Saturday's Men's Basketball Game vs. Prairie View A&M Set for 7 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked 11th in the latest AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (6-0) plays its sixth home game of the season when it hosts Prairie View A&M on Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Lloyd Noble Center. 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 in Oklahoma by the Sooner Sports Network (KSBI channel 52/Cox cable channel 9 in OKC) with Bob Carpenter (play-by-play) and Renzi Stone (analyst) handling the call.

TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of $15 reserved seats are still available. Tickets can be purchased at the north and east windows of Lloyd Noble Center prior to the game.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 265, 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.)

PRAIRIE VIEW PROJECTED STARTERS
F 4 Adrian Simmons (6-3, 191, Sr.)
F 41 Tyrone Nelson (6-10, 205, Fr.)
C 34 Roderick Riley (6-11, 307, Sr.)
G 11 Kevin Cooper (6-3, 160, Sr.)
G 21 Derek Flora (6-4, 190, Sr.)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Kelvin Sampson's youngest team ever is one of three unbeaten Big 12 squads (Iowa State and Missouri are the others) and has already pocketed victories over Tulsa, Michigan State and Purdue. The 6-0 Sooners are off to their best start in four years and, as of Friday, stand ninth in the Sagarin ratings. In Thursday's 47-45 win over No. 16 Purdue, OU held the Boilermakers to .300 field goal shooting and forced 19 turnovers. Oklahoma's last three opponents (Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Michigan State and Purdue) have shot a combined .290 from the field and have averaged 26.3 turnovers per game.

Besides the Sooners' stellar defense against Purdue, freshman Drew Lavender was the story. The 5-7 point guard scored a game-high 14 points, 12 after halftime, and hit the game-winning shot with 1.1 seconds left. Lavender is averaging 9.8 points per game to rank third on the team and has led the squad in assists each outing (averaging 4.2). Senior wing Jason Detrick averages a team-high 13.8 points per contest and is the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week after averaging 19.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals in the Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Michigan State victories. Detrick, who also averages 3.8 boards and a team-high 2.8 steals per outing, has come off the bench in all four of his appearances after missing the season's first two games due to injury. Sophomore guard De'Angelo Alexander is the only other Sooner who averages double figures in points. He is scoring 12.0 per contest, but is averaging 5.5 points over the last two games.

On the inside, senior center Jabahri Brown averages 9.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game, and also has five blocked shots. Brown is shooting a team-best .550 from the field and owns a .833 (15-for-18) mark at the foul line after entering the year a .590 career free throw shooter. Sophomore forward Kevin Bookout averages 8.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Over the last four games, Bookout is averaging 10.8 points and 5.8 rebounds. Junior forward Johnnie Gilbert has been solid off the bench. The lefty averages 5.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team-high 1.8 blocks per game. He had three rejections at Michigan State and three against Purdue.

ABOUT PRAIRIE VIEW A&M
Southwestern Athletic Conference member Prairie View A&M will visit Norman with a 0-4 record. The defending SWAC champion recorded a 17-12 finish last year and went 14-4 in league play. This season, the Panthers have lost road games to Oregon State (70-53), Duquesne (77-57) and Texas A&M (88-79), and a home game to Wisconsin-Milwaukee (87-70). PVAMU hasn't played since Dec. 3 (UW-Milwaukee) due to final exams.

Senior guard Kevin Cooper averages a team-high 13.8 points per game. He totaled 11 points over the first two contests but netted 25 against Texas A&M and 19 versus UW-Milwaukee. Cooper has attempted 56 field goals, 19 more than any of his teammates, and also averages a team-high 4.3 assists per outing. Senior center Roderick Riley, who stands 6-11 and weighs 327 pounds, averages 13.0 points, a team-high 8.8 boards and 7.0 free throw attempts per contest. Freshman forward Tyrone Nelson, who originally signed with Baylor, averages 11.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.

The Panthers are shooting .392 from the field, .308 from three-point land and .622 from the foul line. Opponents have shot .458 from the field and .435 from beyond the arc.

In his second year as Prairie View A&M's head coach, Jerome Francis, Jr., owns a 17-16 (.515) record. Francis was a four-year starter for Ohio State from 1986-89.

SERIES WITH PRAIRIE VIEW A&M
Last year's 75-63 Oklahoma victory on Nov. 30 in Norman marked the only meeting in the series. The 12-point margin of victory was deceiving as Prairie View led by two points with 12 minutes left in the game. The Sooners were able to pull away late with the help of a 50-25 rebounding advantage. OU grabbed 27 offensive rebounds to Prairie View's one. The Panthers made a game of things by shooting .533 from the field and limiting the Sooners to a .377 mark. OU made 10 three-pointers, but it attempted 34 its most in 381 games. Hollis Price and Ebi Ere both scored 16 points to pace Oklahoma. Kevin Bookout had 10 points and eight rebounds while Jabahri Brown had eight points and a season-high 13 boards (seven offensive). Prairie View's Malachi Thurston scored 16 points and was followed by Gregory Burks' 15 and Kevin Cooper's 13.

