No. 25 Men's Basketball Team at Baylor Wednesday

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 25 in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (11-4 overall, 1-3 Big 12) goes for its second straight league win when it plays at Baylor (6-11, 1-3) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CST inside the Ferrell Center in Waco, 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 in Oklahoma and Texas by Fox Sports Southwest (Cox Cable 37 in OKC) with Greg Lucas (play-by-play) and Jim Haller (analyst) announcing.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 32 Johnnie Gilbert (6-8, 265, Jr., 4.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.5 apg)
C 21 Jabahri Brown (6-10, 220, Sr., 7.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.7 apg)
G 3   Drew Lavender (5-7, 155, Fr., 11.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 4.1 apg)
G 1   Lawrence McKenzie (6-2, 170, Fr., 6.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.4 apg)
G 5   Jason Detrick (6-6, 215, Sr., 10.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.7 apg)

BAYLOR PROJECTED STARTERS
F 5 Corey Herring (6-4, 190, So., 7.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.4 apg)
C 15 Harvey Thomas (6-8, 195, Jr., 15.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.6 apg)
G 32 Tommy Swanson (6-9, 205, So, 7.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 0.2 apg)
G 10 Carl Marshall (5-10, 165, Fr., 2.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.1 apg)
G 13 Matt Sayman (6-4, 205, Sr., 7.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.6 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Down to nine available players after Kevin Bookout's announcement that he will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery this week, Oklahoma snapped a four-game losing streak with a 61-49 home win over Kansas State on Saturday. The victory ended OU's longest skid in five years and improved its Big 12 record to 1-3. The Sooners broke a five-game trend of getting outrebounded and forced 21 K-State turnovers. Oklahoma's next two games are on the road and three of its next four are away from home.

Senior guard Jason Detrick is coming off one of his best weeks of the season with 11- and 24-point efforts against Texas Tech and Kansas State, respectively. He was the only Sooner to score in double figures in either game. Detrick had been relatively quiet in the eight games between his Dec. 6 26-point outing at Michigan State and the Texas Tech game as he averaged 7.1 points and shot .345 from the field (20-for-58) during the stretch. Over the last two games he is shooting .520 from the field (13-for-25). Detrick missed his first 16 three-point attempts of the year but is 5-for-11 over the last three games. He now averages 10.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. Point guard Drew Lavender leads the team with his 11.9 points and 4.1 assists per outing, and with his 24 treys and .364 three-point field goal mark. The freshman, who has made at least one trey in 14 of 15 games and is averaging 2.4 makes over the last five games, is averaging 13.3 points over the last 10 outings. The Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year has led the team in scoring five times. Another freshman guard, Lawrence McKenzie has started the last three games and is averaging 9.3 points in those contests. McKenzie has been fighting a stress fracture in his foot and is limited in practice. On the season, he is averaging 6.7 points and 1.4 treys per game while shooting .882 from the foul line.

Sophomore wing De'Angelo Alexander came off the bench Saturday for the first time this season (he was replaced by Detrick in the starting lineup). Alexander, who like Bookout has battled shoulder problems all year, ranks third in scoring and rebounding with his 10.4 and 4.9 season averages. In five games since a career-high 22-point effort against Princeton on Jan. 3, though, Alexander has averaged 5.2 points and 4.0 boards. Another guard, junior Jaison Williams has been extremely valuable most of the season. Coming off the bench in each game, Williams is averaging 7.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals. He is shooting a team-high .913 from the foul line and ranks second with his 22 three-pointers.

On the inside, the Sooners will miss Bookout's 7.6 points and 5.5 boards per outing. Senior center Jabahri Brown has played well the last three games by averaging 9.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals during the stretch. He averages 7.3 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game on the season. Junior forward Johnnie Gilbert replaced Bookout as a starter on Saturday and registered six points, a game-high five rebounds, two blocks and three steals. He is averaging 4.6 points, 3.7 boards and 1.3 rejections per game. Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner is also seeing more playing time and is averaging 6.0 points and 5.0 rebounds over the last two contests.

