February 7, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Dayton Forsyth (7) reacts after making a 3-pointer in the second half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images The last time Missouri and Oklahoma faced off, the two teams had a classic battle.
On Tuesday, both teams will have plenty to do in the second game of the regular season in Norman, Oklahoma.
The Tigers (20-9, 10-6 SEC), who began the week ranked No. 53 in the national NET, are looking to improve their NCAA Tournament positioning and stay away from a play-in spot on the field if possible. Missouri is also chasing a top-four seed and a double-bye in the SEC Tournament.
The Sooners (15-14, 5-11), who began the week ranked 62nd in the NET, are trying to keep their slim tournament hopes alive after back-to-back wins and four of their last six games.
The Tigers won their first matchup, 88-87, in overtime at home on January 24 thanks to Mark Mitchell’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. Missouri sent the game into overtime with Trent Pierce’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. By the time Pierce’s shot went through the net, the Sooners had a winning percentage of 91.3%, according to KenPom.com.
Missouri has won back-to-back games and has won six of its last eight games. The Tigers earned their biggest win in conference play with a 24-point win over Mississippi State on Saturday.
The Sooners posted a 16-point win over LSU.
“They’re not the team we played a month ago,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said.
Oklahoma has been under the radar, losing nine straight games in a month. There’s still a long way to go, but Sooners coach Porter Moser insists his team still has a chance.
“You have to trust the path,” Moser said. “And our path was to start playing better basketball, starting on the defensive end and staying together.
“We have been preparing hard and practicing hard while staying together.”
Missouri isn’t the same team either. In particular, 7-foot-5 redshirt freshman Trent Burns has surged recently.
Burns played just three minutes in his first meeting with the Sooners. Through Valentine’s Day, he was averaging just 4.4 minutes, 1.3 points, 1.0 rebounds and no steals in 14 games.
But over Missouri’s last four games, Burns has become a key part of the rotation. He averaged 16.5 minutes, 5.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.
“No one likes to sit, and this is the best therapy for progress and buying time,” Gates said. “He didn’t give up on himself. The staff didn’t give up on him. … I still think there are some areas where he needs to jump, but it definitely gave us an opportunity to have some length around the basket.”
One of the biggest changes for Oklahoma since their first meeting was the emergence of Dayton Forsythe as a scoring weapon off the bench.
Forsythe, who was scoreless in the team’s first meeting, only shot 27.8% from the field and averaged 3.7 points and 14.9 minutes in the first 15 games. In the next eight games, the second-year guard averaged 9.8 points, 20.6 minutes and shot 44.7 percent from the field.
–Field level media
