Men's Basketball Opens Monday Vs. Athletes First

GAME INFORMATION

Ranked 15th in the preseason ESPN/USA Today poll and picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 Conference by the league's coaches and media, Oklahoma hits the hardwood for its first exhibition game of the 2003-04 season when it hosts Athletes First Monday at 7 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center. The contest will not be televised, but can be heard across the Sooner Radio Network (flagship KOMA 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Bob Barry, Sr. (play-by-play) and Mike Houck (analyst) calling the action. Athletes First is a traveling all-star squad that sports a 0-4 record and has lost by an average of 8.3 points.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased for $10 and $15. The Lloyd Noble Center's east and north box offices will open at 5 p.m. OU students will be admitted to both exhibition games free of charge with a valid student I.D.

OKLAHOMA UPDATE

Kelvin Sampson, in his 10th year as OU's head coach, will lead a young 12-player squad that is comprised of eight freshmen and sophomores. The Sooners return just five letterwinners and two starters from last year's 27-7 squad that finished third in the Big 12 Conference, won the Big 12 Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. Gone from that squad are three starting senior guards (Big 12 Player of the Year Hollis Price, Ebi Ere and Quannas White) who accounted for 56 percent of the team's points, 62 percent of its assists and 76 percent of its three-pointers a year ago.

Despite the roster's youthful appearance, Sampson's squad is loaded with talent. Senior center Jabahri Brown and sophomore forward Kevin Bookout are the only full-time starters back from last season, although junior forward Johnnie Gilbert (13 starts) and sophomore guard De'Angelo Alexander (11) earned their share of starting assignments late in the year. Alexander led the team by averaging 11.8 points per game in the NCAA Tournament while Gilbert may be the team's most improved player. Also returning is senior guard Jason Detrick and freshman center Larry Turner, both redshirts last year. A key reserve on OU's 2002 Final Four team, Detrick claims he is a much improved player after sitting out. Turner has improved leaps and bounds from this time a year ago and his 6-11 frame carries a world of potential.

Leading one of the top recruiting classes in school history is freshman point guard Drew Lavender. The 5-7 McDonad's All-American will become the third OU true freshman to start the first game of a season under Sampson (Bookout last year and Prince Fowler in 1994-95 are the others). Lavender dazzled during the Sooners' Labor Day Weekend trip, averaging 14.5 points, 8.3 assists, 2.0 steals and just 1.0 turnover in four games. He OU's shortest player since the mid 1940s when Harold “Scooter” Hines played the point for head coach Bruce Drake. Jaison Williams is expected to see a lot of minutes off the bench at the wing and backup point guard positions. Williams, considered the team's top three-point shooter, is a junior college transfer who played his freshman season (2001-02) at Xavier.

Jimmy Tobias is an extremely athletic freshman wing who impressed in Costa Rica. Tobias averaged 13.0 points and reached double figures in all four games. He shot .556 from the field and was 7-for-16 (.438) from long range. Lawrence McKenzie is another freshman guard vying for playing time. A consensus top-75 national recruit, McKenzie played on four state championship teams in Minnesota. Freshman forward Brandon Foust, who teamed in high school with Lavender, was expected to redshirt this season. But Sampson has indicated recently that Foust's play in practice may have changed the coach's mind. The team's sixth newcomer is freshman walk-on Kellen Sampson, a Norman High product who is Coach Sampson's son.

ABOUT ATHLETES FIRST

Athletes First is scheduled to play seven exhibition games in the states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. Two games were actually played on Thursday night by split squads. One group lost at Wichita State, 77-69, while another came up short at Southwest Missouri State, 74-68. Over the weekend, Athletes First dropped an 85-74 contest at Oral Roberts and an 84-76 decision at Tulsa. Former Missouri guard John Woods averages a team-high 17.7 points per game and has scored 24 twice. Guard Demetrius Shaw, who tallied 27 points against Wichita State, averages 13.7 per game while former Tulsa forward Marcus Hill averages 11.7 points. Athletes First is shooting .440 from the field, .381 from three-point range and .680 from the free throw line. The squad averages 38.3 rebounds per outing, the same as its four opponents.

