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
Sooners Hit Hardwood Following Two-Week Layoff
November 27, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2001
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GAME INFORMATION
Unranked Oklahoma hosts Central Michigan Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST at Lloyd Noble Center. The game will air live on the Sooner Basketball Radio Network (flagship KOMA 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Bob Barry, Sr. (play-by-play) and Mike Houck (analyst) calling the action. The contest will be televised across Oklahoma by the Sooner Sports Network with Dean Blevins (play-by-play), Wayman Tisdale (analyst) and Renzi Stone (courtside reporter) announcing.
Tickets are available by calling the OU Athletic Ticket Office at (800) 456-4668.
PROJECTED OU STARTERS F 13 Aaron McGhee (6-8, 250, Sr.) F 24 Johnnie Gilbert (6-8, 230, So.) G 2 Ebi Ere (6-5, 215, Jr.) G 4 Quannas White (6-1, 190, Jr.) G 10 Hollis Price (6-1, 165, Jr.)
OKLAHOMA UPDATE
After a two-week layoff, the Sooners return to the court for their third game of the season Wednesday. OU posted a 1-1 record in the Preseason NIT with a 66-44 home win over Central Connecticut Nov. 12 and a 67-55 loss at then-No. 15 Michigan State Nov. 14. MSU's home victory marked its 46th straight.
Without a doubt, Hollis Price has been OU's catalyst through two games by averaging 19.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals. The junior guard has played 74 minutes and has not committed a turnover. Price is shooting .471 (8-for-17) from three-point range and made a career-high six treys on 10 attempts in the season opener versus Central Connecticut.
Junior guard Ebi Ere, the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year, is coming off a 16-point, six-rebound effort at Michigan State and is averaging 13.5 points and 5.0 rebounds. He has made five three-pointers on 15 tries (.333). Sophomore forward Johnnie Gilbert averages 5.5 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds to go along with his five blocked shots. Conspicuous by his absence thus far has been Aaron McGhee, OU's leading returning scorer from last season. The senior forward is averaging 6.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game after averaging 12.9 points and 4.8 boards per contest last year. He recorded four points, no rebounds and three turnovers at Michigan State.
The Sooners have forced opponents into 42 turnovers (22 by Central Connecticut and 20 by Michigan State) while committing just 25 themselves. OU has struggled with its shot, however, connecting on just .355 of its field goal attempts. The team is shooting .327 from three-point land and has been productive at the free throw line (.789).
ABOUT CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan heads to Norman with a 2-1 record following home wins against Tri-State (75-53 Nov. 18) and Georgia State (76-52 Nov. 24), and a loss at Dayton (81-65 Nov. 21). The Chippewas were picked to win the Mid-American Conference West Division ahead of Ball State and are coming off a 20-8 campaign last year in which they finished 14-4 in the MAC to win the league title. Last season's performance was impressive considering the team posted just a 6-23 record in 1999-2000.
Leading the CMU charge will be David Webber, a senior guard who is the brother of Sacramento Kings star Chris Webber. Last year's MAC Player of the Year, Webber is averaging 18.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and a team-high 2.7 assists in 38.3 minutes per contest. He is Central Michigan's sixth-leading all-time scorer with 1,333 points and ranks fourth with 140 career three-pointers. Sophomore center Chris Kaman, who stands 7-0, missed the Chippewas' first two games due to an NCAA suspension for playing in unauthorized events over the summer. Kaman started against Georgia State and contributed 19 points and 17 rebounds in 36 minutes. Junior forward Mike Manciel was the MAC Freshman of the Year in 1999-2000 and is averaging 17.0 points, 5.0 boards and 2.3 assists so far this season. Chad Pleiness, a junior forward, is averaging 10.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per outing.
The Chippewas are coached by fifth-year mentor Jay Smith. The longtime Kent State and Michigan assistant coach served as head coach at Grand Valley in 1996-97 before taking over at Central Michigan. He has posted a 43-69 (.384) mark at CMU and is 66-75 (.469) as a collegiate head coach.
SERIES WITH CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Wednesday will mark the first meeting between Oklahoma and Central Michigan.
SOONERS DROP OUT OF POLLS...BARELY
Oklahoma began the season ranked 23rd in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and 25th in the AP poll, but has dropped out of the top 25 in both. In the current ESPN/USA Today poll, OU is in the 27th slot. In the newest AP version, the Sooners are 26th.
