Before the month of January concludes, all 10 teams from the Big XII and 10 of the 14 teams from the SEC will compete in the SEC-Big XII Challenge.

Two teams that are in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid are the Oklahoma Sooners and Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Sooners and Crimson Tide both enter the week with rock solid RPI numbers with Oklahoma at No. 11 while Alabama is at No. 26.

With an important non-conference game awaiting both teams, Oklahoma head basketball coach Lon Kruger talked about a number of topics surrounding the 2017-2018 version of the Sooners on Inside the Locker Room.

Oklahoma is led by one of the top scorers in the country in Trae Young. The freshman from Norman, Oklahoma, averages 30.5 points per game and is fresh off a 48-point performance in Oklahoma’s 83-81 overtime loss at Oklahoma State on Saturday.

Kruger talked about Young and his affinity for the Sooner as a fan growing up in the shadows of the OU campus.

“Trae (Young) is a special player, obviously. He grew up a Sooner fan just 10 minutes down the road from our basketball facility, been to all the games as a youngster and yet coming out of high school, one of the top players in the country, recruited by everyone but in the end, I think he wanted to be a Sooner and share that experience with his family.” Kruger said.

The head coach of the Sooner later touched on the experience of coaching basketball at a traditional football power and the exposure that the SEC-Big XII Challenge provides for the two conferences.

Catch Inside the Locker Room every weekday from 7-9 AM on Tide 102.9/100.9 and the Tide 102.9 app.

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