Sampson's Sooners at Kansas Sunday for National TV Game

GAME INFORMATION
After losing a key game in overtime at Colorado on Wednesday, Oklahoma (16-8 overall, 6-7 Big 12) travels to face Kansas (17-7, 9-4) on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST inside Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence. The Jayhawks are ranked No. 20 in the AP poll and No. 18 in the ESPN/USA Today version. 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 CBS (KWTV/Cox Cable 10 in OKC) with Gus Johnson (play-by-play) and Clark Kellogg (analyst) announcing.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 32 Johnnie Gilbert (6-8, 265, Jr., 4.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.6 apg)
C 21 Jabahri Brown (6-10, 220, Sr., 7.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.6 apg)
G 1   Lawrence McKenzie (6-2, 170, Fr., 8.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.5 apg)
G 3   Drew Lavender (5-7, 155, Fr., 11.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.8 apg)
G 5   Jason Detrick (6-6, 215, Sr., 11.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.4 apg)

KANSAS PROJECTED STARTERS
F 15 J.R. Giddens (6-5, 195, Fr., 10.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.0 apg)
F 44 David Padgett (6-11, 230, Fr., 7.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.3 apg)
C 23 Wayne Simien (6-9, 250, Jr., 16.8 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 0.9 apg)
G 5 Keith Langford (6-4, 210, Jr., 16.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.4 apg)
G 11 Aaron Miles (6-1, 175, Jr., 9.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 7.3 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Oklahoma found itself on the short end of a heartbreaking 94-87 overtime decision at Colorado on Wednesday, after the Sooners had rallied from 17 points down midway through the second half to force the extra session. The potentially devastating defeat was OU's third straight and dropped the team's conference record to 6-7 with three games remaining in the regular season. The Sooners stand in a seventh-place tie with Iowa State, one game behind Texas Tech and two behind Colorado and Missouri.

OU's mid-week loss came despite the heroic efforts of senior Jason Detrick. The team captain scored a career-high 35 points, the second most by a Big 12 player this year and the most by a Sooner in six seasons. Detrick tallied 11 points in the final four minutes of regulation and added another eight in overtime. The guard was 11-for-20 from the field, 2-for-4 from three-point distance and 11-for-12 from the foul line. He also had six boards and two blocks. Detrick, who is averaging 18.5 points over the last four games, now averages a team-high 11.8 points per game on the season and adds 1.4 assists and 1.5 steals.

Freshman guards Drew Lavender and Lawrence McKenzie have played well of late and are the team's top three-point producers with 42 and 36 makes, respectively. Lavender, whose 31 points against Texas A&M Feb. 14 were the most by an OU true freshman in 20 years, averages 11.4 points per contest and leads the team in assists (3.8 apg), steals (1.5 spg) and minutes played (30.7 mpg). The Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year has made at least one trey in 22 of 24 games and has made 13 over the last four games (3.3 average). McKenzie has scored in double digits in seven of the last nine games and now averages 8.2 points per game, 9.5 in conference play.

Sophomore guard De'Angelo Alexander, who has battled a sprained ankle the last several games but appears to now be recovered, has scored in double figures in five of the last seven outings. Alexander averages 10.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game to rank third on the team in both categories. He is also shooting .384 from beyond the arc and is 16-for-34 (.471) from long range over the last nine games. Another guard, junior Jaison Williams saw his numbers fall recently before Wednesday's 16-point outburst at Colorado. Coming off the bench each game, he scored in double figures six times in the season's first 13 games but then went 10 straight games scoring eight or less. Prior to Wednesday, Williams had gone three straight contests without scoring a point. He now averages 6.1 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.5 steals per game on the year. He is shooting .920 from the free throw line and has 31 three-point makes after a 4-for-7 effort at Colorado.