SERIES WITH ATHLETES FIRST

Oklahoma has won all three previous games against Athletes First with two of the contests being competitive. On Nov. 13, 1999, OU posted a 92-87 win. Eduardo Najera had 31 points and nine boards for OU while former Oral Roberts standout Chad Wilkerson netted 24 points for Athletes First. Two years later, Oklahoma held on for an 86-78 victory as Hollis Price led four Sooners in double figures with 20 points. Last season marked the only blowout in the series. De'Angelo Alexander, then a freshman, was 6-for-8 from three-point land and scored a game-high 25 points (21 after halftime) in a 100-61 OU romp. Jabahri Brown had a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards for the Sooners. Tony Heard scored 15 points to lead an Athletes First squad that shot just .338 from the field and .192 from beyond the arc.

OKLAHOMA/ATHLETES FIRST CONNECTIONS

Sooner sophomores De'Angelo Alexander and Kevin Bookout played with the Athletes First AAU program.

Athletes First's Joe Adkins was recruited by Oklahoma before playing for Oklahoma State from 1997-2000. Adkins' OSU teams were 5-4 against the Sooners. Last year, Adkins scored six points on 3-of-14 shooting for Athletes First versus OU. He was 0-for-10 from three-point range.

Chianti Roberts, a forward for Athletes First, played at Oklahoma State from 1994-97 and was 6-3 against the Sooners. His buzzer-beater in 1997 in Stillwater forced overtime in a 73-72 OSU victory.

Guard John Woods lettered at Missouri in 1998 and '99 and saw his Tiger teams go 0-3 versus OU.

Athletes First center Johnny Phillips was at Texas Tech from 1997-2001. Phillips' teams posted a 3-7 record against Oklahoma during his time as a Red Raider.

Forward Eric Coley was on the Tulsa team that beat the Sooners in the 1996 All-College Tournament championship game, 78-75. Coley had four points and four steals in 17 minutes off the bench.

EXHIBITING SUCCESS

The Sooners have compiled an impressive exhibition record over the last 15 years. Oklahoma has won its opening exhibition game the last 15 seasons and has been the victor in 30 of its last 31 exhibition affairs. Under Kelvin Sampson, OU is 17-1 in exhibition games. Sampson's lone loss at OU was against Global Sports in 2000-01, 80-78.

COSTA RICA RECAP

Oklahoma traveled to Costa Rica over Labor Day Weekend (Aug. 30-31) and came away with four victories in four games against club and semi-professional teams. The Sooners rolled in their first three games, beating Panama (94-58), Limon (103-43) and Barva de Heredia (100-34). OU was tested in the fourth contest by Liceo de Costa Rica but still won by double digits, 79-69.

Sophomore Kevin Bookout led the team in scoring and rebounding with his 18.5 and 10.8 respective averages, and shot .643 from the field. Senior wing Jason Detrick returned to the court following a redshirt season to average 15.3 points, 7.0 boards and 5.0 assists in the four games. Detrick had games of 26 and 24 points. Drew Lavender was nothing short of impressive at point guard. The freshman averaged 14.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting .529 (9-for-17) from three-point range and 1.000 (9-for-9) from the foul line. Fellow freshman Jimmy Tobias averaged 13.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest while junior forward Johnnie Gilbert played solid throughout the event. Gilbert averaged 11.5 points and 8.0 boards per game.

Rounding out the scoring averages were Jaison Williams (8.3 ppg), Lawrence McKenzie (6.8), Larry Turner (4.3) and Jabahri Brown (2.0). Brown was limited due to an ankle injury.

LAST YEAR REVISITED

Oklahoma turned in yet another fine season under head coach Kelvin Sampson last year. The Sooners recorded an impressive 27-7 overall record and 12-4 (third place) Big 12 mark. OU also won its third straight Big 12 Tournament and made its ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Elite Eight appearance was its seventh overall. Following is a list of team notes and accomplishments from the 2002-03 season:

Oklahoma finished 27-7 overall, tying the second-best winning percentage (.794) under Sampson.

The 27 wins tied for the sixth most in school history.

OU's Elite Eight appearance marked its seventh ever and second consecutive.

The team's Big 12 Tournament title was its third straight. The championship game appearance was OU's fifth in the last six years.

The Sooners made their 22nd consecutive postseason appearance (18 NCAA and four NIT). Only Indiana (26) owns a longer current postseason streak. The NCAA Tournament appearance was OU's ninth consecutive.

