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 Wraps Up Regular Season At Colorado Saturday
March 01, 2002 | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2002
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GAME INFORMATION
Ranked fifth in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (23-4 overall, 12-3 Big 12) wraps up its regular season at Colorado (14-12, 5-10) Saturday at 3 p.m. CST inside the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo. 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 Dave Armstrong (play-by-play) and Reid Gettys (analyst) announcing.
OKLAHOMA UPDATE
After sewing up its first perfect home season (16-0) since 1994-95, Oklahoma will look to post its best-ever Big 12 regular season record on Saturday. A victory would give the Sooners, who have already clinched a No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big 12 Tournament, a 13-3 league mark. OU has posted 12-4 conference records each of the past two seasons. Oklahoma is also hopeful of securing a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed when the bracket is announced two Sundays from now. It would be OU's first No. 1 seed in the Big Dance since the 1989-90 campaign.
Senior forward Aaron McGhee capped a stellar February with 26 points and 10 rebounds against Iowa State on Tuesday. McGhee averaged 21.3 points and 9.3 rebounds during the month and has recorded seven double-doubles in OU's last nine games. He has posted six 20-point efforts in the last seven games. The lefty has led the team in scoring in six of the last seven outings and in rebounding in nine of the last 10. In Big 12 play, McGhee ranks fifth in scoring (17.8 ppg) and fourth in rebounding (8.3 rpg).
Junior guard Hollis Price is coming off a 24-point, six-rebound, three-assist, three-steal game against the Cyclones and leads the team in scoring with his 16.6 points per contest. He recently became OU's 32nd player to score 1,000 career points (he now ranks 29th with 1,064). Price also averages 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals on the season. He has drained a team-high 59 treys (2.3 per game) and is shooting .477 from the field, .383 from beyond the arc and .859 from the foul line.
Ebi Ere, the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year and three-time league rookie of the week, has come off the bench the last four outings after starting the first 24 and averages 14.8 points per game. He scored a game-high 23 points against Texas last Saturday, 21 in the second half, and registered five assists. The junior guard ranks third on the squad with 5.6 rebounds and with 1.7 assists on the year.
Point guard Quannas White, another junior, has led the team in assists in 11 of the last 12 games and averages 4.6 handouts per contest. He has tallied 39 assists and just 10 turnovers (3.9-to-1 ratio) over the last seven games. White also averages 8.1 points per outing and shoots .458 from beyond the arc.
ABOUT COLORADO
Colorado snapped a five-game losing skid by winning at Texas A&M on Tuesday, 92-77. During the losing streak, the Buffaloes lost by an average of 13.6 points to Texas (road), Iowa State (road), Texas Tech (home), Kansas State (road) and Missouri (home). CU has fared significantly better at home than on the road as it owns a 12-3 mark at the Coors Events Center and a 2-9 record away from it. The Buffs rank second in the Big 12 in scoring offense at 80.8 points per game but rank last by giving up 77.5. Colorado also ranks second in the league in rebounding margin at +7.5 per contest.
Freshman center David Harrison leads the squad with his 14.5 points per outing and ranks second by averaging 6.9 rebounds. Harrison, who also leads the team with 27 blocks, has scored in double digits in 17 straight games and is coming off a 20-point effort at Texas A&M. Junior forward Stephane Pelle averages 12.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. His 12.0 rebounds per Big 12 contest pace the league. Pelle has 11 double-doubles on the year which ties him for second in the conference with OU's Aaron McGhee (Kansas' Drew Gooden has 20). Sophomore guard/forward Blair Wilson averages 12.2 points per game, mostly off the bench, and has made 66 treys on the season. He is shooting .423 from long range. Senior guard D.J. Harrison averages 11.5 points and 6.1 rebounds but is expected to miss the game after breaking the second metacarpal bone in his right hand Feb. 20 against Kansas State.
Ricardo Patton has compiled a 104-89 record in six-plus years as a college head coach, all at Colorado.