On the inside, the Sooners have struggled generating offense since Kevin Bookout's season-ending surgery on Feb. 5. Bookout averaged 7.6 points and a team-high 5.5 boards on a sore and weak right shoulder over his 13 outings. Senior center Jabahri Brown tied a career high with 16 points against OSU Feb. 16 but did not score against Texas or Colorado the last two outings. He now averages 7.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks per game on the year. Junior forward Johnnie Gilbert started the nine games prior to Wednesday in place of Bookout but was ill Wednesday and sat out the first half (he played 20 of the game's final 25 minutes, however). Gilbert is averaging 4.7 points, 4.0 boards and a team-high 1.5 rejections per game. Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner is also seeing more playing time and is averaging 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds over the last 11 contests. Turner has also rejected 12 shots over the last six games.

ABOUT KANSAS
Picked to finish first in the preseason Big 12 media poll and third in the coaches version, Kansas stands in third place at 9-4. The Jayhawks, who have lost three of their last five games, are 6-0 at Allen Fieldhouse in conference play and 3-4 on the road. In its two most recent outings, KU outlasted Iowa State in overtime at home, 90-89, last Saturday and lost at Texas, 82-67, on Monday. Kansas is 11-1 at home this season with its only loss coming to Richmond, 69-68, on Jan. 22.

All-Big 12 candidate Wayne Simien leads Kansas in scoring and rebounding with his 16.8 and 9.3 respective averages. Simien, a junior forward, is shooting .522 from the field and averages a team-high 5.8 free throw attempts per game. Left-handed junior guard Keith Langford scores 16.0 points per contest and adds 4.6 boards and 3.4 assists. Simien and Langford have both led Kansas in scoring 10 times this year. Freshman wing J.R. Giddens, an Oklahoma City product, averages 10.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game and is shooting a team-high .391 from beyond the arc with a team-high 2.2 treys per outing. He had 24 points two games ago versus Iowa State. Junior point guard Aaron Miles contributes 9.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, a Big 12-high 7.3 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He boasts a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. Freshman center David Padgett has started 18 games and averages 7.1 points, 5.0 boards and 1.8 blocked shots a contest.

Kansas is shooting .448 from the field and owns .319 three-point and .703 free throw marks. Opponents have shot .392 from the field and .322 from beyond the arc. The Jayhawks outboard their foes by 2.4 caroms per contest.

Head coach Bill Self is in his first year at Kansas and sports a 224-112 (.667) mark in his 11th year overall. An Oklahoma State alumnus, Self also served as head coach at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois before making the move to KU.

SERIES WITH KANSAS
The only Big 12 team with a head-to-head series lead against Oklahoma, Kansas has won 128 games to the Sooners' 63. In Lawrence, the Jayhawks lead 65-16. The Sooners have won three of the series' last four contests (two of the three came at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City) but have not been victorious inside Allen Fieldhouse since the 1992-93 season (0-6 there since). Kelvin Sampson is 5-9 against the Jayhawks as OU's head coach and is 0-5 in Lawrence.

Oklahoma posted a 77-70 win in Norman in last season's only meeting. The Sooners raced to a 47-26 halftime advantage and led by as many as 32 (59-27). Hollis Price and Quannas White each scored 19 points on combined .635 field goal shooting (15-for-24) and .778 three-point shooting (7-for-9). White made his first seven field goal tries and finished 4-for-4 from long range and committed no turnovers in 35 minutes. Jozsef Szendrei came off the bench to supply a career-high-tying 11 rebounds in 23 minutes. He replaced Jabahri Brown, who scored seven points in eight minutes before leaving the game with a concussion. OU shot .563 from three-point distance while Kansas turned in a .344 overall field goal mark, its second worst of the year. Kirk Hinrich led the Jayhawks with 21 points while Nick Collison added 15 and a game-high 14 boards.

A WIN OVER KANSAS WOULD...
Give the Sooners their first victory in Lawrence since an 80-77 triumph during the 1992-93 season.
Prevent a second four-game losing streak this season (the last time the Sooners lost four consecutive games twice in a year was in 1980-81 Billy Tubbs' first season at OU).
Secure a non-losing Big 12 road record for the seventh straight season.