Oklahoma finished the year ranked No. 3 in the AP poll and No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today version. The AP finish tied as its best since 1989-90 when OU ended up No. 1 in both the media and coaches' polls (OU also finished No. 3 in 2002).

OU's No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed was its fifth ever and first since 1990.

The Sooners upped their nation's-best home winning streak to 37 games before losing the regular season finale to Texas, 76-71.

Oklahoma led the Big 12 (all games) in scoring defense (60.0 ppg), three-point field goal percentage (.392) and opponent rebounds (32.3 rpg). It ranked second in scoring margin (+10.3), three-point field goal percentage defense (.321), turnovers (12.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.17).

SOONERS THIS CENTURY

Over the past four seasons (starting with 1999-2000), Oklahoma has posted the second-best winning percentage in NCAA Division I ...

Duke 121-20 (.858)

Oklahoma 111-26 (.810)

Stanford 102-26 (.797)

Kansas 113-29 (.796)

Arizona 107-29 (.787)

SIX STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASONS

The Sooners have compiled six straight seasons of at least 22 wins under head coach Kelvin Sampson. Last year marked the 21st 20-win season in school history and seventh under Sampson (this will be his 10th year).

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS

Lloyd Noble Center has always been extremely kind to the Sooners. Oklahoma, which posted a perfect 16-0 mark at home in 2001-02 and finished 15-1 last season, is 356-60 (.856) inside the building since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign. The Sooners are 119-17 (.875) at home under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and had won 37 straight before losing to Texas in the regular season finale last March. The 37-game home winning streak was OU's longest since winning 51 in a row in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was the nation's longest streak at the time. It also stands as the longest streak in Big 12 Conference history (Kansas held the previous league record with 33 straight home wins).

NINE STRAIGHT...AND COUNTING

Oklahoma has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of Kelvin Sampson's nine years in Norman. Only seven other schools have made the “Big Dance” each of the past nine seasons (Arizona, Cincinnati, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland and Stanford).

KELVIN'S SCHOOL OF DANCE

Last year's NCAA Tournament appearance marked Kelvin Sampson's 10th straight as a head coach (nine with Oklahoma and one with Washington State). That string ranks fourth among current coaches. Only Arizona's Lute Olson (19 straight), North Carolina's Roy Williams (14) and Cincinnati's Bob Huggins (12) have taken teams to more consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Kentucky's Tubby Smith and Maryland's Gary Williams have also been to 10 straight “Big Dances” while Stanford's Mike Montgomery has been to nine.

OU OWNS NATION'S SECOND-LONGEST POSTSEASON STREAK

Oklahoma has made 22 consecutive postseason appearances (18 NCAA and four NIT), the second-longest streak among Division I programs. Only Indiana owns a longer postseason streak. The last time OU did not compete in the postseason was in 1980-81. Here are the two longest postseason streaks:

Team Streak NCAA NIT Started

Indiana 26 24 2 1977-78

Oklahoma 22 18 4 1981-82

RIM RATTLERS

Six of Oklahoma's 12 players are freshmen (five true and one redshirt) while eight of the 12 are freshmen or sophomores.

The Sooners made their ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance last year and 18th in the last 21 years.

Oklahoma is 16-3 over the last three postseasons (9-0 in Big 12 and 7-3 in NCAA Tournaments).

The Sooners have won more NCAA Tournament games the past two years (seven) than they did in their previous 10 appearances combined.

Fifteen of OU's opponents scored less than 60 points last season and only two scored more than 70.

Only five of Oklahoma's 34 opponents last year recorded more assists than turnovers.

OU shot .439 from three-point range over last season's final 17 games (136-for-310).

The Sooners have won at least 26 games each of the last four seasons.

OU ranked 10th nationally in scoring defense (60.0 ppg), 12th in three-point field goal percentage (.392) and 16th in turnovers per game (12.1) a year ago.

The Sooners' scoring defense mark of 60.0 points per game last year marked their lowest in 25 years.

Oklahoma is 16-8 in overtime games under Sampson and has won 10 of its last 12. OU went 3-0 in overtime affairs last season (beat Texas Tech twice and Kansas State).

Sampson's .725 winning percentage is the best in OU history (Billy Tubbs ranks second at .716).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Basketball Opens Monday Vs. Athletes First

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