Sooner Men Go for Third Straight Basketball Victory on Sunday at Nebraska

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 25 in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (12-4 overall, 2-3 Big 12) goes for its third straight league win when it plays at Nebraska (11-5, 1-4) on Sunday at noon CST inside the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb. 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 regionally by ESPN Plus (KOCB Ch. 34/Cox Cable 11 in OKC) with Trey Bender (play-by-play) and Paul Splittorff (analyst) announcing.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 32 Johnnie Gilbert (6-8, 265, Jr., 4.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.5 apg)
C 21 Jabahri Brown (6-10, 220, Sr., 7.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.6 apg)
G 1   Lawrence McKenzie (6-2, 170, Fr., 7.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G 3   Drew Lavender (5-7, 155, Fr., 11.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.9 apg)
G 5   Jason Detrick (6-6, 215, Sr., 11.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.8 apg)

NEBRASKA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 44 John Turek (6-9, 240, Jr., 8.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.1 apg)
F 50 Andrew Drevo (6-8, 250, Sr., 10.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.3 apg)
G 1 Jason Dourisseau (6-5, 195, So., 7.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.8 apg)
G 3 Charles Richardson (5-8, 155, Fr., 2.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 3.0 apg)
G 12 Jake Muhleisen (6-4, 200, Jr., 8.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.8 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Down to nine available players after Kevin Bookout's announcement that he will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, Oklahoma has won its last two games by double digits. The Sooners beat Kansas State 71-59 in Norman last Saturday and handled Baylor 78-67 on the road on Wednesday. OU, which plays its fourth Big 12 road game on Sunday against Nebraska (it has played just two at home), has shot at least .500 from the field in two of its last four games (the only two times this season). Oklahoma posted a .509 field goal mark against Missouri on Jan. 17 and shot .500 against Baylor.

Senior guard Jason Detrick has played extremely well the last three games with 11-, 24- and 15-point efforts against Texas Tech, Kansas State and Baylor, respectively (average of 16.7 during the stretch). Detrick had been relatively quiet in the eight games between his 26-point outing at Michigan State Dec. 6 and the Texas Tech game Jan. 19 as he averaged 7.1 points and shot .345 from the field (20-for-58) during the stretch. Over the last three games he is shooting .485 from the field (16-for-33). Detrick missed his first 16 three-point attempts of the year but has made five over the last four games. He now averages 11.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Point guard Drew Lavender leads the team with his 11.8 points and 3.9 assists per outing, and with his 25 treys and .368 three-point field goal mark. The freshman, who has made at least one trey in 15 of 16 games and is averaging 2.2 makes over the last six games, is averaging 13.0 points over the last 11 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 four games and is averaging 9.8 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 7.0 points and 1.5 treys per game while shooting .789 from the foul line.

Sophomore wing De'Angelo Alexander has come off the bench the last two games after starting the first 14. Alexander, who like Bookout has battled shoulder problems all year, ranks third in scoring and rebounding with his 10.3 and 4.8 season averages. In six games since a career-high 22-point effort against Princeton on Jan. 3, though, Alexander has averaged 5.8 points and 3.8 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, 3.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals. He is shooting a team-high .920 from the foul line and ranks second with his 24 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 four games by averaging 9.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals during the stretch. He averages 7.4 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game on the season. Junior forward Johnnie Gilbert replaced Bookout as a starter the last two games and has averaged 7.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals in those contests. Gilbert is averaging 4.8 points, 3.6 boards and 1.4 rejections per game. Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner is also seeing more playing time and is averaging 6.7 points and 4.3 rebounds over the last three contests.

ABOUT NEBRASKA
Picked 11th in both preseason Big 12 polls, Nebraska posted a 10-1 non-conference record but has gone 1-4 in league play. Its lone Big 12 win as a 76-47 home decision over Baylor. The Huskers have lost at Iowa State (89-74), at home to Colorado (68-60), at Texas (63-61) and at Missouri (72-51) in league play.

Senior guard Nate Johnson, who scored a team-high 11 points against Missouri in NU's last game, leads the Huskers with his 12.4 points points per game and .530 field goal percentage. Johnson is also shooting .529 from three-point range (18-for-34) and .846 from the free throw line. He has started just two games. Andrew Drevo, a senior forward, is averaging 10.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists in just 21.7 minutes per game. Junior forward John Turek, a 16-game starter, averages 8.9 points and a team-high 6.2 boards per outing. He also averages a team-high 1.5 blocks. Junior guard Jake Muhleisen missed last year's Big 12 season with a broken hip socket but has started each game this year and averages 8.3 points and 3.2 rebounds.

NU is shooting .482 from the field and owns .408 three-point and .707 free throw marks. Opponents have shot .368 from the field and .302 from beyond the arc. The Huskers outrebound their foes by 6.8 per contest.

