Men's Basketball Hosts UT-Pan American Monday at 7 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked seventh in the latest AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (8-0) plays its eighth home game of the season when it hosts Texas-Pan American (3-8) 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 (KWTV channel 9 in OKC) with Bob Carpenter (play-by-play) and Wayman Tisdale (analyst) handling the call. A limited number of $15 upper-level reserved tickets are still available and may be purchased at Lloyd Noble's north and east windows before the game.

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Kelvin Sampson's youngest team ever, one of two unbeaten Big 12 squads (Iowa State is the other), looks to match its best start in four years on Saturday when it takes on Texas-Pan American. Oklahoma has already notched victories against Tulsa, Michigan State and Purdue. The 8-0 Sooners are just two wins from securing career victory No. 400 for Sampson. Oklahoma's last five opponents have averaged 49.6 points and 23.8 turnovers per game, and have shot a combined .298 from the field.

Point guard Drew Lavender has improved his offensive output over the last three games and has led the Sooners in scoring in each of those contests (averaging 16.7 during the span). The 5-7, 155-pounder is coming off a career-high 23-point effort against Jackson State and averages 11.9 points, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game on the season. Two weeks ago, Lavender became the first freshman to ever earn Big 12 Player of the Week honors after he averaged 13.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists in wins against Purdue and Prairie View A&M. He also hit the game-winning shot with 1.1 seconds left against the then-No. 16 Boilermakers. Lavender has led OU in assists in all eight games and is on pace to set the school's freshman record for assists per contest (he is averaging 4.6 handouts per game).

Senior wing Jason Detrick, who earned Big 12 Player of the Week acclaim the week before Lavender, leads the team with his 12.5 points and 2.3 steals per game. He gets to the free throw line for 6.0 attempts per outing and is shooting .806 from the charity stripe. He also shoots .500 from the field. Sophomore guard De'Angelo Alexander averages 11.5 points and 5.1 rebounds, and is shooting a team-high .385 from three-point distance. He averaged 15.3 points in OU's first four games but is averaging 7.8 over the last four. Another guard, junior Jaison Williams, has been extremely valuable. Coming off the bench in each game, Williams is averaging 7.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals.

On the inside, senior center Jabahri Brown averages 9.1 points, a team-high 6.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game. Brown is shooting a team-best .540 from the field and is averaging 9.0 boards over the last three games (he had 10 in each of the last two). Sophomore forward Kevin Bookout averages 8.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Bookout missed the Dec. 13 Prairie View A&M game to rest a sore right shoulder, but returned against Jackson State. Junior forward Johnnie Gilbert has been solid off the bench. The lefty averages 6.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and a team-high 1.9 blocks per game. Gilbert is averaging 2.5 rejections over the last four outings.

ABOUT TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN
Texas-Pan American is the owner of a 3-8 record and has lost five consecutive contests. The Broncs, who hold no conference affiliation, posted home victories over Texas A&M-International (90-50) and Southwest Assemblies of God (90-60), as well as a road win against Texas-San Antonio (86-83 in overtime). Most recently, UTPA lost at Oklahoma State on Dec. 22, 96-61.

Junior guard Sergio Sanchez, who stands 5-10, is averaging a team-high 12.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.4 treys per game. He is shooting .388 from three-point distance and .824 from the free throw line. Sanchez scored 24 points in the win over Texas-San Antonio. Junior forward Chris Fagan averages 9.9 points and 4.2 rebounds. He had 14 points in the loss to Oklahoma State. Senior forward Allen Holcomb averages 9.7 points and a team-high 5.4 boards while senior forward Andrius Sakalys averages 8.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per contest. Junior guard Ray Castillo came off the bench to score 15 points against OSU and averages 7.5 per game.

The Broncs are shooting .384 from the field, .321 from three-point land and .708 from the foul line. Opponents have shot .471 from the field and .398 from beyond the arc.

In his sixth year as Texas-Pan American's head coach, Bob Hoffman owns a 57-71 mark. The former Oklahoma Baptist mentor is in his 17th year as a collegiate head coach and is 388-165.

SERIES WITH TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN
The Sooners won the lone previous meeting between the schools. OU posted an 86-80 win on Dec. 28, 1981, in Oklahoma City. The game, played in Billy Tubbs' second year at OU, was part of the All-College Tournament.

JACKSON STATE RECAP
Oklahoma held Jackson State to .288 field goal and .286 three-point shooting Dec. 20 to post a 68-46 win and improve to 8-0. The Sooners, who themselves shot a season-high .480 from the floor, bolted to a 33-11 lead before a 19-5 Jackson State run to close the half made the score 38-30. OU countered with a 16-6 run to start the second half, however, and won easily. Freshman Drew Lavender led the team in scoring for the third straight game with 23 points and also had five assists and three steals. Senior Jason Detrick recorded 12 points, three assists and two blocks in 14 minutes of play before leaving the game due to dizziness from a head injury sustained in a collision while going up for a layup. Detrick made 5-of-6 field goal tries. Sophomore De'Angelo Alexander scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds while senior Jabahri Brown registered six points, a team-high 10 boards and a season-high three blocked shots. OU blocked 10 shots on the afternoon, its most since rejecting 10 against Texas Tech on Jan. 30, 1999 (span of 157 games).

JACKSON STATE LEFTOVERS
Drew Lavender's 23 points were the most by a freshman during the 10-year Kelvin Sampson era.
The game marked the first this year that OU committed more turnovers than its opponent. The Sooners racked up 19 turnovers while Jackson State had 18.
Johnnie Gilbert had two blocks to give him four straight games with multiple rejections.
OU shot below .600 from the free throw line (.552) for the third straight game.

AN OU WIN OVER TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN WOULD...
Give Oklahoma an 9-0 record, its best start since the 1999-00 squad also began 9-0.
Give the Sooners 45 wins in their last 46 games at Lloyd Noble Center (.978) and 54 in their last 56 (.964). It would also improve OU's home record under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson to 127-17 (.882).
Give Oklahoma 31 straight non-conference home victories dating back to a 72-57 loss to Cincinnati on Dec. 22, 1999.
Up the Sooners' non-conference record (including postseason games) since the start of the 1999-2000 season to 59-10 (.855).

APPROACHING 400
Head coach Kelvin Sampson needs just two more wins to reach 400 for his career. Only two other Big 12 coaches have more career victories than Sampson (Texas Tech's Bob Knight has 819 and Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton has 731). Sampson is 222-81 at Oklahoma and has averaged 28 wins over the last four years.

STOUT SOONER “D”
Oklahoma's defense has been superb the last five games after inauspicious performances in the first three. Over the last five outings, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Michigan State, Purdue, Prairie View A&M and Jackson State have shot a combined .398 from the field and .230 from three-point range. They have also committed a collective 119 turnovers for a 23.8 average. On the season, Oklahoma is giving up just 56.0 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 eight games, the Sooners have registered 53 blocked shots, an average of 6.6 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 eighth in the Big 12 with his 1.9 blocks per game. He has 10 rejections over the last four games. Senior center Jabahri Brown has 89 blocks to rank sixth on the school's career list while Gilbert ranks eighth with 79.

LOVING LAVENDER
Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year Drew Lavender has led OU in scoring in each of the last three games with 14-, 13- and 23-point efforts against Purdue, Prairie View A&M and Jackson State, respectively. Lavender became the first frosh and the shortest player to ever win Big 12 Player of the Week honors when he reeled in the award two weeks ago. The 5-7 point guard averaged 13.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists while shooting .500 from the field and .500 from long distance in wins over Purdue and Prairie View A&M. He also hit the game-winning shot with 1.1 seconds left to give OU a 47-45 victory over the Boilermakers. On the year, Lavender is averaging 11.9 points, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game. The last Oklahoma freshman to average as many points per game for an entire season was Jeff Webster (18.3 ppg in 1990-91). Since Oklahoma assist statistics were first kept during the 1976-77 season, no Sooner freshman has averaged 4.6 assists for an entire campaign (Terry Evans averaged 4.4 per game as a frosh in 1989-90).

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 six games and was named Big 12 Player of the Week three weeks ago for his efforts against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Michigan State. He is averaging a team-high 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 24.3 minutes per contest on the season, and is shooting .500 from the field and .806 from the free throw line. Detrick is also averaging 4.8 free throw makes and 6.0 attempts per outing. His 16 makes and 19 attempts against Michigan State on Dec. 6 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 eight games, the fivesome has accounted for 241 of OU's 606 points (40 percent), 77 of its 123 assists (63 percent) and 32 of its 42 three-pointers (76 percent). Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner has also seen action in seven games and scored a career-high nine points Dec. 13 against Prairie View A&M. 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). Lavender's 23 points against Jackson State Dec. 20 were the most by a freshman during the Sampson era while McKenzie's 19 points versus Oral Roberts Nov. 22 stand as the fifth most by an OU frosh under Sampson.

NOT SO FINE AT THE LINE
Oklahoma shot .739 from the free throw line over its first five games but has dipped significantly since. Over the last three contests, the Sooners have posted a .525 mark (31-for-59). OU now owns a .679 season mark to rank sixth 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 AGAIN
Oklahoma's streak of 30 straight weeks in the AP poll's top 10 came to an end when the organization ranked the Sooners No. 14 in its preseason poll, but OU has appeared in the top 10 the past two weeks and stands at No. 7 this week. The Sooners have now been ranked in the last 39 AP polls and in 72 of the last 76. Kelvin Sampson's teams were ranked No. 3 in the past two seasons' final AP polls.

BREAKING 80
With its 83-56 win over Prairie View A&M Dec. 13, Oklahoma improved to 114-10 (.919) when scoring at least 80 points under 10th-year mentor Kelvin Sampson. OU was 7-0 last season under the circumstance and has won 53 of its last 55 games (.964) 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 361-60 (.857) inside the building since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign. The Sooners are 126-17 (.881) at home under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and have won 44 of their last 45. 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.

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 .733 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).

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 (26 years) owns a longer postseason streak. The last time OU did not compete in the postseason was in 1980-81.

UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
OU has a 118-26 record the last four-plus years for the NCAA's second-best winning percentage (.819).
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 126-17 (.879) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 44 of its last 45 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).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Basketball Hosts UT-Pan American Monday at 7 p.m.

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