Sooners Mens Basketball Schedule Announced

NORMAN, Okla. University of Oklahoma athletics director Joe Castiglione and men's basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson announced OU's 2003-04 schedule today, a slate that features 16 games against teams that made postseason play last year. Twenty-five of the team's 27 regular season games are scheduled for television, 10 of them national broadcasts.

The Sooners will begin their campaign with a pair of home exhibition games against Athletes First (Nov. 10) and EA Sports (Nov. 15). The regular season will start with the Sooner Invitational Nov. 21 and 22 in Norman. OU will host Eastern Washington the first night and will face intrastate foe Oral Roberts or South Carolina State, the Sooners' first-round NCAA Tournament opponent last March, the second night. Tulsa will visit Lloyd Noble Center for OU's third game of the season on Nov. 25. It will be the teams' first meeting since the 1996-97 season.

Other feature non-conference games include a home contest against Purdue (Dec. 11), road games against Michigan State (Dec. 6) and Connecticut (Jan. 11) and an All-College Classic tilt versus Princeton in Oklahoma City (Jan. 3). Connecticut and Michigan State are No. 1 and 2 in Dick Vitale's preseason rankings.

The Sooners, who are ranked 12th by Vitale, will dive into the Big 12 season with a Jan. 14 Bedlam game at Oklahoma State before hosting Missouri (Vitale's No. 5 team) three days later. Other conference home games include Kansas State (Jan. 24), Iowa State (Feb. 4), Texas Tech (Feb. 11), Oklahoma State (Feb. 16), Texas (Feb. 21), Texas A&M (March 3) and Baylor (March 6). Additional OU Big 12 road games are against Texas Tech (Jan. 19), Baylor (Jan. 28), Nebraska (Feb. 1), Texas (Feb. 8), Texas A&M (Feb. 14), Colorado (Feb. 25) and Kansas (Feb. 29).

"This is the most challenging schedule we've assembled since I've been here," said Sampson, who is in his 10th year at OU and has led the Sooners to the nation's second-best winning percentage (.811) over the last four seasons. "We play 11 non-conference games and five are against unbelievable programs in Tulsa, Michigan State, Purdue, Princeton and Connecticut. And then there is the perenially tough league schedule that, this year, starts with a road game at Oklahoma State, a home game versus Missouri and another road game at Texas Tech. Eight Big 12 teams made the postseason last year."

Sampson continued, "What makes this schedule even more difficult is the youth of our team. Seven of our 11 scholarship players are freshmen or sophomores. But we're excited about it. Our goal is to get better as the season progresses. This is a good schedule for us and one that we think our fans will really enjoy."

Games slated for national television include Michigan State (ESPN), Purdue (ESPN2), Princeton (ESPN2), Connecticut (CBS), Missouri (ABC), Texas Tech (road - ESPN), Texas (road - CBS, home - ESPN), Oklahoma State (home - ESPN) and Kansas (CBS). Eight regular season games will air on ESPN Plus regional television while seven games are tentatively scheduled for statewide television on the Sooner Sports Network.

Oklahoma opponents that made the 2003 NCAA Tournament include Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Purdue, South Carolina State, Texas and Tulsa. Eastern Washington, Iowa State and Texas Tech all competed in the postseason NIT.

The 2004 Big 12 Tournament will be played March 11-14 in Dallas at American Airlines Center. The Sooners will attempt to win their fourth straight league tournament title. The NCAA Tournament starts with first-round games March 18 and 19. OU will be gunning for its 10th consecutive appearance in the "Big Dance."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Mens Basketball Schedule Announced

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