MICHIGAN STATE RECAP
Oklahoma entered its second-round Preseason NIT game at Michigan State Nov. 14 hoping to snap the Spartans' 45-game homecourt winning streak. OU trailed by five at halftime and knotted the score at 39 with 14:26 to go. But MSU used a 16-5 run to go up by 11 and eventually won by 12, 67-55. The Sooners posted just a .323 field goal mark (.286 after halftime) and a .250 (7-for-28) effort from beyond the arc. While the offense struggled, the defense was solid as it forced 20 Michigan State turnovers. The Spartans combatted their ball-handling problems with effective .561 field goal shooting. MSU shot a solid .611 in the second half. Hollis Price led OU with 18 points while also recording three assists and three steals with no turnovers. Ebi Ere added 16 points with the help of 4-for-8 three-point shooting, six rebounds and two blocks while Johnnie Gilbert totaled seven points and a team-high seven boards. Adam Ballinger led four Spartans in double figures with 13 points. He also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
CENTRAL CONNECTICUT RECAP
As they did in their second exhibition game, the Sooners turned in a solid defensive effort Nov. 12 against Central Connecticut in a 66-44 first-round Preseason NIT victory at Lloyd Noble Center. Oklahoma forced 22 Blue Devil turnovers while committing just 11, and canned 11-of-27 three-point attempts (.407) to post the 22-point win. OU, which led 29-23 at halftime but then trailed 31-29 as Central Connecticut scored the first eight points of the second stanza, scored 24 of the game's final 28 points. Junior guard Hollis Price made a career-high six treys on 10 attempts and finished with 20 points, three rebounds, five assists, three steals and no turnovers in 35 minutes. He scored 11 straight points between the 9:45 and 5:30 marks of the second half. Junior college transfers Jason Detrick and Ebi Ere contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore Johnnie Gilbert grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and rejected four Central Connecticut shots. Corsley Edwards finished with 16 points and nine rebounds to lead the Blue Devils. Central Connecticut's 44 points were the fewest surrendered by the Sooners since Jan. 11, 2000, when OU beat Baylor, 76-43, in Norman (a span of 53 games).
PRICE IS RIGHT
Junior guard Hollis Price has shown no ill-effects from a severed triceps tendon sustained in his right (shooting) arm last March as he is averaging 19.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals through two games. Price is shooting .471 (8-for-17) from three-point range and made a career-high six three-pointers in 10 tries in the season opener against Central Connecticut. The six treys doubled his previous career high while the 10 attempts also established a career most. The New Orleans, La., native has not committed a turnover in 74 minutes of play this year. Price spent most of the offseason rehabilitating his arm after an injury during OU's NCAA Tournament game against Indiana State last spring. He collided with ISU's Kelyn Block and had a piece of Block's tooth embedded in the arm. Price underwent three surgeries within the span of a week to irrigate the wound, remove the tooth and repair the severed tendon.
GILBERT STEPS UP
Sophomore forward Johnnie Gilbert earned a start at Michigan State and made the most of it. Gilbert was 3-for-4 from the field and finished with seven points, a team-high seven rebounds, a block and a steal in 30 minutes. Versus Central Connecticut in the season opener, the Minneapolis, Minn., product recorded four points, seven boards and four blocked shots in 18 minutes. The four blocks were one short of his career high. Gilbert, who is averaging a team-best 7.0 rebounds a game, is the only Sooner shooting better than .500 from the field through two games (he has made 5-of-6 field goal tries for a .833 mark).
McGHEE CONSPICUOUS BY HIS ABSENCE
Aaron McGhee, OU's leading returning scorer from last year who averaged 12.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per outing, was expected to be the Sooners' leading scorer this season. The 6-8, 250-pound senior forward who was a first-team junior college All-American in 1999-2000, is off to a slow start, however. McGhee is averaging 6.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in OU's first two games, and has not recorded a blocked shot or a steal. He is shooting .250 from the floor (5-for-20) and is 0-for-5 from three-point range. Last year he shot .460 from the field and led the squad with a .489 three-point mark (22-for-45).
YOUTH IS SERVED
Of Oklahoma's nine players who have seen action in the team's first two games, only one has multiple years of Division I experience at Oklahoma - junior guard Hollis Price. Seniors Aaron McGhee and Daryan Selvy are in their second seasons at OU after transferring from junior college, as is true sophomore Johnnie Gilbert. Junior Jozsef Szendrei and freshman Blake Johnston redshirted last year and are in their first full season of Division I competition. Juniors Jason Detrick, Ebi Ere and Quannas White are all in their first season at OU after spending two years at the junior college level.
LIFT THE LID
The Sooners have not shot well in their two games, posting a .355 field goal mark. Normally, a two-game slump is no reason for concern. But OU turned in a combined .382 effort in its two exhibition games as well. While head coach Kelvin Sampson has said it's not a must for this OU team to shoot well in order to win, a good field goal percentage sure never hurts. The Sooners shot .387 against Central Connecticut and .323 versus Michigan State.