ABOUT BAYLOR
Picked last in both preseason Big 12 polls, Baylor snapped a five-game losing streak and notched its first league win on Saturday with a 63-59 home triumph over Iowa State. The Bears, who are 6-11 overall and 1-3 in conference action, have lost in league play at Texas (79-57), at home to Texas Tech (75-66) and at Nebraska (76-47). Baylor is 5-6 at home this year.

Senior forward Terrance Thomas, who has come off the bench the last three games, ranks second in the Big 12 by averaging 17.8 points per game. He also averages 7.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.2 treys per outing. Thomas averaged 5.3 points per game last year. Junior forward Harvey Thomas is averaging 15.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 steals in his nine contests, the last six of them starts. Senior center R.T. Guinn averages 10.4 points and 5.2 boards per outing, and is shooting .531 from the field. Senior guard Matt Sayman is producing 7.9 points and a team-high 3.6 assists per game. Like Sayman, sophomore forward Tommy Swanson has started all 17 games this year. He is averaging 7.4 points and 4.8 rebounds.

Baylor is shooting .429 from the field and owns .312 three-point and .663 free throw marks. Opponents have shot .463 from the field and .355 from beyond the arc. The Bears outrebound their foes by 1.7 per contest.

Scott Drew, who piloted Valparaiso to a 20-11 record last year, is in his second season as a collegiate head coach. He owns a 26-22 (.542) career mark.

SERIES WITH BAYLOR
Oklahoma leads the overall series with Baylor, 23-5, and holds a 10-2 advantage in Waco. Kelvin Sampson is 16-0 against Baylor as OU's head coach (his teams have won by an average of 19 points) and is 8-0 in Waco. The Sooners have won the series' last 18 games and posted 67-54 (in Waco) and 91-42 (in Norman) victories last year. In Waco, Kevin Bookout and Hollis Price led the way with 18 and 17 points, respectively, as Sampson posted his 200th OU win. Johnnie Gilbert replaced an injured Jabahri Brown and contributed seven points and a career-high 10 rebounds. The Sooners shot .526 from the field and posted a 40-22 rebounding advantage. In the rematch, Oklahoma dominated from the start and set season highs for victory margin (49), field goal percentage (.581) and three-pointers (13). Five Sooners scored in double digits and four made three treys apiece. Price scored 17 to pace OU and De'Angelo Alexander added 15. The loss for Baylor coach Dave Bliss was the worst of his 28-year career.

A WIN OVER BAYLOR WOULD...
Increase OU's winning streak against Baylor to 19 games and make Kelvin Sampson 17-0 versus the Bears as Sooners' head coach.
Give Oklahoma 10 straight road wins against Baylor.
Give OU a 26-7 record in its last 33 games against Big 12 teams (including the postseason).

KANSAS STATE RECAP
Oklahoma received a 24-point effort from Jason Detrick and used a stifling 2-3 zone to snap its four-game losing streak in a 61-49 home win over Kansas State on Saturday. Detrick was 8-for-14 from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range as he recorded his second-highest career point total. On the other end of the floor, OU caused 21 K-State turnovers and registered 14 steals its second most of the year. Four different Sooners logged three steals apiece. Oklahoma, which averted its first 0-4 conference start since the 1976 Big Eight season, made eight three-pointers and committed just 12 turnovers. Detrick was the only Sooner to score in double digits and was followed by Drew Lavender's eight and Jabahri Brown's seven. Lavender also had five assists and just one turnover while Brown added four rebounds, two assists and three steals. Holding a 16-15 lead with eight minutes left in the first half, OU went on a 14-2 run over the next 4:40 to go up 30-17. The Sooners led 32-21 at halftime and led by double digits the entire second half. Their largest lead was 19 points (44-25 with 13:37 to go). Former Sooner Jarrett Hart scored a KSU-high 16 points.