PURDUE RECAP
In a physical and sometimes not-so-pretty battle of unbeatens, Oklahoma's Drew Lavender made a running seven-footer with 1.1 seconds left to give the Sooners a 47-45 victory over No. 16 Purdue at Lloyd Noble Center Thursday night. OU improved to 6-0 while the Boilermakers, which had been the Big Ten's lone remaining undefeated team, fell to 6-1. Lavender scored a game-high 14 points, 12 after halftime, and added four rebounds and two assists. Kevin Bookout netted 12 points and hauled in five boards for OU while Johnnie Gilbert came off the bench to supply six points, five rebounds and three blocks. Jabahri Brown and Jason Detrick led the team with seven boards each. Defense was the name of the game as neither squad shot well. OU recorded .362 field goal and .143 three-point figures while Purdue shot .300 from the field and .308 from long range. The Boilermakers committed 19 turnovers and the Sooners had a season-high 16. Purdue took a 5-0 lead but OU held it to 14 points over the final 18:35 of the half to take a 21-19 lead to the lockerroom. Oklahoma pushed its advantage to eight with 15:48 left but Purdue tied the score at 34 with 10:40 remaining. OU went back up by six before the Boilers took their first lead of the second half, 42-41, with 3:29 on the clock. The Sooners led by two again, 45-43, with nine seconds left when Purdue's David Teague calmly sank a pair of free throws to set the stage for Lavender's heroics. Chris Booker registered a double-double for Purdue with 13 points and 12 rebounds while Teague added 11 points and seven boards.

PURDUE LEFTOVERS
Lavender's 14 points marked his first double-digit scoring effort since the second game of the year. He had averaged 5.7 points over the previous three outings.
Lavender became the fifth Sooner to lead the team in scoring in its six games.
OU won despite setting season lows in points (47), field goals (21), field goal percentage (.362), three-pointers (2), three-point percentage (.143), free throws (3), free throw attempts (8) and assists (9).
After going 31-for-37 at the free throw line in its last game at Michigan State, OU did not attempt a foul shot until 5:50 remained in the game. OU finished 3-for-8 at the line.
OU's 47 points were its fewest in victory since a 40-39 home win over Air Force on Jan. 31, 1959 (span of 1,324 games).

AN OU WIN OVER PRAIRIE VIEW A&M WOULD...
Give Oklahoma a 7-0 record, its best start since the 1999-00 squad began 9-0.
Give the Sooners 43 wins in their last 44 games at Lloyd Noble Center (.977) and 52 in their last 54 (.963). It would also improve OU's home record under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson to 125-17 (.880).
Give Oklahoma 29 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 57-10 (.851).

STOUT SOONER D
Oklahoma's defense has been superb the last three games after inauspicious performances in the first three. Over the last three outings, Prairie View A&M, Michigan State and Purdue have shot a combined .290 from the field and .229 from three-point range. They have also committed a collective 79 turnovers for a 26.3 average. On the season, Oklahoma is giving up just 57.7 points per game (ranks second in the Big 12). Last year, the Sooners gave up 60.0 points per game, their fewest in 25 years.

NOT AFRAID OF REJECTION
Through six games, the Sooners have registered 36 blocked shots, an average of 6.0 per contest. No OU team in history has averaged at least 6.0 rejections per game and last year's squad averaged 3.6. Junior Johnnie Gilbert leads Oklahoma and ranks seventh in the Big 12 with his 1.8 blocks per game. He has six rejections over the last two games (three versus Michigan State and Purdue each). Senior center Jabahri Brown has 86 blocks to rank seventh on the school's career list while Gilbert ranks ninth with 75.

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 four games and was named Big 12 Player of the Week on Monday for his efforts against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Michigan State. He is averaging a team-high 13.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 steals in 27.5 minutes per contest on the season, and is shooting .455 from the field and .781 from the free throw line. Detrick is also averaging 6.3 free throw makes and 8.0 attempts per outing. His 16 makes and 19 attempts against Michigan State last Saturday were the most by an OU player in 181 games.

FRESH FACES
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 six games, the fivesome has accounted for 174 of OU's 455 points (38 percent), 58 of its 90 assists (64 percent) and 23 of its 31 three-pointers (74 percent). Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner has also seen action in five games. Six of OU's 12 roster players are freshmen (walk-on Kellen Sampson is the sixth) while eight are freshmen or sophomores.

STARTING FRESH(MEN)
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). Lavender and McKenzie have both started all six games this year.

FINE AT THE LINE
Oklahoma has shot at least .700 from the free throw line in four of its six games and owns a .720 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 last Saturday, 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.

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 359-60 (.857) inside the building since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign. The Sooners are 124-17 (.879) at home under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and have won 42 of their last 43. OU had won 37 straight at home before losing to Texas in last year's regular season finale. 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 history (Kansas held the previous league record with 33 straight home wins).

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.

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.

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.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Saturday's Men's Basketball Game vs. Prairie View A&M Set for 7 p.m.

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