Sooners Prep for No. 22 Washington

GAME INFORMATION
Oklahoma (2-0) advanced to the winners' bracket of the Great Alaska Shootout with a 93-65 win over High Point on Thursday. The Sooners will meet No. 22/23 Washington on Friday at 11 p.m. CST, as the Huskies beat Utah, 78-71, on Thursday. Friday's contest 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 be televised by ESPN2. Bob Carpenter (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (analyst) will call the action.

Game Notes in PDF

LOOKING AHEAD TO SATURDAY
The Sooners will conclude their Great Alaska Shootout experience with a Saturday game versus No. 19/19 Alabama or Minnesota. If OU wins Friday it will face the winner of the Alabama-Minnesota game at 9 p.m. CST in the tournament's championship game. The title contest will be televised by ESPN2. If the Sooners lose Friday they will play the loser of the Alabama-Minnesota game at 6:30 p.m. CST Saturday. The third-place game will not be televised.

PROJECTED WASHINGTON STARTERS (Stats averages)
F 15 Bobby Jones (6-6, 215, Jr., 9.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.0 apg)
F 42 Mike Jensen (6-8, 240, Jr., 8.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
G 2   Nate Robinson (5-9, 180, Jr., 25.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.5 apg)
G 3   Brandon Roy (6-6, 215, Jr., 24.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.5 apg)
G 5   Will Conroy (6-2, 195, Sr., 10.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.0 apg)

PROJECTED OKLAHOMA STARTERS (Stats averages)
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 235, Jr., 17.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.5 apg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 259, Jr., 13.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.0 apg)
G 2 Jaison Williams (6-3, 181, Sr., 8.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.5 apg)
G 3 Drew Lavender (5-7, 153, So., 12.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 5.0 apg)
G 20 Terrell Everett (6-4, 185, Jr., 9.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 4.5 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Oklahoma shot .532 from the field and forced 25 High Point turnovers in a 93-65 first-round victory on Thanksgiving night. Kevin Bookout led a balanced attack that featured six players scoring nine or more points. Bookout posted team highs of 15 points and eight rebounds and was followed in the scoring department by Drew Lavender (14), Lawrence McKenzie (11), Jaison Williams (11), Terrell Everett (10) and Johnnie Gilbert (9). Lavender also contributed a game-high seven assists and two steals. A 39-15 OU run over the final 11:57 of the first half and opening 3:14 of the second half turned a three-point deficit into a 53-28 lead, and High Point never got closer than 16 points the rest of the way. Oklahoma made nine 3-pointers on 20 attempts as five different players hit from beyond the arc. McKenzie was 3-for-4 from the experimental 3-point distance of 20 feet, six inches (nine inches farther than the regulation distance). Behind Gilbert, the OU bench scored 38 points on 15-of-25 (.600) field goal shooting. Freshman center Longar Longar saw his first action as a Sooner and contributed six points, three boards and three blocks in just eight minutes of play. Sophomore center Larry Turner was also impressive in his first action of the season with five points and three boards to go along with good defensive play.

HIGH POINT LEFTOVERS
Taj Gray, who scored 29 points and added 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocks in OU's season opener, got into early foul trouble against High Point and played just 13 minutes. Gray finished with five points and two boards.
Oklahoma improved to 3-1 all-time in the Great Alaska Shootout (it went 2-1 in the 1983 event).
Freshmen Longar Longar, David Godbold, Kellen Sampson, Michael Ott and Aaron Foster all made their Oklahoma debuts. They combined for 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 18 minutes of play.
Four Sooners registered at least three assists, a feat that hadn't occurred since OU's 80-77 win at Michigan State last Dec. 6 (a span of 28 games).

ABOUT WASHINGTON
Ranked No. 22 in this week's AP poll and 23rd in the ESPN/USA Today version, Washington beat Utah by a 78-71 score on Thursday night. The Huskies, who defeated Seattle Pacific 89-71 in their opener Nov. 19, are coming off a 19-12 season in which they won 12 of their final 13 Pac-10 games and competed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. UW beat Arizona three times last year and also dealt Stanford one of its two losses of the season. Washington lost in the Pac-10 title game to Stanford, 77-66, and in the NCAA first round to UAB, 102-100.

