OU Men at Nebraska on Wednesday

Jan. 15, 2002

Audio

K. Sampson

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked 5th in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (13-1 overall, 2-0 Big 12) travels to play at Nebraska (8-6, 1-2) Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST inside the Bob Devaney Sports 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 game will be televised by the Sooner Sports Network (KWTV Channel 9 in OKC) with Dean Blevins (play-by-play), Wayman Tisdale (analyst) and Renzi Stone (courtside reporter) announcing.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F  13  Aaron McGhee (6-8, 250, Sr.)
C  21  Jabahri Brown (6-10, 210, 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.)

NEBRASKA PROJECTED STARTERS
F  23  Ross Buckendahl (6-5, 225, Sr.)
F  44  John Turek (6-9, 230, Fr.)
G  3   Cary Cochran (6-1, 190, Sr.)
G  12  Jake Muhleisen (6-4, 190, Fr.)
G  32  Brennon Clemmons (6-2, 185, Sr.)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Oklahoma hasn't lost in two months and carries a No. 5 national ranking (both polls) into the week. The Sooners' only loss this year came at Michigan State on Nov. 14. OU's 12-game winning streak is its longest since claiming its first 12 contests of the 1989-90 campaign.

The Sooners, Dick Vitale's team of the week, are coming off 69-67 and 98-72 respective wins against Connecticut and Texas Tech last week. OU leads the Big 12 in scoring margin (+21.7), free throw percentage (.756) and turnover margin (+6.1) while ranking second in scoring defense (61.5), three-point percentage defense (.295), rebounding margin (+10.1), opponent rebounds (31.1) and steals (10.6).

Junior guard Hollis Price is averaging 19.3 points in his three games since returning from an eye injury that kept him out of OU's Dec. 29 win against Texas Southern. Price scored a season-high 27 points Saturday on 6-for-7 three-point shooting and leads the team with his 17.5 points per game on the year. He also averages 2.5 assists and 1.9 steals. The All-Big 12 candidate has drained a team-high 33 three-pointers (2.5 per game) and is shooting .458 from long range and .857 from the free throw line.

Ebi Ere, the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year and reigning league rookie of the week, ranks second on the team by averaging 16.8 points per game. The junior guard averaged 24.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in two games last week and has scored in double digits in 10 of the last 11 games. Ere is averaging 18.3 points over the stretch. He is also averaging 6.7 rebounds (second most on the team) and 1.9 assists on the year. Ere owns an .849 (45-for-53) free throw percentage to rank sixth in the league.

Over the last 12 games, senior forward Aaron McGhee is averaging 14.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. He has three double-doubles on the year and has scored in double figures in 10 of the last 12 outings. McGhee tied a season high with 22 points against Texas A&M in the Big 12 opener and ranks third on the squad with his 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest.

Sophomore center Jabahri Brown has played in eight games as a Sooner and is averaging 6.1 points, a team-high 8.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.6 steals in 24.4 minutes per game.

ABOUT NEBRASKA
Nebraska earned its first win in three conference games with a 75-67 home triumph over Colorado on Saturday after trailing 11-0. Senior guard John Robinson scored 25 points (he averaged 7.8 points per game entering the contest) as the Huskers improved to 8-1 at home. Nebraska won six straight games to start the year but has gone 2-6 since.

Nebraska's top four scorers are guards. Senior Cary Cochran leads the Huskers with 13.4 points per game and ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 2.6 three-pointers per contest. He is shooting .407 from beyond the arc and .920 from the foul line. Freshman Jake Muhleisen ranks second with his 11.4 points per outing and leads the squad with 3.8 assists per game. Junior Brennon Clemmons averages 9.6 points and 5.7 rebounds while Robinson has upped his season scoring average to 9.1. Freshman forward John Turek leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.

Head coach Barry Collier is in his second season at Nebraska where he is 22-22. Collier owns a 218-154 (.586) career record after spending 11 years at Butler. He guided six of his Butler teams to postseason play, including the last four.

