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
No. 4 Sooners at Texas A&M on Saturday
February 08, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2002
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GAME INFORMATION
Ranked fourth in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (18-3 overall, 7-2 Big 12) travels to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M (9-14, 3-6) Saturday at 12:45 p.m. CST inside Reed Arena. 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 regionally by ESPN Plus (KOCB Channel 34 in OKC) with Bill Doleman (play-by-play) and Reid Gettys (analyst) announcing.
OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Oklahoma won its 19th straight home game Wednesday by posting a 70-57 decision over Baylor. The Sooners stand alone in second place in the Big 12 with a 7-2 record, two games behind 9-0 Kansas and a game in front of 6-3 Missouri and Texas. As of Thursday, OU is fourth in the College RPI and Sagarin ratings. A No. 1 seed by many NCAA Tournament prognosticators, Oklahoma is 29-18 in its last 47 true road games. OU is 4-3 on the road this year with wins over Arkansas, Connecticut, Nebraska and Texas and losses at Michigan State, Kansas and Texas Tech.
Junior guard Hollis Price has paced the Sooners in scoring in four of the last five games and was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week for his performances in wins against Oklahoma State and Texas (he averaged 21.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists). The all-league candidate is averaging a team-high 17.5 points per game on the year to go along with his 2.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals. Price, has drained a team-high 49 treys (2.5 per game) and is shooting .496 from the field, .422 from long range and a team-best .864 from the foul line. In conference play, he ranks fifth with his 18.2 points per outing.
Ebi Ere, the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year and three-time league rookie of the week, averages 15.4 points per game but has fallen off lately by averaging 11.2 points over the last five contests. The junior guard has scored in double digits in 16 of the last 18 outings and ranks third on the squad with 5.9 rebounds and with 1.7 assists on the year. Ere is shooting .355 from long range and owns a .776 free throw percentage, although he is shooting just .607 from the foul line in league games.
Senior forward Aaron McGhee is averaging 13.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest, and is coming off a 23-point, eight-rebound game versus Baylor. He has three double-doubles in the last seven games and is averaging 16.2 points and 9.4 boards over the last five outings. McGhee has started all 21 games and leads the Sooners with 7.8 boards in league play.
Junior point guard Quannas White has upped his production over the last six games, averaging 10.5 points, 4.2 boards, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals during the stretch. He is shooting .512 from the field on the year.
ABOUT TEXAS A&M
After a four-game stretch in which it won three games, Texas A&M has dropped its last two decisions. The Aggies suffered a 97-45 loss at Baylor last Sunday and fell at home to Texas on Wednesday by a 66-52 count. Five of A&M's nine victories have come at home this season but the squad is 1-3 at Reed Arena in Big 12 play (beat Baylor 63-60 on Jan. 19). The Aggies announced on Thursday that freshman guard Daryl Mason has agreed to leave the team and continue his career elsewhere. Mason was suspended prior to the Jan. 5 OU game and missed seven contests. Sophomore center Andy Slocum broke his left hand Jan. 9 and is expected to be out until mid month. He had 22 points and 14 rebounds against OU.
Junior guard Bernard King leads the team with 16.6 points, 4.3 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.6 three-pointers per game. King, who played AAU ball with Sooner Hollis Price, is shooting .410 from the field, .302 from long range and .760 from the foul line. Sophomore forward Nick Anderson averages 10.8 points and 5.3 boards per outing, and has made 26-of-61 three-point tries for a team-best .426 mark. Fellow sophomore forward Jesse King has started 14 games and averages 7.0 points and 3.2 boards per contest.
Head coach Melvin Watkins is in his fourth year at A&M where he is 39-69 (.361). He owns a 81-89 (.476) career mark, as he led UNC Charlotte to a 42-20 record during the 1996-97 and '97-98 seasons.
SEASON AVERAGES OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS PPG RPG APG F 13 Aaron McGhee (6-8, 250, Sr.) 13.9 7.0 0.9 C 21 Jabahri Brown (6-10, 210, So.) 5.1 7.3 1.4 G 2 Ebi Ere (6-5, 215, Jr.) 15.4 5.9 1.7 G 4 Quannas White (6-1, 190, Jr.) 7.7 2.9 4.3 G 10 Hollis Price (6-1, 165, Jr.) 17.5 2.8 2.6TEXAS A&M PROJECTED STARTERS PPG RPG APG F 2 Keith Bean (6-8, 241, Jr.) 6.1 5.5 0.8 F 3 Jesse King (6-7, 216, So.) 7.0 3.2 0.9 F 5 Nick Anderson (6-6, 226, So.) 10.8 5.3 0.7 G 24 Bradley Jackson (5-11, 180, Jr.) 5.0 2.1 3.0 G 32 Bernard King (6-5, 188, Jr.) 16.6 4.6 4.3
SERIES WITH TEXAS A&M
Oklahoma leads the all-time series with Texas A&M, 16-1, and owns a 5-1 advantage in College Station. The Aggies' only victory against the Sooners came during the 1998-99 season when A&M won 74-72 on a Jerald Brown basket at the buzzer inside Reed Arena. OU has won the last five meetings and Kelvin Sampson is 11-1 against the Aggies as the Sooners' head coach.
