Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Auburn on February 24, 2026 , Win , 91, to, 79
Final
Men's Basketball
91
vs Auburn
79
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens Big 12 Season At Iowa State
January 04, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2001
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GAME INFORMATION
Ranked 15th in the AP and 16th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches polls, Oklahoma (11-1) travels to Ames, Iowa, for its Big 12 Conference opener against Iowa State (12-1) Saturday at 12:45 p.m. CST. The Cyclones are ranked 23rd in the AP poll. The game will be played at James H. Hilton Coliseum and will air live on the Sooner Basketball Radio Network (flagship KOMA 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Bob Barry, Sr. (play-by-play) and Mark Mathew (analyst) calling the action. The contest will also be televised by ESPN Plus (KFOR Channel 4 in OKC and KJRH Channel 2 in Tulsa). Fred White (play-by-play) and Paul Splittorff (analyst) will announce.
OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Winners of six in a row, the Sooners earned a hard-fought overtime victory in the All-College Tournament championship game Dec. 30 against SMU in Oklahoma City, 79-78. OU overcame 10-point second-half and five-point overtime deficits to escape with the win. Senior Nolan Johnson tied a career high with 21 points and earned tournament MVP honors while fellow senior Kelley Newton added 20 points on 6-for-9 three-point shooting. Newton also made the all-tournament team.
Aaron McGhee leads four Sooners who average double figures in scoring with his 15.3 points per game. The junior forward has posted totals of 26, 27, 28 and 32 so far this year. Sophomore point guard Hollis Price averages 12.5 points and team highs in assists (6.3 apg) and steals (2.3 spg). Price, who has led the team in assists in all 12 games, also boasts a solid 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. Johnson averages 12.3 points per outing and has scored in double digits in seven of the last eight games. Newton has made two or more three-pointers in all but one game and averages 11.9 points per outing. He is 36-for-65 (.554) from beyond the arc on the year.
During their six-game winning streak, which includes a pair of overtime wins in their last three outings, the Sooners have outscored their opponents by an average of 91.7 to 62.8 (28.8 points per game).
IOWA STATE UPDATE
Like Oklahoma, Iowa State has won six straight games. The Cyclones, who are coming off a 51-point home win over Illinois-Chicago on Tuesday in which they held UIC to .243 field goal shooting, have lost only at Iowa (80-68 on Dec. 9). The team is outscoring its opponents by 17.3 points per game and outrebounding its foes by 14.3 boards per outing. ISU owns a school-record 28-game home court winning streak, the second longest active streak in the country behind Michigan State's 37-game skein.
Five Cyclones average double figures in scoring. Senior forwards Martin Rancik and Paul Shirley average 13.7 and 11.9 points per contest, respectively. Freshman guard Jake Sullivan, who has made 28 three-pointers and is shooting .509 from beyond the arc, averages 11.7 points while senior guard Jamaal Tinsley and junior forward Tyray Pearson average 11.6 and 10.3 points. Shirley leads the team with his 7.5 rebounds per game while Tinsley paces the squad with 5.7 assists and 1.1 steals.
Head Coach Larry Eustachy is in his third year at Iowa State where he owns a 59-21 record (.737). Last season's AP National Coach of the Year is 218-107 (.670) in his 11th year as a college head coach. Eustachy spent three seasons at Idaho State (1991-93) and five at Utah State (1994-98).
SERIES WITH IOWA STATE
Oklahoma leads the overall series with Iowa State, 101-74, but trails in games played in Ames by a 42-34 count. OU is 5-4 against the Cyclones under Kelvin Sampson (2-2 in Ames).
Last year the teams split a pair of games with the Sooners winning a thrilling double-overtime affair in Norman (80-75) and Iowa State taking the Big 12 Tournament championship game in Kansas City, Mo. (70-58). In the first meeting, the Cylcones overcame a 14-point deficit with 6:47 left in regulation to force the first overtime. The second overtime was ruled by Eduardo Najera when the senior scored seven of his game-high 25 points. He also pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. J.R. Raymond scored 20 points on 6-for-15 three-point shooting and Tim Heskett added 18 by making 6-of-8 three-point attempts. Marcus Fizer scored 20 to lead Iowa State while Nurse contributed 19.
