Postgame Notes

March 17, 2002

Quotes

NCAA Tournament (First and Second Round)
American Airlines Center w Dallas, Texas w March 17, 2002
No. 7 Xavier (26-6, 14-2 Atlantic 10) vs. No. 2 Oklahoma (29-4, 13-3 Big 12)

Team Notes

With Oklahoma's win today, the Big 12 Conference has placed four teams in the Sweet 16 for the first time in the six-year history of the league. The Big 12's previous high was three (Iowa State, Kansas and Texas) in 1997.

Oklahoma is now 26-20 in NCAA Tournament games and is making its second trip to the Sweet 16 under Kelvin Sampson (1999). OU evened its record in second-round games at 7-7.

The Sooners have won 10 straight contests, their second-longest streak under Sampson.

With 29 wins (tied for fourth-most in school history), the Sooners are one victory shy of posting their fourth 30-win season in school history.

Today's loss snaps a Xavier seven-game winning streak. The Muskateers, who have been to postseason play the last six seasons, drop to 1-4 all-time in second round NCAA Tournament games.

Oklahoma matched a season-low with only six turnovers (also six vs. Texas on Feb. 23).

Xavier held the first-half advantage in points in the paint. The Musketeers posted 18 interior points compared to just four for the Sooners. OU rebounded in the second half, holding a 12-2 edge in the paint.

The loss by Xavier evens Thad Matta's record in NCAA Tournament games at 2-2.

With the game tied at 49-all with 11:35 remaining, Oklahoma made its key run of the contest. The Sooners went on a 19-7 spurt over the next 8:08. Aaron McGhee and Hollis Price combined to score 14 of the teams' 19 points in that stretch. Xavier connected on just one of eight shots (Romain Sato and David West were a combined one of five) and made just four of nine free throws during that stretch.

Individual Notes

Romain Sato, who scored Xavier's first 10 points of the game, matched his opening-round point total with 18 first-half points. Sato accounted for 66.7 percent of Xavier's first-half scoring (24 of 36) as he also dished out three assists. The sophomore guard also hit double digits in the first half of the Hawaii game when he scored 15 points on six of nine shooting from the floor.

Romain Sato, who scored 28 points, drained his first six shots from the field before misfiring on his next five shots. Sato ended a 17:16 personal scoreless stretch (5:33 mark of first half until 8:17 of second half) with a three-point field goal as the shot clock was expiring.

Hollis Price, who scored 12 points, has posted double figures in 19 of the last 22 games. After scoring seven points in OU's semifinal win over Texas in the Big 12 Tournament, Price has scored 52 points in the last three games.

Quannas White, who dished out six assists and turned the ball over just twice today, has posted 70 assists and 24 turnovers in his last 13 games (assist-to-turnover ratio = 2.92-to-1).

Aaron McGhee, who scored 25 points, has posted 20 or more points nine times this season, including the last two contests (25.5 ppg). McGhee has gone over 20 in 19 of his 66 career games at OU. McGhee's 51 points over the last two games are his most in a two-game stretch during his career.

Romain Sato has led the Musketeers in scoring 13 times this season. Xavier had won each of those games until today. Sato has also scored in double figures in 21 of the last 22 games. During Sato's career, the Musketeers are 15-1 when he leads them in scoring.

Romain Sato's 28 points rank third on the Xavier single-game NCAA Tournament game list. Tyrone Hill scored 29 vs. Kansas State on March 16, 1990 and Bryon Larkin tallied 29 vs. Missouri on March 12, 1987.

David West, who has started all 94 games in his career, scored in double figures for the 78th time and 54rd time in the last 55 contests. West, who scored 18 points, extended his streak to 24 straight double-digit games. The junior forward now has 1,488 career points. He ranks 13th on the XU all-time scoring chart.

David West posted a Musketeers' NCAA Tournament record five blocked shots.

After scoring six points in his first NCAA Tournament game last season, Romain Sato averaged 23.0 points in his two tourney games this season.

Ebi Ere, who posted 20 points on 7 of 14 shooting, recorded his eighth 20-point game of the season.

Daryan Selvy's nine rebounds are tied for the second-most in a game this season (13 vs. at Arkansas on Nov. 30, 2001). Selvy has led the Sooners on the boards in two of the past three games.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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