SERIES WITH NEBRASKA
Oklahoma leads the overall series with Nebraska, 97-78, and is 12-5 in the last 17 meetings. Nebraska, however, holds a 44-35 lead in Lincoln. Kelvin Sampson is 6-3 against the Huskers as OU's head coach and owns a 2-2 mark at the Devaney Center. The Sooners won their last game in Lincoln, 62-54, during the 1999-2000 season.

Last year against the Huskers, OU posted a 77-66 win in Norman. The Sooners opened a 22-point first-half lead thanks to six J.R. Raymond three-pointers, and withstood a late 17-4 Nebraska rally that trimmed OU's margin to five points with four minutes to go. Oklahoma nailed 9-of-10 free throw tries down the stretch to seal the victory. Raymond finished with a game-high 25 points and a game-high-tying seven rebounds. Aaron McGhee battled his way to 20 points while Nolan Johnson added 11. Hollis Price registered seven assists for the Sooners. Cookie Belcher led Nebraska with 21 points while Steffon Bradford added 15. The Huskers made just 12-of-27 (.444) free throw tries on the day and just 6-of-18 (.333) in the second half.

TEXAS TECH RECAP
Hollis Price and Ebi Ere combined for 52 points on 18-for-27 (.667) field goal shooting in a 98-72 Oklahoma victory over Texas Tech in Norman on Saturday. OU snapped Tech's 10-game winning streak while extending its own skein to 12 games. Price was 6-for-7 from three-point land and set a season high with 27 points while Ere added 25 points (20 in the first half), eight rebounds, three assists and a career-high four steals. Guard Jason Detrick contributed 17 points and five boards in 23 minutes off the bench. The Sooners began the game with a 16-4 lead and took a 50-28 lead at the half. Tech chipped away in the second half and trailed by 14 with 11:22 to go but the Sooners immediately used a 15-0 run to stifle the Red Raiders. Forward Kasib Powell led Tech with 16 points and seven boards while guard Andre Emmett added 12 points. Center Andy Ellis averaged 17.9 points entering the game but finished with eight points.

TEXAS TECH LEFTOVERS

Texas Tech entered the game averaging a Big 12-low 12.1 turnovers per game but committed 13 in the first half and 20 on the day. OU committed 12 turnovers in the game.

Oklahoma recorded its sixth 50-point half of the year when it tallied 50 in the first 20 minutes.

The Sooners improved to an impressive 55-8 (.873) record against teams from the state of Texas under Kelvin Sampson.

START ME UP
The Sooners' 13-1 record matches their best 14-game start under eighth-year head coach Kelvin Sampson (the 1999-2000 team was also 13-1 through 14 games and actually started the year 14-1). A win Wednesday at Nebraska would give OU its best Big 12 start (3-0) since the 1998-99 team began 4-0.

ERE HAS QUITE A WEEK
Junior guard Ebi Ere was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Monday after his stellar performances against Connecticut and Texas Tech last week. Ere averaged 24.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in OU's victories. He scored 24 points and hit the game-winning shot against UConn before recording 25 points (20 in the first half), eight boards and a career-high four steals against the Red Raiders. It was the second league newcomer-of-the-week award for Ere (he also earned the honor Dec. 3). Interestingly, Ere also earned Foxsports.com's national player-of-the-week award for his two games last week.

ROAD RULE
Oklahoma has had its share of success on the road under Kelvin Sampson with a 27-16 (.628) record in its last 43 true away contests. In Big 12 play, OU is 23-11 in its last 34 road contests for a .676 mark. The Sooners have finished 5-3 in three of the last four seasons in conference road play (they were 6-2 in 1998-99).

QUICK TIPS

OU's 12-game winning streak ties as its longest since the 1989-90 Sooners began the year 12-0. A 13-game winning streak would be OU's longest since the 1987-88 squad started the season 14-0 (that group advanced to the NCAA title game).

In its last 43 true road games, Oklahoma is 27-16 (.628).

Dating back to last year, Oklahoma has won 18 of its last 20 games (.900) and 27 of its last 31 (.871).