The top-seeded Cyclones dominated the third-seeded Sooners in the conference tourney title game by limiting OU to .349 field goal shooting. Iowa State shot .460 from the field and .840 from the foul line (21-for-25). Fizer, who was strong early in the contest, finished with a game-high 22 points while Nurse and Jamaal Tinsley added 14 and 13. Najera led OU with 19 points.
RECAPPING THE SMU CONTEST
OU claimed its fourth straight All-College Tournament title and its 17th overall with a 79-78 overtime win against SMU Dec. 30 at The Myriad in Oklahoma City. The Sooners, who led 35-29 at halftime, found themselves trailing by 10 at the midway point of the second half. A trio of Tim Heskett three-pointers between the 7:32 and 5:30 marks of regulation trimmed the deficit to two points, however, and Nolan Johnson's acrobatic driving layup with six seconds left tied the score at 72-72 and forced the extra session. SMU scored the first five points of overtime, but Hollis Price's three-pointer with 1:44 left drew OU to within one. Johnson's pair of free throws with 1:20 remaining were the last points of the game as the Sooners withstood a couple of game-winning attempts by the Mustangs. Johnson, who recorded a game-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, was named the tournament's MVP. All-tourney selection Kelley Newton was 6-for-9 from three-point range and finished with 20 points while Price contributed 11 points and a game-high eight assists. OU turned in a solid shooting effort with its .500 mark from the field, .526 percentage from three-point range and .733 performance from the foul line. Damon Hancock led five SMU players in double digits in scoring with 18 points. He was an all-tournament selection along with teammates Willie Davis (16 points) and Jeryl Sasser (13 points).
OU 6-0 IN LEAGUE OPENERS UNDER SAMPSON
Oklahoma is a perfect 6-0 in conference-opening contests under Head Coach Kelvin Sampson (2-0 in Big Eight and 4-0 in Big 12). The Sooners beat Colorado in 1995 (98-83 in Norman), Kansas State in 1996 (64-59 in Manhattan), Texas A&M in 1997 (78-59 in College Station), Colorado in 1998 (69-68 in Boulder), Iowa State in 1999 (56-52 in Ames) and Texas A&M last year (78-53 in Norman).
OKLAHOMA'S BIG 12 HISTORY
The Sooners boast a 43-21 (.672) Big 12 regular season record in the league's previous four years, second only to Kansas' 52-12 (.813) mark. OU finished 9-7 (fifth place) in 1997, 11-5 (tied for second) in both 1998 and 1999, and 12-4 (tied for third) last year. Kelvin Sampson's Big 12 squads have posted a 24-8 league record at home and a 19-13 mark on the road.
NOLAN IS ROLLIN'
After a slower-than-anticipated start to the season, senior guard Nolan Johnson has elevated his play lately. Johnson reached double figures in scoring just once in the team's first four games (8.3 points) but has done it in seven of the last eight. Over OU's last three outings he is averaging 17.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.7 steals. The former Brooklyn (N.Y.) Player of the Year as a high school senior, Johnson is shooting .500 from the field and a team-high .889 (40-45) from the free throw line on the season. He is now averaging 12.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game on the year.
NEWTON CONTINUES TO SCORCH THE NETS
Senior guard Kelley Newton, who ranks among the Big 12 leaders in three-pointers per game (3.0) and in three-point percentage (.554), has made 21-of-36 (.583) three-point attempts over the last five games. The Kansas City, Kan., native drained eight treys (tying Texas A&M's Bernard King for the most by a Big 12 player this year) on 11 attempts versus Coppin State Dec. 16 en route to a career-high 26 points and was 6-for-9 from downtown while scoring 20 points in OU's last game versus SMU. Newton has made at least two three-pointers in all but one game this year and has raised his career three-point percentage to .452 (85-for-188).
