GAME INFORMATION
Ranked 11th in the latest AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, respectively, the Oklahoma men's basketball team (5-0) returns home after a victory over Michigan State in Auburn Hills, Mich., to take on Purdue (6-0), ranked 16th in the polls. The contest will air on 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. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2 with Ron Franklin (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) handling the call.
A limited number of $15 reserved seats are still available and may be purchased at the OU Ticket Office (405-325-2424 or 800-456-4668).
OU PROJECTED STARTERS
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 240, So.)
C 21 Jabahri Brown (6-10, 220, Sr.)
G 1 Lawrence McKenzie (6-2, 170, Fr.)
G 3 Drew Lavender (5-7, 155, Fr.)
G 15 De'Angelo Alexander (6-5, 215, So.)
PURDUE PROJECTED STARTERS
F 3 Brett Buscher (6-8, 242, Sr.)
F 31 Chris Booker (6-10, 247, Sr.)
G 2 David Teague (6-5, 183, So.)
G 10 Brandon McKnight (6-2, 183, Jr.)
G 20 Kenneth Lowe (6-3, 197, Sr.)
OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Oklahoma earned its best victory of the young season in Kelvin Sampson's 300th game as the program's head coach when it won at Michigan State in overtime Saturday, 80-77. The Sooners saw their 15-point second-half lead evaporate but gutted out the win behind solid free throw shooting and good defense in the extra session (OU took two charges in the game's final 15 seconds). Despite Michigan State setting an OU opponent record with 42 free throw makes, the win was the Sooners' fifth to start the year, their most since the 2000-01 team also began 5-0. Oklahoma has outscored its opponents by an average of 21.4 points per game.
OU's two seniors came up big against Michigan State. Guard Jason Detrick, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, scored a career-high 26 points against the Spartans and averages a team-high 16.7 points and 3.0 steals per contest. He is 24-of-29 from the free throw line (.828) and is averaging 9.7 attempts per game. Center Jabahri Brown tallied a career-high 16 points Saturday and averages 10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Brown is shooting a team-best .571 from the field and .875 from the foul line.
Sophomore De'Angelo Alexander is the team's second-leading scorer at 13.4 points per game and is tied for the team lead in rebounds at 5.4. The 6-5 guard, who was injured twice against Michigan State but came back to make crucial plays in overtime, has led OU in scoring twice and is shooting a team-high .412 from three-point territory (7-for-17). Fellow guards Jaison Williams (10.0 ppg), Drew Lavender (9.0) and Lawrence McKenzie (8.2) also rank among the team's top six scorers. Williams, who played at Xavier as a freshman and in junior college last year, has been a huge factor off the bench, averaging a team-high-tying 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game while shooting .348 from long range (8-for-23). McKenzie has also made eight treys while Lavender has led OU in assists each outing (averaging 4.6). They are just the third and fourth OU freshmen under Kelvin Sampson to start the first game of a season.
Joining Brown on the inside, sophomore forward Kevin Bookout has started all five games after missing the team's two exhibition games with a shoulder injury. Last year's Big 12 All-Freshman Team member is averaging 8.2 points and 5.4 boards per contest. Junior forward Johnnie Gilbert has been solid off the bench. The lefty averages 5.8 points, 4.2 boards and 1.6 rejections per outing. He had three blocks at Michigan State.
ABOUT PURDUE
Purdue enters Thursday battle of top-15 teams with an unblemished 6-0 record, its best start since the 1993-94 squad began 14-0 and finished 29-5. The Boilermakers opened with a 66-50 home win over Samford before going 3-0 at the Great Alaska Shootout. In Anchorage, Gene Keady's bunch knocked off Texas State (61-50), Seton Hall (75-63) and Duke (78-68) to win the title. In its last two games, Purdue has beaten Clemson (76-64) and Chicago State (75-57) at home.
Senior guard Kenneth Lowe averages a team-high 17.8 points per game and has led the Boilers in scoring four times. He has already attempted 44 free throws an average of 7.3 per game and has made 38 for a .864 figure. Lowe is also averaging 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting .391 from three-point range. Fellow guard David Teague, a sophomore, ranks second with his 10.0 scoring average. He has made 10 treys and also averages 3.7 boards per outing. Senior forward Chris Booker averages 9.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while sophomore guard/forward Melvin Buckley averages 9.0 points and a team-high 1.8 treys per contest. The team's leading rebounder is senior center Ivan Kartelo. He averages 6.8 boards.
The Boilermakers are shooting .433 from the field, .353 from three-point range and an impressive .755 from the foul line. Their opponents are shooting .399 overall and just .253 from beyond the arc.
In his 24th year as Purdue's head coach, Keady owns a 494-235 (.678) record and has taken 17 Boilermaker teams to the NCAA Tournament. He is in his 26th season overall and is 532-254 (.677).
SERIES WITH PURDUE
Oklahoma and Purdue have each won three games in a series that dates back to Dec. 21, 1962. Kelvin Sampson is 1-2 against the Boilermakers as OU's head coach and 1-0 in Norman. Purdue won the last meeting 66-62 in the second round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament in Tucson, Ariz. On Dec. 21, 1996, the Sooners beat the three-time defending Big Ten champ Boilers 82-58 in Norman. In the fourth game of the 1995-96 season (Sampson's second year at OU), Purdue posted a 77-63 win in West Lafayette.
Oklahoma's other wins in the series came on Dec. 12, 1981 (80-77 in Norman), and Dec. 21, 1962, in West Lafayette (80-79). Purdue's other win came on Dec. 11, 1980 (101-86 in West Lafayette).
MICHIGAN STATE RECAP
In a foul-plagued contest, seniors Jason Detrick and Jabahri Brown both registered career highs in points to lead Oklahoma to an 80-77 overtime win against Michigan State at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich. Detrick scored 26 points off the bench, thanks largely to a 16-of-19 free throw performance, and Brown contributed 16 points. Both fouled out. The Sooners upped their 38-31 halftime lead to 15 points at 13:44 of the second half before the Spartans outscored OU 30-15 the rest of the stanza. MSU's Paul Davis made a basket and field goal with 6.9 seconds left to force overtime where Oklahoma lived at the foul line. The Sooners were 1-of-2 from the field in the extra session but made 13-of-16 free throw attempts to earn the victory. De'Angelo Alexander, who missed much of the second half with a shoulder injury, returned to make three free throws in the extra session and took a key charge with 2.8 seconds left and OU up by two. The MSU offensive foul negated the game-tying basket. Oklahoma was 31-for-37 from the foul line on the afternoon while Michigan State was an amazing 42-for-48. Joining Detrick and Brown in double figures for the Sooners was Jaison Williams, who scored 14 points and added four rebounds, three assists and two steals off the bench. Davis and Alan Anderson, who was 11-for-11 at the foul line, led four Spartans in double digits with 14 points apiece.
MICHIGAN STATE LEFTOVERS
OU improved to 18-8 in overtime under Kelvin Sampson and has won 12 of its last 14 OT contests.
The Sooners scored a field goal with 4:20 left in regulation and didn't register another until 1.7 seconds remained in overtime. OU's 17 points in between all came from the free throw line.
OU's 31 free throws and 37 attempts were its most since going 35-for-50 against Arkansas during the 2000-01 season (span of 98 games).
Jason Detrick's 16 free throws and 19 attempts were the most by a Sooner since Corey Brewer was 17-for-20 against Missouri in 1997-98 (span of 181 games).
Michigan State's 42 free throw makes (on 48 attempts) marked an OU opponent record.
AN OU WIN OVER PURDUE WOULD...
Give Oklahoma a 6-0 record, its best start since the 1999-00 squad began 9-0.
Give the Sooners 51 wins in their last 53 games at Lloyd Noble Center (.962). It would also improve Oklahoma's home record under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson to 124-17 (.879).
Give Oklahoma 28 straight non-conference home victories dating back to a 72-57 loss to Cincinnati on Dec. 22, 1999.
Up the Sooners' non-conference record since the start of the 1999-2000 season to 56-10 (.851).
WELCOME BACK, DETRICK
Senior guard Jason Detrick, who redshirted last year after averaging 9.2 points per game during OU's 2001-02 Final Four campaign, had to wait two additional games to get back on the court this season. Detrick missed the Sooner Invitational Nov. 21-22 because he was nursing an abdominal injury sustained during the team's exhibition trip to Costa Rica in August. Extremely limited in preseason practice, Detrick has made a splash in his three games and was named Big 12 Player of the Week on Monday for his efforts in the last two outings. He is averaging 16.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.0 steals in 25.7 minutes per contest on the season, and is shooting .542 from the field and .828 from the free throw line. Detrick is also averaging 8.0 free throw makes and 9.7 attempts per outing. His 16 makes and 19 attempts against Michigan State on Saturday were the most by an OU player in 181 games.
GUARDS LEADING THE WAY
Seven Sooners are averaging at least 8.2 points per game in scoring and five are guards. Jason Detrick (16.7 ppg) leads the way and is followed by De'Angelo Alexander (13.4), Jaison Williams (10.0), Drew Lavender (9.0) and Lawrence McKenzie (8.2). Center Jabahri Brown averages 10.8 points per outing and sophomore forward Kevin Bookout also averages 8.2. Including Jimmy Tobias' seven points, OU's guards have accounted for 64 percent of the team's scoring (260 of 408 points).
YOUNG GUNS
Making their Oklahoma debuts in the season opener against Eastern Washington were freshmen Brandon Foust, Drew Lavender, Lawrence McKenzie and Jimmy Tobias, and junior Jaison Williams. Through five games, the fivesome has accounted for 160 of OU's 408 points (39 percent), 53 of its 81 assists (65 percent) and 22 of its 29 three-pointers (76 percent). Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner has also seen action in four games. Six of OU's 12 roster players are freshmen (walk-on Kellen Sampson is the sixth) while eight are freshmen or sophomores.
YOUNG GUNS PART II
Against Eastern Washington on Nov. 21, Drew Lavender and Lawrence McKenzie became the third and fourth freshmen under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson to start the first game of a season. The others were Kevin Bookout last season and guard Prince Fowler in 1994-95, Sampson's first OU campaign. Lavender's 12 points against Eastern Washington were the second most by a Sooner freshman in a season-opening game under Sampson (forward Ryan Humphrey had 17 against Jackson State on Nov. 15, 1997). McKenzie's 19 points versus Oral Roberts Nov. 22 were the most by an OU freshman since Hollis Price tallied 20 against Texas Tech on Feb. 23, 2000. The 19 points represented the third most by a freshman under Sampson (center Bobby Joe Evans scored 20 at Oral Roberts on Dec. 21, 1995).
FINE AT THE LINE
Oklahoma has shot at least .700 from the free throw line in four of its five games and owns a .739 season mark to rank second in the Big 12. OU has traditionally been a sound free throw shooting team under Kelvin Sampson as seven of his previous nine squads have finished first or second in the Big Eight/Big 12 in percentage. Last year's squad finished third in the Big 12 with a .693 figure.
TOP-10 HIT NO MORE
OU's streak of 30 straight weeks in the AP poll's top 10 came to an end four weeks ago when the organization ranked the Sooners No. 14 in its preseason poll. Oklahoma, up to No. 11 in this week's version, has now been ranked in the last 37 AP polls and in 70 of the last 74. Kelvin Sampson's teams were ranked No. 3 in the past two seasons' final AP polls.
BREAKING 80
With its 80-77 overtime win over Michigan State, Oklahoma improved to 113-10 (.919) when scoring at least 80 points under 10th-year under Kelvin Sampson. OU was 7-0 last season under the circumstance and has won 52 of its last 54 games (.963) when scoring 80 or more.
