboys became a member of the Big 12 in 1996, winning 21 and losing 11, but overall, the series is closer with Texas leading 40-35.

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