WHO WILL IT BE?
Six different Sooners have led the team in scoring in OU's 12 games this season. Aaron McGhee has done it four times and Nolan Johnson has done it three times. Hollis Price and J.R. Raymond have done it twice each while Kelley Newton and Daryan Selvy have paced the team once each. Seven different Sooners have also led the team in rebounding this year.
JUCO TRANSFERS CONTRIBUTING
OU signed four junior college recruits last year, and three of them have made significant contributions so far this season (the fourth, center Jozsef Szendrei, has battled injuries and has played in just two games). The trio, which is shooting a combined .580 from the field (134-for-231), has accounted for 34 percent of the team's points and 37 percent of its rebounds through 12 games. Aaron McGhee leads the team with his 15.3 points per game and also averages 4.8 rebounds. Daryan Selvy is averaging 9.5 points and a team-high 5.9 boards per game. And in his nine games, Ronnie Griffin is averaging 5.8 points and 3.4 rebounds.
PRICE IS RIGHT
Sophomore point guard Hollis Price ranks second on the squad in scoring (12.5 ppg) and leads the team in assists (6.3 apg) and steals (2.3 spg). He also boasts a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio and has been OU's leading assist man in all 12 games.
Price, who scored 10 or more points in OU's first five games, has already earned MVP honors in two tournaments this year. He won the Sooner Invitational MVP trophy after averaging 11.0 points, 8.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 3.5 steals and just 1.5 turnovers in wins over Alcorn State and La Salle. At the Big Island Invitational, Price took home another trophy after averaging 21.0 points, 5.7 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting .719 (23-for-32) from the field and .615 (8-for-13) from three-point land in victories against Montana State, Tulane and Oregon State. Versus the Green Wave, Price was 10-for-14 from the floor, 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and 7-for-9 from the foul line for a career-high 30 points. He also contributed six assists and four steals in that contest.
GRIFFIN RESPONDS TO STARTING ROLE
Junior forward Ronnie Griffin, who did not participate in Oklahoma's first three games due to eligibility issues that occurred prior to his recruitment by or attendance at OU, has started each of the last six games and has produced solid numbers. In 18 minutes versus North Texas, the Louisville, Ky., native recorded 10 points, seven rebounds (five offensive) and a pair of steals. Versus Coppin State, Griffin totaled 18 points, seven rebounds and two steals in just 16 minutes of play. Griffin's per-game points and rebounds averages stand at 5.8 and 3.4, respectively. He is also shooting .576 from the field and .700 from the foul line.
Griffin averaged 12.5 points and 5.3 rebounds at Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College last year and was a first-team All-Panhandle Conference selection. He shot .544 from the field and helped the Eagles to a 25-5 final record.
GETTING TO THE LINE
The Sooners have outshot their opponents from the free throw line by a 140-89 margin over the last five games. That's an average of 28.0 attempts to 17.8 per game. Against Arkansas Dec. 23, OU made a season-high 35 free throws on a season-high 50 attempts. The 50 attempts were the most since Feb. 18, 1995, when the Sooners shot 53 free throws versus Missouri in Kelvin Sampson's first year at Oklahoma.
BALANCED ATTACK
Aaron McGhee leads four Sooners who average double digits in points per game. McGhee, who averages 15.3 per outing, is joined by Hollis Price (12.5), Nolan Johnson (12.3) and Kelley Newton (11.9). Daryan Selvy and J.R. Raymond are not far behind with their respective 9.5 and 8.2 points-per-game marks. No Kelvin Sampson-coached Oklahoma team has ever finished a season with five players averaging double figures in scoring. Four players averaged at least 10.0 points per game in both the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons, however.
BACK ON TRACK
Since shooting .295 from three-point land in its first two games of the season, Oklahoma has been extremely solid in the department. In its last 10 games, OU has gone 82-for-196 from beyond the arc for a strong .418 percentage.
The Sooners now own a .396 three-point mark for the season. Interestingly, the school's career leader in three-point percentage entering the year (.420), senior guard Tim Heskett sports just a .293 percentage (17-for-58) through 12 games.