Head Coach Barry Collier is 49-55 (.471) in his fourth season at Nebraska. He coached at Butler for 11 years and compiled a 196-132 (.598) record. Collier owns a 245-187 (.567) career mark.

SERIES WITH NEBRASKA
Oklahoma leads the overall series with Nebraska, 99-78, but trails 44-36 in Lincoln. Kelvin Sampson is 8-3 against the Huskers as OU's head coach and is 3-2 in Lincoln. The Sooners have won the series' last four games and seven of the last nine. Last year Oklahoma handled NU 76-51 on March 4 in Norman as five Sooners scored in double figures. Hollis Price was 4-for-5 from three-point range and finished with a team-high 20 points while De'Angelo Alexander and Jabahri Brown tied career highs with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Kevin Bookout and Ebi Ere both scored 10 points while Quannas White registered a season-high 10 assists. OU sandwiched a 25-0 run around halftime and at one point made 13 consecutive field goal attempts. Nebraska's Andrew Drevo was 11-for-17 from the field and finished with a game-high 24 points.

A WIN OVER NEBRASKA WOULD...
Even OU's Big 12 record at 3-3 after starting 0-3.
Give OU a five-game winning streak against NU.
Give OU a 27-7 record in its last 34 games against Big 12 teams (including the postseason).

BAYLOR RECAP
Oklahoma showcased what was maybe the most balanced scoring attack in the 10-year Kelvin Sampson era in a 78-67 win at Baylor on Wednesday. Eight of the nine Sooners who scored registered at least eight points apiece and Jason Detrick led the way for the third straight game with a team-high 15 points. OU led for all but 18 seconds of the game and took a 31-21 lead to the halftime locker room as it went 5-for-11 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. Detrick scored 14 points after halftime and helped the Sooners go up by 20, 49-29, with 11:31 remaining. Baylor cut the margin to 10 points with 5:14 to go and drew within nine twice with less than a minute to play before falling by 11. The Sooners shot .500 from the field and canned 8-of-18 three-point attempts for a .444 mark on the night while the Bears recorded .415 and .238 figures. Freshmen Lawrence McKenzie and Drew Lavender joined Detrick in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Jabahri Brown and De'Angelo Alexander scored nine apiece. Brown also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Brandon Foust, who played four minutes, was the only Sooner who did not score. Baylor forwards Harvey Thomas (19 points, nine rebounds) and Terrance Thomas (18 points, six rebounds) combined for 37 points and 15 boards.

BAYLOR LEFTOVERS
The win was OU's 19th straight against Baylor, 10th straight in Waco and gave the Sooners a 17-0 record against the Bears under Kelvin Sampson.
Eight Sooners scored at least eight points for the first time since Nov. 15, 1995 (span of 278 games).
Oklahoma improved to 74-12 (.860) against teams from the state of Texas under Sampson and moved to 58-12 (.829) against the four Texas Big 12 schools under Sampson.

BALANCED ATTACK
In OU's 78-67 win at Baylor on Wednesday, eight of the nine Sooners who saw action scored. What makes the feat interesting is that all eight scored at least eight points. It marked the first time since the first game of the 1995-96 season (Kelvin Sampson's second year as OU head coach) that eight players scored at least eight points in a contest. On the season, seven Sooners average between 7.0 and 11.8 points per game. Eight players have scored at least 10 points in a game this year and seven have scored at least 15.

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 12 wins and its four recent losses.

FG Percentage -- .435 in wins, .358 in losses
Opp. FG Percentage -- .386 in wins, .521 in losses
Rebounding Margin -- +5.2 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 11.8 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 and own a .415 overall season mark to rank last in the Big 12 (OU's .320 three-point mark ranks 10th). The last OU team to shoot less than .415 for an entire season was the 1963-64 squad (it shot .398). Larry Turner (.529), Kevin Bookout (.516) and Johnnie Gilbert (.500) are the only Sooners with a field goal percentage at or above .500 this year. The Missouri and Baylor games marked the only time this season OU shot .500 or better.

NOT AFRAID OF REJECTION
Through 16 games, the Sooners have registered 78 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 1.4 blocks per game. Senior center Jabahri Brown has 14 blocks this year while sophomore forward Kevin Bookout recorded 13. Brown ranks sixth on the school's career list with 95 blocks while Gilbert ranks eighth with 86.

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 11.8 points, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game, as well as his 25 treys and .368 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 16 games, the group has accounted for 437 of OU's 1,112 points (39 percent), 112 of its 211 assists (53 percent) and 70 of its 95 three-pointers (74 percent). Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner has also seen action in 15 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 11 contests, the Sooners have posted a .625 mark (130-for-208). OU now owns a .673 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 .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 123-30 record the last four-plus years for the NCAA's third-best winning percentage (.804).
OU has posted an 82-35 (.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 26 of its last 33 games against Big 12 opponents (including Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner Men Go for Third Straight Basketball Victory on Sunday at Nebraska

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