No. 7 Oklahoma puts undefeated start to the season on the line against North Carolina
No. 7 Oklahoma has passed every test during an undefeated season, winning seven of its first 10 games by 20 points or more.
The Sooners will face what may be their biggest test so far this season on Wednesday, when they play an angry North Carolina team in its home state.
“I see the gaps of mistakes keep shrinking,” Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. “And here’s what’s crazy: I feel like we’ve got a big room to get better, and I think they (the players) would say the same thing.”
The Sooners missed the NCAA Tournament in Moser’s first season, but have clicked so far this year.
Oklahoma (10-0) steamrolled the mid-majors on its schedule and has wins over Iowa, Southern California, Providence and Arkansas on its resume.
The Sooners’ guard tandem Otega Oweh and Javian McCollum have been superb, combining to score more than 29 points per game, and big man John Hugley IV has been a force in the paint.
Oklahoma got off to a sluggish start in its last game against Green Bay last Saturday, but turned it on just before halftime to turn the game into a 81-47 runaway. The Sooners are off to their best start since opening 12-0 in 2015-16, when they went the Final Four behind Buddy Hield.
“That’s a team that you’re going to see play deep into March,” Green Bay coach Sundance Wicks said. “They can make a really impressive run if they stay together and do the right things.”
North Carolina is coming off a high-level showdown with No. 9 Kentucky in Atlanta on Saturday.
The Tar Heels (7-3) had chances down the stretch, but a key turnover cost them a shot at a potential tying 3-pointer, leading to an 87-83 loss.
The game against Oklahoma will be just a few hours down the road in Charlotte, so there should be plenty of Carolina blue in the stands.
ARIZONA’S TOUGH WEEK
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd has followed the footsteps of his former boss, Gonzaga coach Mark Few, by scheduling tough nonconference games.
The Wildcats took down No. 21 Duke in the second game of the season, outlasted then-No. 21 Michigan State last month and cruised to a 25-point win over then-No. 23 Wisconsin last week.
Arizona’s undefeated start to the season came to an end with Saturday’s 92-84 loss to Purdue, knocking the once-top-ranked Wildcats down to No. 4 in this week’s AP Top 25.
The road doesn’t get any easier this week.
On Wednesday, Arizona heads West to Phoenix to play Alabama, which is coming off close losses to No. 1 Purdue and No. 12 Creighton. After that, the Wildcats head to Las Vegas on Saturday to face No. 14 Florida Atlantic, which has nearly everyone back from last season’s surprise Final Four run.
MORE RANKED GAMES
The best game of the week may be at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, when No. 10 Baylor plays No. 21 Duke.
The Bears (9-1) reached as high as No. 6 in the AP poll, but dropped four spots this week after their undefeated season came to an end with a 88-64 loss to Michigan State.
The Blue Devils (7-3) have yet to live up their preseason hype, dropping 19 spots from the preseason poll with losses to Arizona, Arkansas and Georgia Tech. Duke will likely have strong support at the Garden, where the crowd is almost always on the Blue Devils’ side.
The only other game this week between ranked teams is Tuesday, when No. 22 Virginia plays at No. 23 Memphis.
Memphis fans clamored for the Tigers to be ranked early in the season, but consecutive losses to Villanova Mississippi spoiled any chance of that. The Tigers moved into the poll this week with consecutive wins over ranked teams, taking down then-No. 21 Texas A&M and No. 18 Clemson.
Virginia opened the season with four straight wins, lost to Wisconsin and enter Tuesday’s game on a five-game winning streak. The Cavaliers have been their typically-stingy selves this season, ranking second nationally in scoring defense at 53.3 points per game.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball