Men's Basketball Hosts Central Oklahoma Saturday at 1 PM

GAME INFORMATION
Picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 by both the league's coaches and media, Oklahoma plays its second and final exhibition game of the 2004-05 season on Saturday when it hosts Central Oklahoma at 1 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners are coming off a 91-56 win over Cameron University on Wednesday while UCO has beaten Oklahoma City University, 75-73, and lost at University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, 83-74. The OU-UCO game will air on the Sooner Radio Network (flagship KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Bob Barry, Sr. (play-by-play) and Mike Houck (analyst) announcing. It will also be available for viewing on the “O-Zone” section of SoonerSports.com (a subscription is required).

Game Notes in PDF

TICKET PROMOTION
Fans who present an OU-Nebraska football game ticket at Lloyd Noble Center's ticket windows on Saturday will be able to purchase a ticket to the basketball game for $5. Tickets are for selected sections and subject to availability.

Upper-level reserved seats for Saturday's game are still available for $10 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and online at SoonerSports.com. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. OU students will be admitted to the game free with a valid OU student I.D.

PROJECTED OKLAHOMA STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 235, Jr.)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 259, Jr.)
G 3 Drew Lavender (5-7, 153, So.)
G 1 Lawrence McKenzie (6-2, 175, So.)
G 20 Terrell Everett (6-4, 185, Jr.)

OFF THE BENCH
G 2   Jaison Williams (6-3, 181, Sr.)
G 4   David Godbold (6-5, 212, Fr.)
G 5   Michael Ott (6-4, 192, Fr.)
G 11 Kellen Sampson (6-1, 182, Fr.-RS)
G 13 Aaron Foster (6-4, 210, Fr.)
G 22 Brandon Foust (6-6, 211, So.)
C 30 Longar Longar (6-11, 215, Fr.)
F 32 Johnnie Gilbert (6-8, 228, Sr.)
C 44 Larry Turner (6-11, 241, So.)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Oklahoma opened its exhibition season in triumphant fashion by posting a 91-56 victory over Division II Cameron University on Wednesday night in Norman. The Sooners exhibited a balanced scoring attack as four players reached double digits against the visitors from Lawton. OU's frontcourt scored 41 points while its guards tallied 50. Junior forward Kevin Bookout led the way with game highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds in his first competition since season-ending shoulder surgery Feb. 5. Bookout was 9-of-12 from the field in 30 minutes of action. Drew Lavender netted 18 points and recorded four assists and four steals while backcourt mates Jaison Williams and Terrell Everett added 14 and 10 points. Williams was 4-for-8 from 3-point range and Everett logged a game-high five assists and four steals in his first game in an OU uniform. Highly touted junior college transfer Taj Gray encountered foul trouble and was limited to 16 minutes. The forward was a force on the defensive end of the floor, however, with eight boards (six defensive), three blocked shots and two steals. Gray scored six points. Freshman center Longar Longar saw 13 minutes of action and didn't disappoint. The 6-11 center had four points, seven rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal. Oklahoma outrebounded the undersized Aggies by a 46-30 margin and forced 32 Cameron turnovers. The Sooners shot .485 from the field and .400 (8-for-20) from beyond the arc while Cameron posted .364 and .300 (6-for-20) figures.

BRIEF OUTLOOK
Oklahoma is eager to start the 2004-05 regular season after missing the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time since 1994. The Sooners went 20-11 last season and finished 8-8 (seventh place) in the Big 12 Conference as they battled health and experience issues. Kelvin Sampson coached OU to the NIT where it beat LSU, 70-61, at home before losing at eventual champ Michigan, 63-52. The Sooners have restocked a depleted 2003-04 roster and are ready to challenge in the Big 12 Conference. Oklahoma is ranked 30th in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and 33rd in the AP version.

WHO RETURNS
The Sooners return seven letterwinners from last season and four of them started at least 13 games. Junior forward Kevin Bookout, healthy after rehabbing from Feb. 5 season-ending shoulder reconstruction surgery, leads the crop of returning players. Bookout started in all 13 of his games and averaged 7.6 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds while shooting a team-best .516 from the field. Also returning in the frontcourt is senior Johnnie Gilbert. A co-captain with Bookout, Gilbert is in his fifth year at OU. He played in all 31 games last year (started in 16) and averaged 5.3 points, 4.0 boards and 1.5 blocked shots. Sophomore center Larry Turner, 6-11, saw action in 30 games and averaged 3.2 points and 2.7 rebounds.

A talented sophomore trio returns in the backcourt, led by 5-7 point guard Drew Lavender. A Big 12 All-Freshman Team pick last year, Lavender averaged 11.3 points, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals a game while nailing a team-high 53 3-pointers. Lawrence McKenzie averaged 8.2 points a game while canning 45 treys, and Brandon Foust has moved to the perimeter after averaging 4.1 points and 2.8 boards last year as a member of the frontcourt. Foust averaged 10.5 points and 5.2 rebounds over the season's final six games. Also returning is senior guard Jaison Williams. Williams came off the bench in all 31 games last year and averaged 5.8 points and 2.8 rebounds. He was the team's top free throw shooter (.842).