EARLIER THIS YEAR VS. THE AGGIES
Oklahoma opened with a 29-8 run and never looked back in an 89-63 rout over Texas A&M Jan. 5 in Norman. The Sooners forced the Aggies into 22 turnovers and held them to .345 field goal and .250 three-point shooting as OU opened the Big 12 season with a victory for the fifth time in the last six years. Aaron McGhee led six Sooners in double figures in scoring with a then-season-high-tying 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting in just 17 minutes of action. Fellow senior Daryan Selvy added a career-high-tying 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds while Hollis Price chipped in with 14 points. Ebi Ere, Jason Detrick and Quannas White scored 11, 10 and 10 points, respectively. Oklahoma used solid .469 field goal, .318 three-point and .815 free throw marks to help it to a 10th straight win. Said Texas A&M head coach Melvin Watkins after the game, "I think Kelvin (Sampson) has a Final Four caliber type team. They are a very talented basketball team. They can execute, rebound and shoot the basketball and they can score inside and out. They were too much for us."
BAYLOR RECAP
For the first time this year, Hollis Price (six points) and Ebi Ere (seven) were both held to single digits, but Aaron McGhee and Jason Detrick picked up the slack as OU beat Baylor 70-57 Wednesday in Norman. McGhee poured in a season-high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Detrick came off the bench to supply 18 points in 21 minutes to help the Sooners extend their home winning streak to 19 games. The victory was OU's 15th straight against the Bears. Baylor's last lead of the game was 5-3 just two minutes into the contest as Detrick's 14 first-half points assisted the Sooners to a 33-26 halftime edge. Oklahoma shot .500 from the field and .889 (8-for-9) from the foul line after the break and led by as many as 17. The Sooners grabbed 42 rebounds to Baylor's 24 and also claimed 20 offensive boards, their most since Jan. 7 at Connecticut (28). In addition to double-digit point totals by McGhee and Detrick, Daryan Selvy came off the bench to produce 10 points and six rebounds (five offensive). Baylor's Matt Sayman was 9-for-10 from the free throw line and led the Bears with 15 points while Lawrence Roberts and Wendell Greenleaf tallied 13 and 12, respectively.
BAYLOR LEFTOVERS
PRICE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior guard Hollis Price earned OU's first Big 12 Player of the Week award of the season on Monday. The 6-1, 165-pound New Orleans product averaged 21.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in Oklahoma wins over rivals Oklahoma State and Texas. Price scored a game-high 17 points versus the Cowboys and added a team-high 25 at Texas. Against the Longhorns, he made four three-pointers and also made the go-ahead basket with 20 seconds left in overtime. This marks the second time Price has been named the league's player of the week as he also garnered the final honor of the 2000-01 season.
ROAD RULE
Oklahoma has had its share of success on the road under Kelvin Sampson with a 29-18 (.617) record in its last 47 true away contests. In Big 12 play, OU is 25-13 in its last 38 road contests for a .658 mark. The Sooners have finished 5-3 in three of the last four seasons in conference road play and went 6-2 in 1998-99. Kansas (33-12), Oklahoma (26-18) and Texas (25-20) are the only schools with a winning road record since the Big 12 was formed.
TRAVELING TIDBITS
SOONER STREAKERS
OU's win against Baylor on Wednesday marked its 15th straight versus the Bears. The Sooners have also won eight straight over Missouri, six straight against Texas and five against Texas A&M. Oklahoma also owns a three-game winning streak against Nebraska and two-game streaks against Kansas State and Oklahoma State.
OU INCREASES USE OF LONG RANGE WEAPONS
Over the last seven ball games, Oklahoma has made 58-of-139 three-point attempts for a .417 figure. In OU's first 13 outings, the Sooners posted a .345 three-point mark. OU ranks fourth in Big 12 games with a .404 three-point percentage.
A CHARITY CASE
The Sooners, who are among the nation's best foul shooters, lead the Big 12 with a .755 season mark. OU's top four scorers are shooting at least .776 from the charity stripe and its top scorer, Hollis Price, owns an .864 season figure. 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.
SAMPSON'S SUCCESS VS. STATE OF TEXAS
The Sooners own an impressive 59-9 (.868) record against teams from the state of Texas under Kelvin Sampson. Against Big 12 foes Baylor (13-0), Texas (13-3), Texas A&M (11-1) and Texas Tech (8-5), OU is 45-9 (.833) under Sampson.
BOARDED UP
In the Jan. 8 edition of the NCAA statistics release, Oklahoma ranked third nationally in rebounding margin with a +11.0 figure. Since that date, however, the Sooners have been outrebounded in five of eight games. OU did outboard Baylor (42-24) on Wednesday and still owns a +7.6 rebounding margin on the year.
SOONERS RANK WELL IN LEAGUE GAMES
In Big 12 Conference games, Oklahoma leads the league in free throw percentage (.760), field goal percentage defense (.407) and three-point percentage defense (.319). The Sooners rank second in scoring offense (78.7), scoring defense (68.6), scoring margin (+10.1), field goal percentage (.462), steals (9.0) and blocked shots (4.9). OU also ranks third in turnover margin (+3.1).
QUICK TIPS
VOTE HOLLIS
Kelvin Sampson has recently mentioned that Hollis Price should be considered for All-America honors. And why not. The junior guard, who has shown no ill-effects from a severed triceps tendon sustained in his right (shooting) arm last March, has been stellar all year for OU, especially recently. He scored 25 points at Texas last Saturday and has averaged 19.8 points over the last five contests. He has scored at least 24 points four times in the last eight games and is averaging 17.5 points, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals. Nine times this year Price has converted at least three treys in a game. He has made six on two occasions, including a 6-for-7 performance against Texas Tech on Jan. 12. Price is having a great shooting year with his .496 field goal, .422 three-point and .864 free throw marks.
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 two days earlier.
McGHEE ENJOYS CONSISTENT SENIOR YEAR
Aaron McGhee, OU's 6-8, 250-pound senior forward who was a first-team junior college All-American in 1999-2000, experienced a rollercoaster season as a junior last year. He has played with more consistency this season and is averaging 13.9 points (third on team) and 7.0 rebounds (second on team). In 13 home games, the lefty is averaging 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds. McGhee has posted his lone six career double-doubles this year with the most recent coming last Saturday at Texas when he had 16 points and 11 boards. From Aurora, Ill., he enjoyed a 19-point, 19-rebound game against St. Bonaventure on Dec. 5, is averaging 16.2 points and 9.4 rebounds over the last five outings.
WHITE'S A DELIGHT
Junior point guard Quannas White has played his best basketball of the season over the last six games. White poured in a career-high 17 points, had five rebounds, four assists and four steals at Kansas on Jan. 19. Two nights later versus Missouri, he contributed 14 points, five boards, six assists and a steal on his 21st birthday. The next two games against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, he totaled 14 points and nine assists. Last Saturday at Texas, White registered 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, and on Wednesday against Baylor he had five assists, three boards and just one turnover. That's good for a six-game average of 10.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals. Prior to the KU game he averaged 6.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.6 steals. Not usually counted upon for his scoring, White prompted OU coach Kelvin Sampson to say after the Kansas game, "Quannas is more of a table-setter, but that doesn't mean he's not able to sit down and eat, too." White averages 10.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.0 steals in Big 12 play while shooting .500 from long range (8-for-16).
ERE'S PRODUCTION FALLS SLIGHTLY
Junior guard Ebi Ere ranks second on the team with his 15.4 points per game and third with his 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists. The three-time Big 12 Rookie of the Week has seen his numbers slip of late, however. Over the last five games he is averaging 11.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.0 assist. Also, Ere was one of the league's best free throw shooters with an .889 (40-for-45) mark through 14 games. Over the last seven, however, he is shooting .545 (12-for-22) from the foul line. Ere had scored in double digits in 16 of the last 17 games prior to his seven-point effort against Baylor on Wednesday. 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.
DETRICK STRONG OFF THE BENCH
Junior college transfer Jason Detrick has been superb off the bench this year and is coming off an 18-point performance versus Baylor. The 6-5, 210-pound guard is averaging 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals in 20.7 minutes per contest. Detrick has scored in double figures in 10 of the last 15 games and is averaging 10.9 points over the span. Last Saturday at Texas, he scored all 11 of his points and grabbed five of his six rebounds after halftime. Detrick was a first-team junior college All-American last year at Southwest Missouri State-West Plains.
SELVY STEALING AND SHOOTING
Oklahoma's top steals man, Daryan Selvy is averaging 1.8 thefts per game to rank sixth in the Big 12. Selvy, who has at least two steals in five of the last seven contests, is also enjoying a solid shooting season with his .485 field goal mark. Last year in conference action, Selvy shot just .275 (22-for-80) from the floor. Over the last 14 games he is shooting .535 (46-for-86). He averages 7.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game on the year.
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 15 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 5.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.2 steals for the Sooners. He also averages 6.3 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 21 games, only one has multiple years of Division I experience at OU - 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 D-I competition. Juniors Jason Detrick, Ebi Ere and Quannas White are all in their first season after spending two years at junior colleges. Sophomore Jabahri Brown is in his first year at Oklahoma after playing his freshman year at Florida International.
SOONER SUCCESS UNDER 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.
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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