The Sooners have won their last 16 home games and 25 of their last 26 (.962).

Oklahoma has surrendered 67 or fewer points in eight of the last nine games (opponents are averaging 62.0 points per game during the stretch).

The Sooners boast a 57-25 (.695) Big 12 regular season record in the league's five-plus years, second only to Kansas' 66-16 (.805) mark.

In five games televised by ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Plus this year, Ebi Ere is averaging 22.6 points and 7.2 rebounds. In OU's other nine games he is averaging 13.6 points and 6.4 boards. Ere has earned the nickname "ESPN" from his teammates.

Center Jabahri Brown is averaging 1.5 blocks per game but is also altering an average of 6.6 shots per outing (the altered shots stat is kept by the OU basketball staff).

Oklahoma is averaging 92.9 points and is shooting .489 (271-for-554) from the field over its last eightgames. The Sooners have also outscored their last eight foes by 31.3 points per game and have outrebounded them by 12.8 boards per contest.

The Sooners have registered no fewer than 11 offensive rebounds this season and are averaging 15.9 offensive boards per game. The most offensive boards a Kelvin Sampson-coached OU team averaged was 15.6 (in 1995-96). The Sooners average 5.8 more offensive boards per game than their foes.

Guard Ebi Ere leads the Sooners with 40 offensive rebounds (2.9 per game).

OU averaged 7.8 steals over its first six games but is averaging 12.6 over its last eight.

Jason Detrick is shooting .520 (39-for-75) from the field in his last eight games. He shot just .313 (15-for-48) in his first six contests.

Hollis Price shot a combined .439 from the field and .354 from three-point land his first two seasons. So far this year, he owns .526 and .458 respective marks to lead the team.

In seven-plus years under Kelvin Sampson, the Sooners sport a 94-10 (.904) record when scoring at least 80 points. OU is 33-2 under the circumstance since the beginning of the 1999-2000 season.

OU has already surpassed the 100-point mark three times this year. The last time it reached the century mark three or more times was in 1995-96 (Sampson's second year) when it did it four times.

Ebi Ere and Aaron McGhee are the only two Sooners to start all 14 games this year.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Oklahoma's strong offensive performances over the past eight games are well-documented. But the Sooners' defensive efforts have also been superb during the stretch. OU's last eight opponents are shooting a mere .380 (168-for-442) from the field and just .271 (32-for-118) from beyond the arc. Also, those same foes are averaging 20.8 turnovers per game while OU has averaged 12.6 steals against them.

A CHARITY CASE
The Sooners lead the Big 12 and rank 12th nationally in free throw percentage at .756. OU's top four scorers are shooting at least .763 from the charity stripe and its top two scorers (Hollis Price and Ebi Ere) own respective .857 and .849 season marks. Oklahoma has traditionally been a sound free throw shooting team under Kelvin Sampson as six of his first seven squads finished first or second in the league in the category. Last year, the Sooners paced the Big 12 with a .740 mark.

ERE EARNS NICKNAME
Nicknamed "ESPN" by his teammates because his best performances seem to have come in games televised by the network, junior guard Ebi Ere (pronounced EBB-ee ah-RAH) ranks second on the team with his 16.8 points per game and is averaging 18.3 points over the last 11 contests. The reigning Big 12 Rookie of the Week is averaging 22.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in five games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Plus. He had 16 points at Michigan State, 29 at Arkansas, 19 versus Maryland, 24 at Connecticut and 25 against Texas Tech. Ere has posted double-digit point totals in 10 of 11 games and also averages 6.7 rebounds per game to rank second on the squad. Ere was also named the conference's rookie of the week Dec. 3 for his performances against Central Michigan and Arkansas. He was a second-team junior college All-American last year at Barton County (Kan.) Community College when he averaged 25.5 points and 7.6 rebounds.