Washington boasts one of the country's top guard tandems in juniors Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy. Robinson, a 5-9 point guard, is averaging 25.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals through two games while shooting .545 (6-for-11) from 3-point range. He was a first-team All-Pac-10 pick last year. Roy, 6-6, is averaging 24.0 points and 4.0 boards so far while shooting .618 from the floor. The duo combined for 54 points in the win over Utah (29 from Robinson and 25 from Roy). Senior guard Will Conroy and junior forward Bobby Jones did not play against Seattle Pacific but scored 10 and nine points, respectively, versus Utah. Junior forward Mike Jensen averages 8.5 points and a team-high 8.0 rebounds a game.

Lorenzo Romar is in his third season as Washington's head coach and is 31-29 (.517). A Washington alum who completed his coursework at Cincinnati, Romar owns a 124-117 (.515) career record as a head coach. He guided Pepperdine to a 42-44 (.488) mark from 1997 to 1999 and compiled a 51-44 (.537) record at Saint Louis from 2000 to 2002.

SERIES WITH WASHINGTON
Friday's game will mark the third in the series between Oklahoma and Washington with the Sooners winning the previous two meetings in Kansas City, Mo. OU posted an 87-77 win during the 1953-54 season in the Big Seven Holiday Tournament and was also victorious in the 1943 NCAA Tournament Western Regional third-place game, 48-43. Bruce Drake was Oklahoma's head coach in both contests.

OU EXHIBITS VASTLY IMPROVED SHOOTING
After posting a .408 field goal mark last year its worst in 40 seasons Oklahoma is off to a solid shooting start in 2004-05. The Sooners own a .522 figure through two games thanks to a .509 performance against Cal State Northridge in the season opener and a .532 effort versus High Point last night. OU also shot a combined .500 from the field in its two exhibition games.

OKLAHOMA IN ALASKA
This marks OU's second appearance in the Great Alaska Shootout and third appearance in the state. The Sooners went 2-1 in the 1983 Great Alaska Shootout under head coach Billy Tubbs, beating Southern California (92-91), losing to Arkansas (84-78) and beating Santa Clara (91-77). OU opened the 1999-00 season by winning the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks. Kelvin Sampson's squad defeated Montana State (91-76), George Washington (73-54) and California (75-58). Eduardo Najera earned tournament MVP honors.

Kellen Sampson is the only player on the OU roster who has been to Alaska previously. This is his third trip. He joined his father on both previous occasions when the elder Sampson was a guest instructor at a basketball clinic in Haines, Alaska. Kellen Sampson was in kindergarten and first grade when he made those Alaskan treks.

TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
With its win over High Point on Thursday, the Sooners improved to 41-8 (.837) in tournament play over the past five years (both regular and postseason events). OU has won three Big 12 Tournaments (2001, 2002, 2003), the Top of the World Classic (1999-00), the Big Island Invitational (2000-01), four Sooner Invitationals and a pair of All-College Tournaments. Kelvin Sampson has also directed his teams to a 7-4 NCAA Tournament record during the span.

GRAY EARNS BIG 12 WEEKLY HONOR
Taj Gray earned the season's first Big 12 Rookie of the Week award for his effort in OU's season-opening 82-72 win over Cal State Northridge. Gray tallied 29 points and had 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. Twenty-three of his points came after halftime. Kansas' Wayne Simien was named the league's player of the week after recording 25 points, 14 boards, one assist and one block against Vermont.

OKLAHOMA TIP INS
Lawrence McKenzie has come off the bench to supply six 3-pointers on nine attempts through two games. He has scored 11 points in both contests.
Drew Lavender, a .782 free throw shooter a year ago, is 12-for-12 from the charity stripe this season.
Starting post men Kevin Bookout (11-for-15) and Taj Gray (10-for-19) are shooting a combined .618 from the field. Big men Johnnie Gilbert (5-for-9), Longar Longar (2-for-2) and Larry Turner (2-for-4) have posted a combined field goal mark of .600 coming off the bench.
A career .527 free throw shooter, junior Kevin Bookout is off to a 5-for-6 start this year (.833).
Six players are averaging at least 8.5 points a game. Four average 11.0 or more.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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