SEASON AVERAGES OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS PPG RPG APG F 13 Aaron McGhee (6-8, 250, Sr.) 15.6 7.5 1.0 C 21 Jabahri Brown (6-10, 210, So.) 4.7 6.2 1.1 G 2 Ebi Ere (6-5, 215, Jr.) 14.8 5.6 1.7 G 4 Quannas White (6-1, 190, Jr.) 8.1 2.8 4.6 G 10 Hollis Price (6-1, 165, Jr.) 16.6 2.9 2.8COLORADO PROJECTED STARTERS PPG RPG APG F 34 Stephane Pelle (6-9, 240, Jr.) 12.7 10.8 1.4 C 13 David Harrison (7-0, 240, Fr.) 14.5 6.9 0.3 G 11 James Wright (6-2, 170, Jr.) 7.8 1.9 5.0 G 21 Nick Mohr (6-5, 190, Sr.) 6.2 2.0 3.0 G 30 Michel Morandais (6-6, 195, So.) 10.2 4.4 2.8
SERIES WITH COLORADO
Oklahoma leads the overall series with Colorado, 80-45, and is 40-3 against the Buffaloes in the last 43 outings. Despite OU's series domination since the early '80s, CU holds a 28-25 overall advantage in Boulder. Kelvin Sampson is 10-1 against CU as the Sooners' head coach and owns a 3-1 record at the Coors Events Center. The Buffs won the last time they met OU in Boulder, 88-80, two years ago.
LAST YEAR VS. THE BUFFALOES
Except for a slow start in which it fell behind 10-2, OU controlled play during much of last year's 86-67 victory over Colorado at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners overcame the early eight-point deficit and took a 33-32 halftime lead before outscoring the Buffaloes 53-35 in the second half with the help of .531 field goal shooting. Nolan Johnson tied a career high with 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, one shy of his then-career best, and Hollis Price added 21 points on 8-for-11 field goal and 3-for-4 three-point shooting. Aaron McGhee was also solid, scoring 15 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Kelley Newton was 4-for-9 from three-point range and finished with 12 points. Colorado's Jamahl Mosley scored a team-high 15 points while D.J. Harrison tallied 14 points and nine boards. The Sooners outrebounded the Buffs 38-31 and improved to 17-0 when outboarding their opponent. OU's win marked its 19th straight versus Colorado in Norman and its 31st in the last 32 games against the Buffs at home.
IOWA STATE RECAP
The Sooners said good-bye to four seniors prior to Tuesday's regular season home finale, then disposed of Iowa State, 89-75, to cap a perfect 16-0 season at Lloyd Noble Center. Seniors Richard Ainooson, Michael Cano, Daryan Selvy and Aaron McGhee joined junior Hollis Price in the starting lineup and built a 7-0 lead by the 17:44 mark. Oklahoma extended its advantage to 10 in the first half before settling for a 32-25 halftime edge. A 21-6 spurt to start the second half put the Sooners up by 22 at 53-31 before Iowa State closed to within 10 with 8:19 left in the second half. Six straight points from Price and a layup by Selvy over the next 1:47 put the game out of reach, however, as OU claimed its 22nd straight home victory. McGhee scored 17 of his game-high 26 points after intermission and Price netted 16 of his 24 following the break. McGhee also grabbed 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double in the last nine games while Price also registered six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Ebi Ere and Jabahri Brown contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively, and Quannas White led OU in assists for the 11th time in 12 outings with a game-high six. The Sooners shot .467 from the field and .421 from beyond the arc while the Cyclones posted .404 and .250 marks. Iowa State was aided by its 27-for-29 free throw performance.
IOWA STATE LEFTOVERS
AN OU WIN AGAINST COLORADO WOULD...
ACADEMIC ACCLAIM
Sooners Michael Cano, Blake Johnston and Jozsef Szendrei were all named to the Academic All-Big 12 Teams on Thursday. Cano, a senior, and Johnston, a redshirt freshman, are first-team selections while Szendrei, a junior, is a second-teamer. The first-team consists of student-athletes who have maintained a 3.2-or-higher grade-point average, either cumulatively or over each of the last two semesters. Second-team selections were required to maintain a 3.0 to 3.19 GPA.
PREVIEWING THE BIG 12 TOURNEY
OU will start defense of its Big 12 Tournament crown at Kansas City's Kemper Arena with a 6 p.m. CST game on Friday, March 8 against the winner of the previous day's third game (which will pit the No. 7 seed against the No. 10 seed). If the Sooners advance to Saturday's semifinals they will play at 3:20 p.m. Sunday's championship game, which will be televised nationally by ESPN, is slated for 2 p.m.
ROAD RULE
Oklahoma has had its share of success on the road under Kelvin Sampson with a 31-19 (.620) record in its last 50 true away contests. In Big 12 play, OU is 27-14 in its last 41 road contests for a .659 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 (35-12), Oklahoma (28-19) and Texas (26-21) are the only schools with a winning road record since the Big 12 was formed.