KANSAS STATE LEFTOVERS
Junior forward Johnnie Gilbert made his first start of the season and contributed six points, a game-high five rebounds, two blocks and three steals in 25 minutes.
OU had been outboarded in its previous five games but grabbed 36 rebounds to Kansas State's 29.
Jason Detrick had two three-pointers on the season entering the game but made three on six attempts against the Wildcats.

SAMPSON'S SUCCESS VS. STATE OF TEXAS
Oklahoma owns an impressive 73-12 (.859) record against teams from the state of Texas under Kelvin Sampson. Against Big 12 foes Baylor (16-0), Texas (15-5), Texas A&M (14-1) and Texas Tech (12-6), OU is 57-12 (.826) under Sampson.

COMPARING WINS AND LOSSES
The Sooners' biggest downfalls in their four losses have been shooting, rebounding and turnovers. Below is a statistical comparison between OU's 11 wins and its four recent losses.

FG Percentage -- .430 in wins, .358 in losses
Opp. FG Percentage -- .383 in wins, .521 in losses
Rebounding Margin -- +5.7 in wins, -9.5 in losses
Turnovers Per Game -- 13.5 in wins, 17.5 in losses

BIG 12 DOMINANCE
Prior to this year, Oklahoma had more than its fair share of success against Big 12 opponents the last couple of seasons by winning 24 of its previous 28 games (.857) against conference 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 SCHEDULE NO PICNIC
By the time the regular season is over, Oklahoma will have played nine games against teams in this week's AP top 25 (one vs. No. 6 Connecticut, two vs. No. 13 Texas Tech, one vs. No. 15 Kansas, two vs. No. 16 Texas, two vs. No. 18 Oklahoma State and one vs. No. 21 Purdue). The Sooners also beat preseason AP No. 3 Michigan State and lost in overtime to preseason AP No. 5 Missouri.

LOW LEADER
Drew Lavender leads the team with his 11.9 points per game. The last time a Sooner averaged fewer points per game as the team's season scoring leader was in 1960-61 when Warren Fouts averaged 11.1.

LIFT THE LID
The Sooners have struggled making shots this year, especially in their four Big 12 games. Oklahoma owns a .411 overall season mark to rank last in the Big 12 and is shooting .387 in league contests (also ranks last). The last OU team to shoot less than .411 for an entire season was the 1963-64 squad (it shot .398). Kevin Bookout (.516) is the only Sooner with a field goal percentage above .500 this year and the Missouri game marked the only time this season OU shot .500 or better (.509).

NOT AFRAID OF REJECTION
Through 15 games, the Sooners have registered 73 blocked shots, an average of 4.9 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 1.3 blocks per game. Sophomore forward Kevin Bookout recorded 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 84.

LOVING LAVENDER
Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year Drew Lavender has led OU in scoring five times this season 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 11.9 points, 4.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game, as well as his 24 treys and .364 three-point percentage. 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 14 games, the group has accounted for 408 of OU's 1,034 points (39 percent), 110 of its 201 assists (55 percent) and 64 of its 87 three-pointers (74 percent). Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner has also seen action in 14 games and scored a career-high nine points against both Prairie View A&M and Texas Tech. 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 10 contests, the Sooners have posted a .617 mark (108-for-175). OU now owns a .674 season mark to rank seventh in the Big 12. OU has traditionally been an extremely 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 363-61 (.856) inside the building since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign. The Sooners are 128-18 (.877) at home under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and have won 46 of their last 48. 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 on Jan. 12. The Sooners, No. 25 this week, have now been ranked in the last 44 AP polls and in 77 of the last 81. 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, one of the nation's top-ranked preparatory schools. 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. OU went 3-0 in overtime affairs last season (beat Texas Tech twice and Kansas State).
Sampson's .726 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 122-30 record the last four-plus years for the NCAA's third-best winning percentage (.803).
OU has posted an 81-35 (.698) 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 128-18 (.876) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 46 of its last 48 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 25 of its last 32 games against Big 12 opponents (including Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 25 Men's Basketball Team at Baylor Wednesday

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors