Men's Basketball Team at Texas Tech for Big Monday

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 11 and No. 13 in this past week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, respectively, Oklahoma (10-3 overall, 0-2 Big 12) travels to face No. 22/22 Texas Tech (14-2, 2-0) on Monday at 8 p.m. CST inside United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas. The game 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. It will be televised nationally by ESPN with Ron Franklin (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) handling the call.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 265, So., 8.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 0.5 apg)
C 21 Jabahri Brown (6-10, 220, Sr., 7.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.8 apg)
G 3 Drew Lavender (5-7, 155, Fr., 12.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.2 apg)
G 1 Lawrence McKenzie (6-2, 170, Fr., 6.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 1.5 apg)
G 15 De'Angelo Alexander (6-5, 215, So., 11.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.8 apg)

TEXAS TECH PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Devonne Giles (6-8, 225, Jr., 6.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.5 apg)
C 55 Robert Tomaszek (6-9, 250, Sr., 9.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.7 apg)
G 14 Andre Emmett (6-5, 225, Sr., 22.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.8 apg)
G 22 Jarrius Jackson (6-1, 185, Fr., 10.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.7 apg)
G 24 Ronald Ross (6-2, 185, Jr., 10.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.5 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Following a 10-0 start that catapulted them to a No. 6 AP ranking, the Sooners have lost three in a row the last two of them Big 12 contests. Oklahoma's most recent setback, a 79-75 home overtime contest against Missouri on Saturday, followed an 86-59 loss at then-No. 1 Connecticut (Jan. 11) and a 77-56 defeat at Oklahoma State (Jan. 14). The Sooners turned in their best shooting performance of the year against Missouri with .509 field goal and .524 three-point marks, both season highs. But the Tigers also shot well and posted a 35-24 rebound advantage. Missouri outscored OU 21-17 in the extra session to hand the Sooners their first three-game losing streak in five years.

A statistical bright spot through the three-game skid has been freshman point guard Drew Lavender. He's averaging 16.3 points over the last three games and has gone 8-for-19 from three-point range during the stretch. The Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year has also averaged 3.3 steals over the last three outings. Lavender has led the Sooners in scoring in five of the last eight games and paces the team with his 12.6 points, 4.2 assists and 1.9 steals per outing. Lavender's 20 treys rank second on the team while his .370 three-point percentage is tops on the squad. At just 5-7, he is averaging 14.9 points over the last eight outings and is on pace to challenge OU's freshman record for assists per contest (Terry Evans holds the freshman mark with 4.4 per game in 1989-90). Another freshman guard, Lawrence McKenzie earned his first start Saturday since Dec. 11 and responded with a team-high 16 points with the help of 4-for-7 three-point shooting. McKenzie has been fighting a stress fracture in his foot and is limited in practice. He is averaging 6.8 points and 1.5 treys per game while shooting .362 from long range.

Sophomore wing De'Angelo Alexander ranks second in scoring and rebounding with his 11.6 and 5.3 respective averages. In three games since a career-high 22-point effort against Princeton on Jan. 3, Alexander has averaged 7.0 points and 5.0 boards. He registered his first career double-double Dec. 29 against Texas-Pan American with 16 points and 10 boards. Fellow wing Jason Detrick, who tallied 16 points at Connecticut, ranks third on the team with his 9.7 points per game and second with his 1.8 steals. The senior has struggled with his shot, however, going 10-for-36 (.278) over the last five games. Junior Jaison Williams has been extremely valuable most of the season. Coming off the bench in each game, Williams is averaging 8.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals. The guard was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc against Missouri and totaled 11 points in 14 minutes. He is shooting a team-high .913 from the foul line (21-for-23).

On the inside, sophomore forward Kevin Bookout averages 8.3 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game. Bookout has battled a shoulder injury all season and has been held to single-digit scoring outputs each of the last four games. He grabbed 11 rebounds at Oklahoma State last Wednesday, 10 of them in the first half. Senior center Jabahri Brown averages 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game. Brown, who was held to three points combined (all free throws) against Connecticut and OSU, registered 15 points, four rebounds, five assists, one block and two steals against Missouri.

ABOUT TEXAS TECH
Picked seventh in both preseason Big 12 polls, Texas Tech is 14-2 overall, 2-0 in league play and 9-0 at home. In conference action, the Red Raiders beat Oklahoma State at home Jan. 10 (83-62) and won at Baylor on Saturday (75-66). The team's two losses were to Georgia Tech in the Preseason NIT final on Nov. 28 (85-65) and at SMU on Dec. 2 (62-59). Tech has won its home games by an average of 20.4 points.

The Big 12 coaches' choice for preseason league player of the year, Andre Emmett is averaging 22.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. The senior guard/forward ranks third in Tech history with 1,910 points. Emmett has scored at least 20 points 10 times this season and last year averaged a Big 12-best 21.8 points per contest. Jarrius Jackson, a freshman guard, averages 10.1 points, 2.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Junior guard Ronald Ross scored a game-high 24 points at Baylor Saturday and averages 10.0 points and a team-high 3.5 assists per outing. Senior forward Robert Tomaszek averages 9.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He had 12 points and six assists against Baylor.

Texas Tech is shooting .472 from the field and owns .329 three-point and .718 free throw marks. Opponents have shot .403 from the field and .331 from beyond the arc. Tech gets outboarded 36.6-36.4 per game.

Bob Knight is 59-24 (.711) in his third season as the Red Raiders' head coach.

SERIES WITH TEXAS TECH
OU leads the overall series with Texas Tech, 20-12, but trails in Lubbock, 8-6. Kelvin Sampson is 11-5 against Tech as OU's head coach and is 5-2 in Lubbock. The Sooners have won five of the last six against the Red Raiders and 10 of the last 12. Sampson is 4-1 against Bob Knight-coached Tech teams. OU swept three games last year, winning 69-64 in overtime in Norman, 63-58 in Lubbock and 67-60 in overtime in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals in Dallas.

In Norman, Hollis Price beat the buzzer in regulation and led OU to the overtime win by scoring a game-high 23 points. Kevin Bookout had 15 points and eight rebounds. Kasib Powell and Andre Emmett scored 19 and 17 for Texas Tech. In the rematch, Quannas White was the story with career highs in points (23) and rebounds (8). He was 5-of-7 from three-point range and also had six assists against one turnover. Price added 18 points for OU while Powell and Emmett scored 14 apiece. In Dallas, Price (26), White (11) and Ebi Ere (17) combined for 54 of OU's 67 points. Price was 10-for-12 from two-point range. Emmett scored 19 for Tech and Powell added 18.

A WIN OVER TEXAS TECH WOULD...
Give OU four straight wins against the Red Raiders and improve its all-time mark against Tech to 21-12.
Prevent OU's first four-game losing streak since January 1999.
Prevent the Sooners' first 0-3 conference start since the 1980-81 season (Billy Tubbs' first year at OU).

MISSOURI RECAP
Oklahoma set season highs for field goal percentage (.509), three-point percentage (.524) and three-point field goals (11), but the performance was not enough as Missouri handed the Sooners a home overtime loss, 79-75, on Saturday. OU led 26-24 at the break and quickly went up by 12 in the second half (40-28). The Tigers chipped away, though, and took their only lead of the second period, 50-49, with 5:28 to play in regulation. OU led 58-56 when Jason Detrick fouled MU forward Linas Kleiza on a three-point attempt with 31 seconds to go. Kleiza made two of three foul shots and Drew Lavender's 19-footer at the buzzer rattled in and out. Missouri scored the first seven points of overtime and led by eight before OU trimmed the margin to three with 42 seconds remaining. But the Tigers were solid at the free throw line in overtime (14-for-18) and kept the Sooners at bay. Mizzou's Rickey Paulding scored nine of his game-high 23 points in the extra session and Arthur Johnson registered 16 points and 11 rebounds. In his first start since Dec. 11, Lawrence McKenzie went 4-for-7 from beyond the arc and scored a team-high 16 points. Jabahri Brown tallied 15 points, four rebounds, five assists, a block and two steals. Lavender and Jaison Williams scored 12 and 11 points. Williams was 3-for-3 from long distance. Missouri was 28-for-40 from the free throw line while Oklahoma was 8-for-13. The Tigers also outrebounded OU by a 35-24 count.

MISSOURI LEFTOVERS
The loss was the first at home in overtime for Oklahoma since the 1982-83 season (also against Missouri). The Sooners had won their previous 11 home overtime games.
Missouri's win was just its second in the last 12 games against OU and first in the last six tries in Norman.
OU fell to 0-2 in conference play for the first time since the 1993-94 season (Billy Tubbs' last year at OU).

BIG 12 DOMINANCE
Oklahoma has had more than its fair share of success against Big 12 opponents the last couple of years, winning 24 of its last 30 games (.800) against Big 12 competition. The Sooners won their final five regular season games in 2001-02, earned three victories at the Big 12 Tournament and knocked off Missouri to go to the Final Four. Last year, OU went 12-4 in league play before earning another conference tournament crown. OU's only six losses in the last 30 outings versus league foes came at Oklahoma State (twice), at Texas, against Missouri (home and away) and versus Texas.

LIFT THE LID
Despite its season-best .509 field goal percentage against Missouri on Saturday, the Sooners have struggled making shots this year. Oklahoma now owns a .421 season mark to rank last in the Big 12. The last OU team to shoot less than .421 for an entire season was the 1968-69 squad (it shot .417). Kevin Bookout (.522) is the only Sooner who is shooting better than .500 this year.

A TOUGH ROW TO HOE
The first three weeks of January have presented a difficult challenge for OU. The Sooners beat Princeton 58-55 Jan. 3 in Oklahoma City and followed with losses at No. 1 Connecticut Jan. 11, at rival Oklahoma State last Wednesday and versus preseason Big 12 No. 1 Missouri on Saturday. OU wraps up a nine-day, four-game (three on the road) stretch by playing at No. 22 Texas Tech on Monday.

STOUT SOONER “D” SOFTENS
Oklahoma's defense had been extremely solid the seven games prior to its Jan. 11 UConn affair. In those seven games, opponents averaged 51.4 points and shot a combined .336 from the field and .277 from three-point range. They also averaged 21.1 turnovers. Against UConn, Oklahoma State and Missouri the last three contests, however, the Huskies, Cowboys and Tigers combined to average 80.7 points and shoot .527 from the field and .410 from beyond the arc. On the season, OU is giving up 61.7 points per game (ranks third 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 13 games, the Sooners have registered 70 blocked shots, an average of 5.4 per contest. The school record for rejections per game is 5.8 (1988-89) and last year's squad averaged just 3.6. Junior Johnnie Gilbert leads Oklahoma and ranks 11th in the Big 12 with his 1.4 blocks per game. Sophomore forward Kevin Bookout has 13 blocks this year while senior center Jabahri Brown also has 13. Brown ranks sixth on the school's career list with 94 blocks while Gilbert ranks eighth with 82.

LOVING LAVENDER
Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year Drew Lavender has led OU in scoring in five of the last eight games (with 14-, 13-, 23-, 22-, and 15-point efforts against Purdue, Prairie View A&M, Jackson State, Connecticut and Oklahoma 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 Dec. 16. Lavender, who hit the game-winning shot with 1.1 seconds left to give OU a 47-45 victory over Purdue, is leading the team with his 12.6 points, 4.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game, as well as his .370 three-point percentage. He is also one off the team lead with his 20 treys. 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, Terry Evans is the only freshman to average more assists for an entire campaign (4.4 in 1989-90).

FRESH FACES
Making their Oklahoma debuts in the season opener against Eastern Washington were freshmen Brandon Foust, Drew Lavender, Lawrence McKenzie and junior Jaison Williams. Through 13 games, the group has accounted for 373 of OU's 926 points (40 percent), 102 of its 187 assists (55 percent) and 58 of its 76 three-pointers (76 percent). Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner has also seen action in 12 games and scored a career-high nine points Dec. 13 against Prairie View A&M. Five of OU's 11 roster players are freshmen (walk-on Kellen Sampson is the fifth) while seven 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 23 points against Jackson State Dec. 20 represent the most by a freshman during the Sampson era while McKenzie's 19 points versus Oral Roberts Nov. 22 stand as the sixth most by an OU frosh under Sampson.

NOT QUITE AS 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 eight contests, the Sooners have posted a .615 mark (91-for-148). OU now owns a .678 season mark to rank eighth 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.

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 362-61 (.856) inside the building since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign. The Sooners are 127-18 (.876) at home under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and have won 45 of their last 47. 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).

AP POLL A FAMILIAR PLACE
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 reappeared in the top 10 in the season's fifth poll and stayed there for four weeks before dropping to 11 this week. The Sooners have now been ranked in the last 42 AP polls and in 75 of the last 79. 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.

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 18-9 in overtime games under Sampson and has won 12 of its last 15.
Sampson's .727 winning percentage is the best in OU history (Billy Tubbs ranks second at .716).

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.

UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
OU has a 121-29 record the last four-plus years for the NCAA's third-best winning percentage (.807).
OU has posted an 80-33 (.708) 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 127-18 (.876) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 45 of its last 47 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 30 games against Big 12 opponents (including Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Basketball Team at Texas Tech for Big Monday

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