Last year, the Sooners ranked second in the Big 12 with a .383 season three-point mark and two years ago finished second with a .388 percentage. The OU single-season record of .414 was set in 1986-87, the first year of the three-point line.
SEVEN STRAIGHT TOURNAMENT CROWNS
Oklahoma's tournament titles in the Sooner Invitational, the Big Island Invitational and the All-College Tournament this year marked its fifth, sixth and seventh in a row in the regular season. Last year the Sooners won the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska, the Sooner Invitational in Norman and the All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City. OU also captured the All-College Tournament championship in the 1998-99 season. The Sooners' last loss in regular season tourney competition came to North Carolina State (62-58) in the final round of the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic in December 1998. Their regular-season tournament winning streak stands at 16 games.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
In the annual preseason Big 12 media poll released Nov. 2, Oklahoma was picked to finish second in the league behind Kansas. Among the teams the Sooners were predicted to finish ahead of were Missouri (third), Texas (fourth), Iowa State (fifth) and Oklahoma State (sixth). OU was also picked second in the league race by conference coaches.
SAMPSON SIGNS PAIR OF RECRUITS
Head Coach Kelvin Sampson announced Nov. 7 that center Jabahri Brown and wing Matt Gipson have signed National Letters of Intent to play basketball at OU next season.
"Jabahri and Matt are two young men who give us a great follow-up to last year's outstanding recruiting class," said Sampson. "We really wanted to get better inside and be more athletic. We accomplished both goals by signing these two talented players."
A native of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, the 6-11 Brown transferred to Rose State College in Midwest City, Okla., following his freshman year at Florida International University last season. Brown will transfer to OU at the end of the current semester and will be eligible to play for the Sooners following the conclusion of the fall 2001 semester when he will have sophomore status. He averaged 8.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 blocked shots and 1.6 steals in 24.3 minutes per game last season as a true freshman at Florida International.
Gipson is a 6-9 wing player from Burkburnett High School in Burkburnett, Texas, who averaged 21.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game as a junior last year. Compared in style by some to former Utah standout Keith Van Horn, Gipson helped his squad to a 24-11 record while earning unanimous all-district and all-region honors. Fastbreak Recruiting rates him as the fifth-best senior in the Midwest.
OU BOASTS NATION'S FOURTH-LONGEST POSTSEASON STREAK
Oklahoma has made 19 consecutive postseason appearances (15 NCAA and four NIT), the fourth-longest streak among Division I programs. Only North Carolina (34 years), Georgetown (26) and Indiana (23) own longer postseason streaks. The last time Oklahoma did not compete in the postseason was in 1980-81. The four longest current postseason streaks are as follows:
MODEL OF CONSISTENCY
Oklahoma has registered a winning record in 23 of its last 24 seasons. No other Big 12 team can boast as many winning campaigns since the 1975-76 season as the Sooners. OU has posted a 531-239 (.690) record over the past 24 years.
HEAD COACH KELVIN SAMPSON
Now in his 18th year as a collegiate head coach, Kelvin Sampson is in his seventh year at the Oklahoma helm. He has averaged 21.7 wins per season at OU and is one of two Big 12 coaches Kansas' Roy Williams is the other to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament each of the last six seasons.
Sampson began his head coaching career in 1980 at Montana Tech when he was hired as the program's interim head coach. He recorded a 73-45 mark in four seasons and was inducted into the school's sports hall of fame three years ago.
In 1988, Sampson was named head coach at Washington State and compiled an even 103-103 record over seven years, including two 20-win campaigns.
Hired by Oklahoma on April 25, 1994, he has guided the Sooners to a 141-63 (.691) record and an 81-15 (.844) home mark. Two of his OU squads (1997-98 and 1999-00) have played in the Big 12 Tournament championship game. In 1998-99, he directed OU to an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance.
Sampson was named the 1995 national coach of the year by the Associated Press, the USBWA and Basketball Times.
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