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Texas looks to keep Porter Moser winless in the Red River Shootout

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•about 9 hours•

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Porter Moser40
OU head coach Porter Moser. (Jay Biggerstaff - Imagn Images)

Saturday’s regular season finale matching Texas and Oklahoma has a number of NCAA Tournament storylines attached to it. Both teams are in the “first four out” category in most bracketology projections, and both team’s head coaches are under pressure to make the field of 68 or else potentially update their resumes in search of a new job.

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Those facts should lead to an increased level of desperation from both the Longhorns and the Sooners on Saturday, but OU and head coach Porter Moser will look to avoid an additional embarrassment.

Moser has not defeated Texas as head coach of the Sooners. In his fourth season, Moser has lost all seven of his matchups with the Longhorns. The Sooner program itself has lost eight in a row to Texas, the last win for OU coming in 2021 under Lon Kruger versus Shaka Smart in the Erwin Center.

The burnt orange victories have come in a variety of ways. Four have been by five or fewer points, with three of those ending as one-possession games. The other three have been Longhorn wins by 14, 15, and 14. Texas topped Oklahoma 77-73 in January after leading by 16 at half.

Moser has been unable to get over the burnt orange hump since arriving in Norman the same time Chris Beard moved from Lubbock to Austin. His Sooner teams have reached the 20-win threshold just once in his tenure. To compare, Rodney Terry reached 21 wins last season in his first year at the helm of the Horns.

The Longhorns, obviously, have not been the only thorn in OU’s side since Moser took over. He’s yet to reach the NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma has yet to record a winning conference record with him at the helm. OU was ranked as high as No. 7 in 2023-24 before ending the year at home and outside of the March Madness. They’re looking to avoid doing something similar in 2024-25, as the Sooners were once ranked as high as No. 12 before plummeting to the wrong side of the bubble.

To be sure, Texas is not without its own issues. A team that features All-American candidate Tre Johnson plus experienced college basketball players like Tramon Mark, Kadin Shedrick, Arthur Kaluma, Jordan Pope, Jayson Kent, and Julian Larry is no guarantee to make March Madness. Texas is assured an under .500 record in Southeastern Conference play and will have to play in the first round of the SEC Tournament next week in Nashville. They may need to win multiple games in Nashville to make the NCAA Tournament in addition to Saturday’s contest.

As a result, Terry finds himself under pressure similar to Moser. Missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 (there was no 2020 NCAA Tournament) is not something that will be looked at kindly in Austin, especially with Johnson putting his name alongside Kevin Durant‘s in several categories. Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte recently said he expects his programs to operate at a top-five level and contend for national titles, and there’s no way to contend for national titles if the Longhorns are unable to gain a spot in the field of 68.

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But for all the tournament talk and Texas job pressure Saturday’s game has surrounding it, it’s still a game between heated rivals. In college sports, beating rivals is a key component of great seasons. Moser has yet to top Texas during his time leading the Sooners. No matter how the bubble or the coaching carousel shakes out, the Longhorns want to make sure Moser’s 2024-25, and maybe even his time in Norman, ends without a win in the basketball version of the Red River Shootout.

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