After playing their best game of the season against Tennessee the Florida Gators (11-5, 2-1 SEC) will prepare to take on the Oklahoma Sooners (11-5, 1-2) in SEC conference play. Last season saw the Sooners benefit from the immense strength of the SEC as they finished 13th in the league yet made the NCAA Tournament, a sentence that has never really been uttered in the history of college basketball until this point. Earning a 9-seed, they had the misfortune of matching up with UConn in the first round where they performed admirably but lost 67-59. Entering this season the Sooners were picked 12th in the SEC preseason poll, and they are battling once again to get out of the bottom of the SEC and stay in NCAA Tournament consideration.
Sitting at 11-5, Oklahoma took losses to some quality opponents in non-conference play falling to Gonzaga and Nebraska (who remains undefeated) before dropping a game to Arizona State that they would have liked to have had back. Their non-conference wins came over Oklahoma State, Wake Forest, and Marquette–three teams that are not expected to make the NCAA Tournament. It also seems like Oklahoma isn’t exactly playing their best basketball right now as they were afforded one of the easiest starting schedules in the SEC playing Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M, all teams expected to finish in the bottom third of the SEC–and they went 1-2, with their win coming against the Rebels. It’s clear that Oklahoma is a bit vulnerable, and they’ll have a big test going up against the Gators who just played their best game of the season and are a team much better than anyone that Oklahoma has proven they can take down.
The Sooners are in year five of the Porter Moser era, and the last few years have been marked by steady decency but a struggle to get over the hump of relative mediocrity and into consistent winners. In 2023-24, the Sooners were preseason 48th in KenPom. They finished 46th. In 2024-25, the Sooners were preseason 40th–they finished the year 40th. This year, they entered the season 58th–and right now they are 54th. At a time where it is tougher than ever to be a bottom level program in a high-major league it has been impressive that the Sooners have remained solid without having the floor ever drop out, but at times it looks like there has been a ceiling as to what could be accomplished there. If the Gators want to make a push to win the SEC regular season, these types of games, even with it taking place on the road, are the ones they need to win.
Known throughout much of his career as a defensive mind, Porter’s teams have rebranded in recent years to be more offensively oriented–though at the expense of the defensive end. When it came to portal transactions and high school recruiting Moser has started favoring offensive production which has allowed Oklahoma to have a bit more firepower but they have lost some of their edge defensively. The Sooners are currently 37th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency, though they are all the way down at 112th in defensive efficiency. Oklahoma has been a good but not great team on the glass, and it could be a challenge for the Sooners to keep the ball out of their hoop on Tuesday with the Gators starting to improve offensively while they keep up their rebounding power.
Strategically, Oklahoma will shoot a lot of threes while trying to slow down the game as much as possible on the defensive end, banking on getting hot from deep being their key to victory.
Leading the way in the three-point shooting category is Nijel Pack, a veteran guard in his sixth season of college basketball. A consistent scorer throughout his career, Pack is having his best shooting season yet hitting 45% of his threes on 7.5 attempts per game–the kind of percentage and volume that could put him in the conversation for best shooter in college basketball. Totally 16.4 points per game, Pack’s points largely come from behind the arc and Florida will have to prioritize running him off the line and getting him into the lane among the trees where he isn’t as comfortable finishing.
Another boost to Oklahoma’s offense has been Xzayvier Brown, one of the more underrated transfers in the country after averaging 17.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game for Saint Joseph’s. A physical 6’2” driver, Brown is relentless in his ability to get downhill which is the perfect balance against Pack who is much more of a three-point shooter who wants to live behind the arc.
For the Gators, this game will be about keeping the tempo high and capitalizing on the offensive performance they had against Tennessee. Oklahoma isn’t a disruptive defense that makes things hard on their opponents and the Gators need to play with some assertiveness and not just rely on the offensive rebounding to fuel the scoring. The Sooners will try to slow the game down, so keeping the tempo high and creating transition attempts will also be a focus. Oklahoma hasn’t yet shown the ability to beat a top-50 team and their best chance at doing so is making it a low scoring game where their three-point shooting can be the difference and the Gators cannot allow that to happen.
Florida and Oklahoma will tip off Tuesday, January 13th at 9 PM ET and it will be televised on ESPN 2.