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 Play Final Big 12 Road Contest Against Missouri
February 18, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2001
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GAME INFORMATION
Ranked 13th in the AP poll and 14th in the ESPN/USA Today version as of Sunday morning, Oklahoma (20-5 overall, 9-4 Big 12) travels to face Missouri (17-8, 8-4) Monday at 8 p.m. CST inside the Hearnes 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 Mark Mathew (analyst) calling the action. The contest will also be televised nationally by ESPN. Ron Franklin (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) will announce.
OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Alone in second place in the Big 12, Oklahoma has won eight of its last nine games over the last month following a 1-3 league start. Monday's game will be OU's final conference road contest this season (it is 4-3). The Sooners are coming off an impressive 82-60 home win over Baylor on Saturday in which they posted their best shooting performance (.545) since Dec. 20 and their best three-point showing of the year (14-of-24 for a .583 mark). OU made 14 of its first 19 trey attempts in the game.
A main key to the team's success over the last month has been the play of junior J.R. Raymond. The point guard has led the Sooners in scoring in five of the last nine games and is averaging 19.1 points and 4.0 treys during the stretch. Of his 269 points this year, 172 (64 percent) have come in the last nine outings. Thirty-six of his 55 three-pointers (65 percent) have also come during that span. Raymond scored a team-high 24 points Saturday on 7-for-9 three-point shooting and tied a career high with eight assists (without a turnover). He is now averaging 11.2 points per game on the season.
Following a mild slump, Aaron McGhee has returned to form over the past seven games and leads the Sooners in scoring with his 14.2 points per game on the season. The junior forward, who has scored at least 20 points eight times this year, also ranks second on the team with his 4.7 rebounds per contest. McGhee has battled foul trouble virtually all season and averages 24.0 minutes per game.
Last week's Big 12 Player of the Week, Nolan Johnson averages 12.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals per contest. The senior guard leads the Big 12 with his .868 free throw percentage and has made 56-of-63 foul shots in the last 10 games (.889). In the last nine games, he is averaging 6.6 rebounds per outing.
Despite averaging just 6.1 points over the last seven outings, sophomore guard Hollis Price ranks third on the squad with his 11.6 scoring average. He also averages team highs in assists (4.8 apg) and steals (1.8 spg). He has led the team in assists in 19 of 25 games.
Senior reserve guard Kelley Newton is shooting .467 from long range and averages 2.2 treys per game to rank among the Big 12's leaders. He has made at least one trey in 21 of 25 games and is averaging 9.0 points per outing.
MISSOURI UPDATE
A winner of three of its last four and five of its last seven, Missouri stands in a three-way tie for third place in the conference and is 12-0 at home this year. Last week, the Tigers won at home over Colorado (80-69) on Wednesday and fended off Texas A&M (97-90) on the road on Saturday. Missouri, which netted 12 three-pointers against the Aggies, leads the Big 12 with 8.3 treys per outing.
Big 12 Player-of-the-Year candidate Kareem Rush averages a league-best 21.9 points per game, but was lost for the season Feb. 5 when he suffered a thumb injury versus Oklahoma State. Clarence Gilbert ranks fourth in the league with his 17.0 points per contest and has made a Big 12-high 71 treys on the year. The junior, who has not started the last two games following a one-game team suspension, also leads the team with his 3.6 assists per game. Freshman center Arthur Johnson averages 9.2 points and a team-high 8.0 rebounds while senior guard Brian Grawer averages 9.0 points. Grawer is 55-for-126 from three-point range for a .437 mark.
Head Coach Quin Snyder is in his second year at Missouri where he owns a 35-21 (.625) record. Snyder won two Atlantic Coast Conference championships and participated in three NCAA Tournament Final Fours as a player at Duke from 1986-89.
SERIES WITH MISSOURI
OU leads the all-time series with Missouri, 104-88, but the Tigers boast a 55-28 advantage in Columbia. The Sooners have won the last five meetings against Missouri, including two last year. Kelvin Sampson is 7-5 against Missouri as Oklahoma's head coach and is 1-3 at the Hearnes Center. OU won its last game in the building, 69-57, two years ago.
Last season, the Sooners notched an 83-56 win at home on senior night as Eduardo Najera closed out his home career with a 25-point, 10-rebound effort while J.R. Raymond canned 6-of-10 three-point attempts en route to a 20-point performance. Najera scored 20 of his points after halftime. Nolan Johnson added 12 points and Hollis Price handed out nine assists against just one turnover. The Sooners held MU to .322 field goal and .130 (3-for-23) three-point shooting.