NORTH, TO ALASKA
The University of Alaska-Anchorage recently announced the 2004 Great Alaska Shootout field and Oklahoma is among the seven teams. Joining the Sooners and UAA Seawolves in the Nov. 24-27 event will be Alabama, Minnesota, Utah, Wake Forest and Washington. A yet-to-be-named eighth team will complete the field.
SOONER MISCELLANY
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.
The Sooners have won at least 26 games each of the last four seasons.
The Sooners' scoring defense mark of 60.0 points per game last year marked their lowest in 25 years.
Oklahoma is 18-8 in overtime games under Sampson and has won 12 of its last 14. OU went 3-0 in overtime affairs last season (beat Texas Tech twice and Kansas State).
Sampson's .730 winning percentage is the best in OU history (Billy Tubbs ranks second at .716).
OU shot .439 from three-point range over last season's final 17 games (136-for-310).
OU SIGNS A PAIR OF STANDOUTS
Sooners head coach Kelvin Sampson inked two recruits to national letters of intent during the early signing period. Post players Taj Gray and Longar Longar will join Oklahoma for the 2004-05 season.
Gray, a 6-9, 240-pound forward who is regarded as one of the nation's top junior college players, hails from Wichita, Kan., and attends Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla. The preseason first-team All-American led Redlands to a 32-3 record and NJCAA Tournament berth last year when he averaged 15.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots per game. He also shot 68 percent from the field. Gray was the NJCAA's Region 2 Player of the Year and earned second-team All-America acclaim. A Wichita East High School product, Gray was Kansas' Class 6A Player of the Year as a senior in 2001-02. He led his 24-3 team to the state title and was named the state tournament's MVP.
“Taj fits Sooner Basketball,” said Sampson. “Our program is built around a warrior mentality. Taj is a warrior. He's a relentless rebounder. Aaron McGhee had the highest ceiling of any frontline junior college player we've ever signed, and Taj is the same type of player. He'll have an immediate impact on our program. His greatest strengths are his relentlessness, his toughness, his rebounding and his ability to score. Taj has the total package and he's as good a junior college player as there is in the country.”
A Sudan native who moved to the United States as a high schooler, Longar stands 6-11 and weighs 210 pounds. He attended John Marshall High School in Rochester, Minn., and is now at Laurinburg (N.C.) Institute, the nation's No. 1-ranked preparatory school. Longar, who originally signed with Oklahoma in November 2002, was a consensus top-75 recruit as a senior last year and led his 24-4 John Marshall squad to the Elite Eight of the state tournament, the school's best-ever finish. He averaged 18.0 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.7 blocks en route to earning first-team All-State honors.
Sampson said, “I'm not sure you can ever have enough quality post players. The thing I love about Longar is that he has an unbelievably high ceiling. His potential is tremendous and one of the things that excites us it that his offensive skills are improving by the day. With post guys like Taj Gray, Kevin Bookout, Johnnie Gilbert and Larry Turner already in the fold, Longar gives us a great young big man to develop and that's something we're excited about.”
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
Entering 2003-04, Oklahoma has posted the second-best winning percentage in NCAA Division I over the past four seasons (starting with 1999-2000)...
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 is his 10th year).
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 (26). The last time OU did not compete in the postseason was in 1980-81.
UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
OU has a 116-26 record the last 4-plus years for the NCAA's second-best winning percentage (.817).
OU has posted an 80-32 (.714) Big 12 Conference record.
OU has made nine consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
OU has advanced to the Sweet 16 (1999), Final Four (2002) and Elite Eight (2003).
OU has recorded a 122-17 (.878) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 49 of its last 51 home games.
OU has won at least 26 games each of the last four seasons and at least 22 games each of the last six years.
OU has won three straight Big 12 Tournaments and has made five title game appearances in the last six events.
OU has won 24 of its last 28 games against Big 12 opponents (including Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments).