COURT IN SESSION
Wednesday's game will mark the first played on Lloyd Noble Center's new court by the Oklahoma men's team. The new $87,000 floor was supposed to be ready for the Sooners' season opener Nov. 12 but was shipped back to the manufacturer to correct the paint shade.
BROWN BECOMES ELIGIBLE DEC. 15
Jabahri Brown, OU's 6-10, 210-pound sophomore center who is practicing with the team but ineligible to play in games due to transfer rules, will see his first action of the season Dec. 15 against High Point. A native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Brown began his playing career at Florida International in 1999-2000 before transferring to Rose State College in Midwest City where he attended classes during the fall semester last year. He signed with OU last November and practiced with the Sooners during last year's spring semester. The athletic Brown will give Oklahoma a defensive presence Coach Sampson has been seeking in the middle for several years. Brown averaged 8.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots per game as a freshman at Florida International. He also competed this summer in the World University Games for the U.S. Virgin Islands and averaged 7.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots.
SOONERS SIGN ALEXANDER
The Sooners signed DeAngelo Alexander, a consensus top-50 national recruit from Midwest City High School, to a national letter of intent Nov. 16. Alexander is ranked by respected recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons as the country's 19th-best high school senior. The 6-5, 210-pound Alexander averaged 19.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.9 steals as a junior for Midwest City's Class 6A state champs last year. He shot .560 from the field, .400 from three-point land and .700 from the free throw line for the 26-2 Bombers. Alexander helped his team to a 26-2 mark and Class 6A state title as a sophomore as well.
"He's one of the best guards I've seen," said OU coach Kelvin Sampson of Alexander. "He combines, size, scoring ability and basketball I.Q. He's been extremely well coached and he possesses a great passion for the game - I've always been impressed with how much DeAngelo loves basketball. He's one of the few players in high school who can truly play all five positions. In college, he'll be a terrific wing guard or combo guard. He's a kid who will have the chance to step in his freshman year and be a major contributor."
PRESEASON PICKS
The Sooners were picked to finish in fourth place in the Big 12 in both the media and coaches' preseason polls behind Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma State. Texas, Iowa State and Colorado were predicted to finish fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in both polls.
Nationally, Oklahoma is picked as high as 16th (Blue Ribbon Yearbook and Dick Vitale) in preseason print and online publications. The Sooners have also been tabbed 19th (ESPN.com), 21st (Basketball News) and 24th (Athlon and Street & Smith's). OU was ranked 23rd in the initial ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Poll and 25th in the AP version.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
The 26-year-old Lloyd Noble Center is in the midst of a $17.1 million renovation and expansion project with the majority of the facelift to the existing arena recently completed. The renovation included a new ceiling, new and brighter "sports lighting" and the addition of retractable floor seating that has moved fans closer to the playing surface.
The expansion portion of the project will result in arguably the top collegiate basketball practice, training and office facility in the country. The OU men's and women's teams have each begun working out in brand new practice gyms and will soon have at their disposal new locker rooms, player lounges, film rooms, training rooms, meeting rooms, a hydrotherapy room, an X-ray and examination room, a weight room and coaching offices. The new 70,000-square-foot facility will also include a banquet room and a legacy lobby.
Oklahoma posted a 13-1 record at Lloyd Noble Center last season and is 89-16 (.848) in seven-plus seasons inside the building under Kelvin Sampson.
BOOK IT
Kelvin Sampson: The OU Basketball Story is now in bookstores. Written by Dallas Morning News' Steve Richardson and released in October, the book chronicles the Oklahoma head coach's journey from his childhood days in North Carolina to coaching stints at Michigan State, Montana Tech and Washington State, and to his current position at OU. The 269-page book is filled with interviews and accounts of former players, coaches and associates. Retail price is $18.95.
SOONER SUCCESS UNDER SAMPSON
OU BOASTS NATION'S FOURTH-LONGEST POSTSEASON STREAK
Oklahoma has made 20 consecutive postseason appearances (16 NCAA and four NIT), the fourth-longest streak among Division I programs. Only North Carolina (35 years), Georgetown (27) and Indiana (24) own longer postseason streaks. The last time Oklahoma did not compete in the postseason was in 1980-81.
MODEL OF CONSISTENCY
Oklahoma has registered a winning record in 24 of its last 25 seasons. No other Big 12 team can boast as many winning campaigns since the 1975-76 season as the Sooners. Entering the current campaign, OU had posted a 557-246 (.694) record over the past 25 years.
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