In a much closer contest, OU edged the Tigers in a Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal game just 12 days later, 84-80, in overtime. Price made two free throws with two seconds left in regulation to force the extra session and Kelley Newton's trey with 20 seconds left in overtime gave OU the lead for good. Johnson (21 points and 10 rebounds) and Najera (13 points and 11 boards) both registered double-doubles for the Sooners, who posted season highs in free throws (37) and free throw attempts (47). Keyon Dooling and Clarence Gilbert scored 21 points each to pace the Tigers. MU was 4-for-25 from three-point range, making them 7-for-48 (.146) in the teams' two meetings.
RECAPPING THE BAYLOR CONTEST
Oklahoma drained a season-high 14 three-pointers on 24 attempts for a season-best .583 mark and beat a warm Baylor squad Saturday in Norman, 82-60. The win was OU's 14th straight against the Bears, who had won three of their last four games. The Sooners, who trailed just twice in the game (2-0 and 4-3), received four first-half three-pointers and 14 points from J.R. Raymond and used a buzzer-beating trey from Tim Heskett to take a 43-24 lead to intermission. A 20-8 run to start the second stanza boosted OU's lead to 31 and the Sooners later upped their advantage to as many as 34. Raymond was 7-for-9 from three-point range on the day and registered a team-high 24 points, six rebounds and a career-high-tying eight assists without committing a turnover. The junior guard's seven treys were also a career high. Aaron McGhee added 16 points for OU while Hollis Price registered 10 points and five assists. Heskett nailed 3-of-5 trey attempts and finished with nine points, his highest total of the Big 12 season. Baylor's Terry Black scored a game-high 25 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds despite missing several minutes early in the game due to a cut above his eye.
BAYLOR LEFTOVERS
PATCH HONORS OSU PLANE CRASH VICTIMS
The Sooners began donning a black circular patch with an orange "O" inside it on their jerseys Jan. 31 versus Baylor. The patch, which appears on the upper left chest, will be worn for the rest of the season to honor the 10 victims of the Jan. 27 Oklahoma State charter plane crash. OU is also wearing the black jersey bands issued by the Big 12 Conference.
SOONERS POST FOURTH STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASON
Saturday's 82-60 win over Baylor marked OU's 20th victory of the season. The Sooners have recorded four consecutive 20-win campaigns and have reached the 20-win mark in five of seven seasons under Kelvin Sampson. This is the 19th time in school history that OU has won at least 20 games. Seventeen of those 20-win seasons have come over the past 20 years.
SELVY OK, RETURNS TO ACTION FOLLOWING COLLAPSE
Junior forward Daryan Selvy fell to the floor near midcourt with 2:28 remaining in Wednesday's game at Oklahoma State as a result of severe stomach cramps and spent several scary minutes being tended to by OU doctors and trainers. After being hospitalized overnight for observation, Selvy was cleared to play and contributed five points and a team-high seven rebounds in 23 minutes Saturday versus Baylor. He leads the team with his 5.5 rebounds per game on the season.
SOLID DOWN THE STRETCH
Since Kelvin Sampson became OU's head coach prior to the 1994-95 season, the Sooners are 40-17 (.702) in February and March regular season games. Oklahoma is 17-5 (.773) in the regular season in those two months since the 1998-99 campaign began.
GUARDS SHOULDERING THE LOAD
In OU's 13 Big 12 games, the team's guards have accounted for 66 percent of its points (600 of 912). That figure is even larger over the Sooners' last 10 games as the backcourt has scored 69 percent of OU's points (517 of 754).
TOPPING THE FREE THROW CHARTS...AGAIN
It should come as no surprise that Oklahoma leads the Big 12 Conference in free throw percentage with its .744 season mark. Under Kelvin Sampson, the Sooners have finished first or second in the conference in free throw shooting every season except 1998-99. The Sooners have shot .700 or better from the line in 11 of 13 conference games and have posted an .800-or-better mark in four of the last seven outings. Over its last nine games, OU is shooting .764 from the charity stripe (146-for-191).
Three Sooners rank in the top 11 in the league in free throw shooting. Nolan Johnson (.868) ranks first, Aaron McGhee (.786) is eighth and Hollis Price (.774) ranks 11th.
MESSING WITH TEXAS
Oklahoma's 82-60 win versus Baylor Saturday improved Kelvin Sampson's record against teams from the state of Texas to 53-8 (.869) in his six-plus years at OU. During the same span, Oklahoma is 19-4 (.826) in games played in Texas. Oklahoma is 6-0 at Baylor, 4-1 at Texas Tech and Texas A&M, 4-2 at Texas and 1-0 at SMU.
SAMPSON JOINS WILLIAMS IN 50-WIN CLUB
Kelvin Sampson won his 50th Big 12 league game Feb. 7 against Texas Tech. Only Sampson (52-25) and Kansas' Roy Williams (60-16) have posted more than 50 wins in the Big 12 regular season.
