Texas basketball vs. Oklahoma: Prediction, scouting report for clash of Big 12 contenders

The Texas and Oklahoma women have played basketball against each other 67 times.

It's hard to imagine a bigger meeting between these two programs than the one that will happen in Norman, Okla., on Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN+, 103.1). With two games left in the regular season, Oklahoma (20-7, 14-2) holds a one-game lead over Texas (26-3, 13-3). If the Sooners win on Wednesday, the Big 12 title will be all theirs. If Texas wins, the Longhorns and Sooners will be tied as they head into their respective finales against BYU and Kansas.

Texas and Oklahoma shared the Big 12 championship last year.

Here's what you need to know about the matchup:

Both teams can score in the paint, but watch out for OU's 3-pointers

Averaging 82.9 and 77.8 points per game, Texas and Oklahoma boast the top-two scoring offenses in the Big 12. The two teams combined for 178 points when they played in Austin last month.

Texas is scoring 41.1 paint points per game while Oklahoma is averaging 36.4 points down there. The Sooners, though, will also shoot 3-pointers. Only two teams in the Big 12 have made more 3-pointers than Oklahoma and just TCU has attempted more deep shots. Texas has both made and attempted the fewest 3-pointers in the conference.

Big 12 Player of the Year honors at stake?

Could Big 12 player of the year honors be at stake Wednesday night? Texas has a worthy candidate in freshman guard Madison Booker while Oklahoma senior forward Skylar Vann is also a contender. Those two have combined for three Big 12 player of the week awards this season.

Booker is averaging 16.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. Converted to a point guard after Rori Harmon's season-ending knee injury, Booker could become the first freshman to lead Texas in scoring since Chassidy Fussell during the 2010-11 season. It's been five years since the same player led UT in scoring and assists, but Booker is on track to do just that.

Vann is the Big 12's reigning sixth player of the year. She also won that award during the 2021-22 season. Now a full-time starter, Vann is averaging 15.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

Brooke McCarty was the last Longhorn to be named the Big 12 player of the year. That happened in 2017. Courtney Paris won Oklahoma's last Big 12 player of the year award in 2009.

Stock up for No. 3 Texas

Texas made a move in the Associated Press poll this week. Ranked fifth the last two weeks, the Longhorns were voted into the No. 3 slot on Monday. That is the team's highest ranking of the season.

Texas was ranked fifth when Harmon was injured, but the team never slipped below No. 12 in the AP poll over her 17-game absence. The Longhorns now just find themselves trailing South Carolina (27-0) and Ohio State (24-3) in the eyes of the AP voters.

"You have so many (players) step up throughout the course of the season. Staff, incredible. Coaches have done an unbelievable job. It just takes everybody, it takes a village," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. "That's hard to do with a healthy group, right? Be No. 3 in the country?"

Still weighed down by some bad losses in nonconference play, Oklahoma was ranked 20th this week.

Texas vs. Oklahoma prediction

Texas. With a win, Oklahoma can secure an outright conference title, sweep Texas for the first time since 2013 and send a message to the AP voters and NCAA Tournament selection committee. But Texas hasn't lost since dropping a 91-87 game on its home court to Oklahoma, and the Longhorns will return the favor in Norman.

— Danny Davis

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas, Oklahoma basketball teams with Big 12 championship at stake