FRESH FACES
Seven players on the OU roster have never played in a regular season Division I game. Some of them, though, will be major contributors from the get-go. Chief among them are junior forward Taj Gray and junior guard Terrell Everett. Both junior college transfers, Gray was the national player of the year runner-up last season while Everett was a second-team All-American. Gray averaged 18.1 points and 10.8 rebounds last year at Redlands (Okla.) Community College. Everett, meanwhile, averaged 19.0 points, 5.7 boards and 5.1 assists a game at Southwest Missouri State-West Plains.

Longar Longar is a 6-11 center who was ranked as the nation's No. 2 postgraduate prep school player last year at Laurinburg (N.C.) Institute. He averaged 15.4 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.3 blocked shots. Fellow freshman David Godbold, who is well built at 6-5 and 212 pounds, averaged 24.0 points and 11.3 points at Oklahoma City's Douglass High School as a senior.

Redshirt freshman Kellen Sampson is the son of OU's head coach and is a walk-on. He sat out last season and has four years of eligibility remaining. Oklahoma's other walk-ons are freshmen guards Aaron Foster and Michael Ott. Foster averaged 24.5 points and 6.5 rebounds a game last year for the OKC Storm, his homeschool team. He is from Norman. Ott was a second-team Texas All-State pick last year at Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio. He averaged 22.0 points and 7.0 boards.

Nate Carter, a 6-6 guard/forward, is in his first year with the OU program after transferring from UC Riverside. Carter started in 48 games in two years at Riverside and averaged 15.8 points and 6.1 rebounds. He earned second-team All-Big West honors last year and was the league's freshman of the year in 2002-03. Carter must sit out the 2004-05 season and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

NEW STAFF MEMBERS
With seven new players on the team, Kelvin Sampson obviously spent a great deal of time replenishing the OU roster in the offseason. But the OU boss also attracted several key staff members to Norman. Joining him on the coaching staff this season as assistants are longtime head coaches Bob Hoffman and Ray McCallum. Raised in Oklahoma City, Hoffman came to OU from Texas-Pan American where he served the past five years as head coach and earned two Independent Coach of the Year awards. He spent nine seasons as head coach at Oklahoma Baptist in the 1990s and took his teams to the NAIA Tournament six times (OBU advanced to the Elite Eight four times, the Final Four three times and the national title game twice). Hoffman also mentored the Southern Nazarene women's team for three seasons and won the 1989 NAIA national championship. McCallum served as Houston's head coach the last four years and spent the previous seven seasons as the man in charge at Ball State, his alma mater. The 1983 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award winner as the nation's most outstanding senior 6-feet or under, McCallum has taken four teams to postseason play (two NCAA Tournaments and one NIT at Ball State and one NIT at Houston).

Also new to the staff this year is strength and conditioning coach Darby Rich. A basketball player for three SEC championship teams (1989-91) at Alabama, Rich arrived in Norman after spending the past two years as men's basketball strength coach at South Carolina for head coach Dave Odom. Rich has also worked for the Dallas Cowboys, Sam Houston State and Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. Video coordinator Josh Moser is back with the OU program after spending last season as the video coordinator at Fresno State. Moser was a student manager at OU for three seasons (2000-01 through 2002-03).

ABOUT THE CENTRAL OKLAHOMA BRONCHOS
Central Oklahoma, located in Edmond, is an NCAA Division II men's basketball program and a member of the Lone Star Conference. The Bronchos are coming off an 11-17 season (7-5 in league play). In 2002-03, UCO posted a 19-10 overall record.

The Bronchos return their top three scorers from a year ago. Senior guard Deshone Henderson, from Ardmore, averaged 17.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.0 steals last year. Henderson tallied 30 points in a 75-73 exhibition win over Oklahoma City University on Nov. 6 and had seven points, three assists and four steals in an 83-74 exhibition loss at University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma on Thursday. Also back are senior guard Terry McVay and junior guard Kentrell Gaddis. A Muskogee product, McVay averaged 15.5 points a game last year and was UCO's top 3-point threat (he made a team-high 45 treys and shot .369 from beyond the arc). Gaddis, from Midwest City and the nephew of former OU running back Mike Gaddis, averaged 10.6 points and 2.1 assists a game last season. Another guard, senior B.J. Raney, is averaging 17.0 points in UCO's two exhibition games. Raney hails from Oklahoma City and played high school ball at Putnam City North.

Former Sooners point guard Terry Evans is in his third season as UCO's head coach and owns a 30-27 record. Evans, who also served as OU's director of basketball operations during the team's 2001-02 Final Four season, is OU's all-time leader in 3-point field goals and assists, and ranks second in career steals. He played at OU from the 1989-90 campaign through 1992-93. Evans also ranks 14th in career scoring at Oklahoma with 1,361 points.

SERIES WITH UCO
Oklahoma and Central Oklahoma have met on one previous occasion. The Sooners recorded a 74-57 win on Dec. 22, 1973, in Norman.

EXHIBITING SUCCESS
Despite losses last year and in 2000-01, the Sooners have compiled an impressive exhibition record over the last 16 years. With its win Wednesday, Oklahoma has won 32 of its last 34 exhibition affairs. Under 11th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson, OU is 19-2 in exhibition games. Last year the Sooners lost an 89-82 game to Athletes First on Nov. 10 before rebounding for a 90-53 triumph against EA Sports five days later.

BOOKOUT ON PRESEASON WATCH LISTS
Junior forward Kevin Bookout is on preseason top-50 watch lists for college basketball's two most coveted individual player awards the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy. Both awards will be presented in April. Bookout is one of six Big 12 representatives in contention for the Wooden Award (Kansas' Keith Langford and Wayne Simien, Oklahoma State's Joey Graham and John Lucas, and Texas' P.J. Tucker are the others), and one of five up for the Naismith Trophy (Graham, Langford, Lucas and Simien).

GRAY UNANIMOUS BIG 12 PRESEASON NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
One of the most recruited junior college players in the nation last year, junior forward Taj Gray was the unanimous choice as Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year by the league's coaches and media. The 6-9, 235-pound Gray was the runner-up in national junior college player of the year voting last season when he averaged 18.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.3 blocked shots for Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla. Gray also shot .672 from the field as he led Redlands to the National Junior College Athletic Association title game.

SOONERS GOING FOR EIGHTH STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASON
Oklahoma finished 20-11 last year to post its seventh consecutive 20-win campaign. The Sooners have won 175 games over the last seven seasons for an average of 25 per year. Over the last five seasons, OU is averaging 26 wins. The school record for consecutive 20-win seasons is 12 (1981-82 through 1992-93 under Billy Tubbs).

2003-04 REVISITED
The youthful 2003-04 Oklahoma men's basketball team overcame numerous injuries and a substantial amount of adversity to finish 20-11 in Kelvin Sampson's 10th year as head coach. The victory total extended OU's streak of 20-win campaigns to seven and the team's NIT appearance ran the program's string of postseason showings to 23 in a row, the longest current streak in NCAA Division I. Following is a list of team notes and accomplishments from the 2003-04 season...

Due to injuries and disciplinary reasons, Oklahoma had seven available players by the time the final horn sounded in the team's last game.
OU finished with a 20-11 overall record, giving the program seven straight 20-win seasons.
Oklahoma began the season with 10 wins (the program's best start since 1991-92) and was ranked as high as No. 6 in the AP poll (Jan. 5 version).
The Sooners competed in the NIT, extending their postseason streak to 23 years, currently the longest in NCAA Division I. The NIT appearance snapped OU's string of nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
Oklahoma beat Nebraska in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament to run its winning streak in the event to 10 games, tying Kansas (1997-2000) for the league record for most consecutive tourney wins.
OU led the Big 12 in scoring defense (62.1 ppg), steals (8.5 spg) and turnover margin (+4.6 per game). It ranked second in blocked shots (5.0 bpg) and fourth in 3-point field goals made (6.7).
Oklahoma's 26 steals versus Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Dec. 2 were the most by a Big 12 team on the year (the next highest total by a conference team was 19).
Assistant coach Jimmy Tubbs was named head coach at SMU on March 26, 2004. He became the third Oklahoma assistant under Kelvin Sampson to earn a Division I head coaching job (Jason Rabedeaux at UTEP and Ray Lopes at Fresno State).

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS
Lloyd Noble Center has always been extremely kind to the Sooners. Oklahoma went 14-3 at home last year and has gone 133-20 (.869) inside the building during Kelvin Sampson's 10 years as head coach. Over the past three seasons OU is 45-4 (.918) at Lloyd Noble (it finished 15-1 in 2002-03 and 16-0 in 2001-02). Oklahoma is 369-63 (.854) inside Lloyd Noble since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign and has won 51 of its last 55. OU's 37-game home winning streak (started Jan. 20, 2001, and ended March 8, 2003) 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.

UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
OU has made 10 straight postseason showings (nine NCAA and one NIT).
OU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 (1999), Final Four (2002) and Elite Eight (2003).
OU has posted an 88-40 (.688) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 133-20 (.869) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 51 of its last 55 home games.
OU has won at least 20 games each of the last seven years.
OU has averaged 26 victories over the past five seasons.
OU has won three of the past four Big 12 Tournaments and has made five title game appearances in the last seven events.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Basketball Hosts Central Oklahoma Saturday at 1 PM

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