OKLAHOMA'S BIG 12 HISTORY
The Sooners boast a 52-25 (.675) Big 12 regular season record in the league's four-plus years, second only to Kansas' 60-16 (.789) 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 29-9 league record at home and a 23-16 mark on the road.
ROAD WARRIORS
Oklahoma's 23-16 conference road record since Big 12 play began is the league's second best behind Kansas' 26-12 record. Since the Big 12's inception prior to the 1996-97 season, no other conference team has an aggregate winning road record. Texas ranks third with a 19-19 mark and is followed by Oklahoma State (16-21).
BREAKING 80
In six-plus years under Kelvin Sampson, the Sooners sport an 85-10 (.895) mark when scoring at least 80 points. OU is 10-1 (.909) this year under the circumstance and 24-2 (.923) over the last two years.
HANDLING WITH CARE
Despite committing more turnovers than their opponents in three of the last six games, OU leads the Big 12 in turnovers per game (12.6) and turnover margin (+5.4). OU led the league with 12.8 turnovers per game last year. This year, opponents have committed 135 more miscues. The Sooners have committed more turnovers than their foes in just five of 25 games.
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
A third-team All-Big 12 pick last year, junior guard J.R. Raymond has played like a first-team selection over the past nine games after enduring a lengthy slump. Raymond entered OU's game against Kansas State Jan. 20 averaging just 6.5 points and had totaled just seven points over the Sooners' previous five contests. A switch back to point guard - the position he played the majority of last season when he averaged 13.4 points per game - seemed to jump start the Gastonia, N.C., native, however, as he made five three-pointers and scored a season-high 25 points against the Wildcats. Raymond has continued his torrid pace as he is averaging 19.1 points and 4.0 treys over the last nine games.
A member of last year's Big 12 All-Newcomer Team, Raymond made 95 three-pointers - the second most in OU single-season history - but had only 19 three-point makes this year prior to OU's last nine games (he now has 55). He has led the team in scoring in five of the last nine games and is now averaging 11.2 points, 2.5 assists and 2.3 treys per contest.
JOHNSON STEADY AS HE GOES
Senior guard Nolan Johnson, who ranks second on the team with his 12.3 scoring average, has been one of OU's most consistent players this season and was named Big 12 Player of the Week last Monday after averaging 19.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals in OU's wins over Texas Tech and Texas. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native had scored in double figures in seven straight games prior to a four-point performance Saturday versus Baylor. He turned in a career-high 23-point, eight-rebound effort at Texas Feb. 10. Over the past nine games, Johnson is averaging 12.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals. He has also made 50-of-57 free throw tries during the stretch (.877) and leads the Big 12 with his .868 season free throw mark.
McGHEE EXPERIENCING ROLLERCOASTER SEASON
OU's leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, Aaron McGhee has experienced a solid season, for sure. However, the junior forward has had several dips this year, as well. McGhee has recorded totals of 20, 22 (twice), 24, 26, 27, 28 and 32 points so far this year, but has also logged games of zero, three, four, five, six (twice), eight (twice) and nine (twice) points. On the year, McGhee is shooting .479 from the field, .462 from the three-point line and .786 from the foul line.
McGhee was a first-team junior college All-American last year at Vincennes (Ind.) University. He was named the MVP of the national junior college tournament when he averaged 34.5 points.
NEWTON IS OU'S MAD BOMBER
Senior guard Kelley Newton is enjoying a stellar season from beyond the three-point arc. Newton, who ranks among the Big 12's leaders in three-point percentage (.467) and three-pointers per game (2.2), has made at least one three-pointer in 21 of 25 games and at least two treys in 16 contests. He has raised his career three-point percentage to .432 (105-for-243). 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 tries versus Coppin State Dec. 16 en route to a career-high 26 points. He was also 6-for-9 from downtown while scoring 20 points Dec. 30 versus SMU in the All-College Tournament final.
Newton, who has started 10 games but has come off the bench the last 10, has reached double digits in points 12 times this year. He ranks fifth on the squad with his 9.0 points per game.
PRICE IS RIGHT
Sophomore guard Hollis Price ranks third on the squad in scoring with his 11.7 points per game, but is averaging just 4.4 field goal attempts and 6.1 points over the last seven contests. Price, who plays a team-high 32.3 minutes per game, never struggles in finding ways to help his team, though. He leads the squad in assists (4.8 apg) and steals (1.8 spg) and also boasts a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio to rank fourth in the Big 12. Additionally, he has been OU's leading assist man in 19 of 25 games.
A member of last year's Big 12 All-Freshman Team, Price has 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.
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 transferred to OU at the end of the fall 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.
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 150-67 (.691) record and an 86-16 (.843) 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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