PICK YOUR POISON
Junior point guard Quannas White became the fifth Sooner to score at least 20 points in a game this year with his 20-point effort against Texas last Saturday. Aaron McGhee leads the team with nine 20-point games while Hollis Price has logged seven. Ebi Ere has scored at least 20 points six times and Jason Detrick has done it twice. A sixth Sooner, Daryan Selvy, scored 18 points against Texas A&M Jan. 5.
20/20
OU's win over Kansas State Feb. 16 marked the Sooners' 20th victory of the season. This is the 20th time in school history that Oklahoma has reached the 20-win plateau. Eighteen of those 20-win seasons have come in the last 21 years. Kelvin Sampson has posted six 20-win campaigns in his eight years at OU, including five straight.
PRICE CRACKS 1,000-POINT MARK
Junior guard Hollis Price became the 32nd Sooner to score 1,000 career points in OU's game at Oklahoma State on Feb. 13. Price now ranks 29th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,064 points. He also ranks eighth on OU's career steals list with 151 and is on the verge of cracking the top 10 in three-pointers (122) and three-point attempts (332).
PRICE ADDED TO WOODEN AWARD WATCH LIST
Junior guard Hollis Price is one of 15 players who were added to the list of midseason candidates to make the 10-player Wooden Award All-America Team and to receive the John R. Wooden Award. Thirty players were named to the original midseason list, including Big 12 standouts Maurice Baker, Nick Collison, Drew Gooden and Kareem Rush. Price was the only Big 12 player on the list of 15 additional candidates. The Wooden Award All-America Team will be announced March 26 and the Wooden Award Trophy will be awarded to the nation's "Most Outstanding Collegiate Basketball Player of the Year" April 7.
SAMPSON NAMED NAISMITH FINALIST
Kelvin Sampson is one of 25 finalists for the Naismith Award, given to the national coach of the year. Fellow Big 12 coaches accompanying Sampson on the list are Texas Tech's Bob Knight, Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton and Kansas' Roy Williams. Sampson won AP, USBWA and Basketball Times national coach-of-the-year honors in 1995, his first year at Oklahoma, when his team went 23-9.
SOONER STREAKERS
OU's win against Texas last Saturday marked its seventh straight against the Longhorns. The Sooners have also won 16 in a row against Baylor, eight in a row versus Missouri and six straight against Texas A&M. Oklahoma also owns three-game winning streaks against Kansas State and Nebraska.
HANDLE WITH CARE
Last year the Sooners led the Big 12 by committing just 12.7 turnovers per game. Though the team ranks second in the category this season, it is actually committing fewer miscues per contest (12.2) than last year. OU had a season-low six turnovers last Saturday against Texas and is averaging just 9.0 over its last four games. Nebraska leads the Big 12 with just 11.2 turnovers per game while the Sooners pace the league in turnover margin at +3.9.
OU has registered more assists than turnovers in each of the last four games and boasts a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio during the stretch (64 assists and just 36 turnovers).
A CHARITY CASE
The Sooners, who are among the nation's best foul shooters, lead the Big 12 with a .773 season mark (they're shooting a Big 12-best .792 in league games) and are on pace to shatter the school record of .755 set in 1985-86. OU boasts four of the Big 12's top eight free throw shooters in Hollis Price (3rd), Jason Detrick (6th), Aaron McGhee (7th) and Ebi Ere (8th). The quartet combines for an .829 figure (295-for-356). The Sooners have shot .786 or better from the line in six of the last seven games and turned in a 28-for-30 (.933) effort against Texas last Saturday.
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.
HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS
Lloyd Noble Center has always been extremely kind to the Sooners over the years, and this season was no different. Oklahoma, which posted a perfect 16-0 mark at home this year, is 341-59 (.853) inside the building since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign. The Sooners are 104-16 (.867) at home under eighth-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and have won 22 straight. The 22-game home winning streak is OU's longest since winning 51 in a row in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
SOONERS RANK WELL IN LEAGUE GAMES, NATIONAL STATS
In Big 12 Conference games, Oklahoma leads the league in free throw percentage (.792), field goal percentage defense (.409) and three-point percentage defense (.289). OU ranks second in scoring defense (68.6) and scoring margin (+9.5), and third in steals (7.9) and turnover margin (+2.7).
In the latest NCAA statistical release (games through Feb. 25), the Sooners rank fifth in free throw percentage (.773), eighth in scoring margin (+14.6), 18th in rebounding margin (+6.5) and 25th in scoring offense (79.2 ppg).
QUICK TIPS
VOTE HOLLIS
Junior guard Hollis Price has shown no ill-effects from a severed triceps tendon sustained in his right (shooting) arm last March and has been stellar all year for OU. He has scored at least 24 points five times in the last 13 games and is averaging 16.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals on the season. Ten 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 solid shooting year with his .477 field goal, .383 three-point and .863 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 SPECTACULAR OF LATE
Aaron McGhee enjoyed an awesome February and has become a viable first-team All-Big 12 candidate. The 6-8, 250-pound senior forward has seven double-doubles in the last nine games and 11 on the year. He has been the team's most consistent producer over the last month and a half and is averaging 19.9 points and 9.4 rebounds over the last 10 games. On the season, he ranks second on the team in scoring with his 15.6 points per outing and leads the squad with his 7.5 rebounds. The lefty has posted six 20-point performances (23, 21, 27, 22, 20 and 26) in the last seven games and has led the team in rebounding in nine of the last 10 games. He also has nine blocked shots over the last eight contests. The owner of a good shooting touch for a big man, McGhee is shooting .823 from the foul line and is 25-for-27 over the last five outings. He is also shooting .435 from 3-point land over the last 11 games (10-for-23).
WHITE'S A DELIGHT
Junior point guard Quannas White, who had a career-high 20 points and five assists last Saturday versus Texas, has played his best basketball of the season over the last 12 games. White started the spurt by producing a then-career-high 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals at Kansas on Jan. 19 and has been sensational since. Over the last 12 games he is averaging 10.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Prior to the KU game he averaged 6.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Not usually counted upon for his scoring, White prompted 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 9.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.4 steals in Big 12 play while shooting .500 from long range.
ERE BACK IN THE SADDLE
Following the Jan. 19 Kansas affair, junior guard Ebi Ere averaged 16.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game for the Sooners. Over the next seven contests, however, Ere averaged 9.9 points and 3.7 rebounds to drop his season averages to 14.7 and 5.6. Included was a three-game string of single-digit outputs. Over the last four games, however, Ere has come off the bench to average 15.8 points and 6.0 boards. The Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and three-time league rookie of the week scored a game-high 23 points against Texas last Saturday (21 in the second half). Ere was a second-team junior college All-American last year at Barton County (Kan.) Community College, averaging 25.5 points and 7.6 rebounds.
DETRICK RESPONDS TO STARTING ROLE
Junior college transfer Jason Detrick, who came off the bench in 20 of the first 23 games this year, averaged 12.3 points as a starter over the three games prior to Tuesday (he did not start against Iowa State on Senior Night). He registered a career-high 21 points, six rebounds and three assists with no turnovers last Feb. 16 against Kansas State. Detrick, who has scored at least 15 points in three of the last seven games, is averaging 10.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.2 steals in 21.3 minutes per contest. He was a first-team junior college All-American last year at Southwest Missouri State-West Plains.
SZENDREI PROVIDES SPARK
Junior post Jozsef Szendrei, who redshirted last year and played a combined 35 minutes in OU's first 10 league games this season, has totaled 64 minutes over the last five games (three as a starter). He earned 17 minutes of court time at Oklahoma State Feb. 13 and grabbed a career-high-tying 11 rebounds. The 17 minutes were by far his most since playing 20 minutes Dec. 29 against Texas Southern. His performance landed him a starting role against Kansas State last Feb. 16 and he responded with a game-high-tying eight rebounds. He only played one minute on Tuesday against Iowa State due to illness.
SELVY STEALING AND SHOOTING
Oklahoma's top steals man, Daryan Selvy is averaging 1.7 thefts per game to rank seventh in the Big 12. Selvy is also enjoying a solid shooting season with his .474 field goal mark. Last year in conference action, Selvy shot just .275 (22-for-80) from the floor. Over the last 20 games he is shooting .509 (54-for-106). He averages 6.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.2 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 21 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 4.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.1 steals for the Sooners. He also averages 5.8 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 27 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.
More than 54 percent of OU's minutes this year are from first-year players. Ere leads the newcomers with 29.3 minutes per game and is followed by White (29.2), Brown (22.2) and Detrick (21.3).
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.
Porter Moser Postgame vs West Virginia
Sunday, April 05
MBB Highlights: OU 82, Baylor 69
Saturday, April 04
Porter Moser, Xzayvier Brown, and Tae Davis Postgame vs Baylor
Saturday, April 04
Porter Moser and Nijel Pack Postgame vs Colorado
Thursday, April 02