PRICE IS RIGHT
Junior guard Hollis Price, who has shown no ill-effects from a severed triceps tendon sustained in his right (shooting) arm last March, scored a season-high 27 points against Texas Tech Saturday and is averaging a team-high 17.5 points per game to go along with his 2.5 assists and 1.9 steals. Twice this year Price has converted six treys in a game. He was 6-for-10 in the season opener against Central Connecticut and 6-for-7 the last game against the Red Raiders. Price leads the team in field goal percentage (.526), three-point percentage (.458) and free throw percentage (.857).

The New Orleans, La., native 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. He missed his first career game this year (Dec. 29 against Texas Southern) after getting poked in the eye during practice.

McGHEE PLAYING LIKE A SENIOR
Aaron McGhee, OU's 6-8, 250-pound senior forward who was a first-team junior college All-American in 1999-2000, struggled in the Sooners' first two games but has performed very well during OU's 12-game winning streak. McGhee, who averaged 12.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last season, averaged just 6.5 points and 3.0 boards in the Sooners' first two games this year. In OU's 12 games since, however, McGhee is averaging 14.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. He has posted his lone three career double-doubles this year against Central Michigan (19 points and 11 rebounds), St. Bonaventure (19 points and a career-high 19 boards) and Maryland (16 points and 11 rebounds).

McGhee, who scored a season-high-tying 22 points last Saturday against Texas A&M, has upped his season averages to 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per outing. He is shooting .437 from the field, .267 from long range and .763 from the foul line.

SELVY RESURFACES
Senior forward Daryan Selvy has been more aggressive the past seven games than he had been the previous several, and the effort has paid off statistically. In OU's first seven games, Selvy averaged 5.7 points and 0.7 assists, and was shooting .391 from the field. Over the last seven games, though, he has averaged 11.7 points, 1.9 assists, and has shot .596 (31-for-52) from the floor. Against Texas Southern on Dec. 29, Selvy scored 15 points in 16 minutes on 7-of-10 shooting and registered a career-high five steals. He tied a career-high with 18 points against Texas A&M Jan. 5 and is now averaging 8.7 points, 4.9 boards, 1.3 assists and a team-high 1.9 steals while shooting .500 from the field.

BROWN IS OU'S MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Is it coincidental that OU seems to be playing some of its best basketball in recent memory since Jabahri Brown became eligible eight games ago? Maybe, but then again maybe not. Brown, OU's 6-10, 210-pound sophomore center who transferred from Rose State College in Midwest City, is averaging 6.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.6 steals for the Sooners. He also averages 6.6 altered shots per game (the stat is kept by the OU basketball staff). A native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Brown began his playing career at Florida International in 1999-2000 and signed with OU last November while a student at Rose State. He practiced with the Sooners last spring and this past fall. The athletic Brown has helped supply 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.

GILBERT LIKELY DONE FOR SEASON
Sophomore Johnnie Gilbert has likely played his last game of the season for the Sooners. The forward played in the team's first six games (started in five) and averaged 4.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots, but injuries have forced him to the sideline. Gilbert has a rotator cuff injury in his left (shooting) shoulder and he is also battling bursitis in his right hip.

YOUTH IS SERVED
Of Oklahoma's 10 regular players who have seen action in the team's first 14 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. Sophomore Jabahri Brown is in his first year at Oklahoma after playing his freshman year at Florida International.

SOONER SUCCESS UNDER SAMPSON
Kelvin Sampson guided Oklahoma to a .791 combined winning percentage the past two seasons (53-14), the seventh best in NCAA Division I. Only Stanford, Duke, Michigan State, Iowa State, Tulsa and Cincinnati posted higher winning percentages over the span. Last season's NCAA Tournament appearance marked Sampson's eighth straight as a head coach (seven with Oklahoma and one with Washington State). That streak ranks fifth among current coaches. Oklahoma has finished 12th (2000) and 13th (2001) in the final AP poll the past two years.

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.

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.

BACK TO THE FUTURE
The 26-year-old Lloyd Noble Center is in the midst of a $17.8 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 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 98-16 (.860) in seven-plus seasons inside the building under Kelvin Sampson.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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