COLORADO RECAP
In a game that will be remembered for OU's remarkable second-half comeback, it was Colorado that came away with a 94-87 overtime win in a key contest in Boulder on Wednesday. The Sooners, down 60-43 midway through the second half and still trailing by 11 with five minutes left in regulation, rode the hot hands of Jason Detrick and Jaison Williams and took a 75-74 lead with 25 seconds to go on two Detrick free throws. CU's David Harrison immediately answered with a field goal to put the Buffs back up by one before Detrick nailed a 6-footer in the lane with nine seconds left. A Williams foul on Jason Obazuaye with two seconds left sent the CU guard to the free throw line where he made the first shot and missed the second to force overtime. With Lawrence McKenzie and De'Angelo Alexander already fouled out, and with Jabahri Brown on the bench with an injured hand and Johnnie Gilbert laboring through illness (he did not play in the first half), the Buffs scored the first five points of the extra session and never trailed again. Detrick scored eight of his game- and career-high 35 points in overtime, to no avail, as OU dropped to 6-7 in Big 12 action. Williams scored 14 of his 16 points in the second 20 minutes, 11 of them during the Sooners' 34-17 run over the final 10 minutes of regulation. McKenzie and Drew Lavender both went 3-for-6 from three-point range and finished with 11 points each. Harrison led six Buffs in double figures with 21 points and also grabbed 15 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the year. Colorado became the ninth straight team to outrebound Oklahoma (the margin was 44-37).

COLORADO LEFTOVERS
Jason Detrick's 35 points were the second most by a Big 12 player this year and the most by a Sooner in six seasons (Corey Brewer scored 36 twice in the 1997-98 campaign).
OU made a season-high 13 three-pointers on 26 attempts. The 13 makes set a Coors Events Center record for a Big 12 game. Five Sooners made at least one trey and four converted at least two.
The Sooners' .900 free throw figure (18-for-20) marked a season best.
OU's guards scored 79 of the team's 87 points (91 percent).
Freshman Brandon Foust played a career-high 23 minutes and had a team- and career-high seven boards.

GUARDS LEADING THE WAY
Despite the fact that Oklahoma lost three starting guards from last year's team, the Sooners' top four scorers this season are all members of the backcourt. Jason Detrick paces the squad with 11.8 points per game and is followed by Drew Lavender (11.4), De'Angelo Alexander (10.1) and Lawrence McKenzie (8.2). OU's guards have scored 1,114 of its 1,619 points, or 69 percent. Against Texas last weekend, Sooner guards scored 54 of the team's 63 points (86 percent). On Wednesday at Colorado they scored 79 of OU's 87 points (91 percent).

YOUNG GUNS
Against Eastern Washington, Drew Lavender and Lawrence McKenzie became the third and fourth freshmen to start the first game of a season under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson (the others were Kevin Bookout last year and guard Prince Fowler in 1994-95, Sampson's first OU campaign). Lavender and McKenzie now rank second and third on the team in scoring in Big 12 play by averaging 10.5 and 9.5 points a game, respectively (Jason Detrick averages 12.4). Lavender has scored in double figures a team-high 13 times while McKenzie has done it nine times. Lavender has led the team in scoring on seven occasions while McKenzie has done it four times.

PREACHING PROTECTION
Oklahoma has lost its last three games, but not because it hasn't done an excellent job of handling the basketball. In losses to Oklahoma State, Texas and Colorado the last week and a half, the Sooners are averaging just 7.3 turnovers. They committed nine against OSU, a season-low five versus Texas and eight at Colorado. The Sooners had just three turnovers the final 25 minutes against the Buffaloes. OU has committed more turnovers than its foes just four times in 24 games this season and leads the Big 12 in turnover margin (it averages 4.6 fewer turnovers per game than its opponents).

BOARDED UP
Normally considered an Oklahoma strength, rebounding has been anything but this season especially lately. The Sooners have outrebounded just one opponent (Kansas State on Jan. 24) in their last 15 games and are being outboarded by 6.2 per Big 12 contest. On the year, opponents are grabbing 36.3 rebounds per game to OU's 34.7. The last time the Sooners were outrebounded for an entire season was in 1993-94 (Billy Tubbs' final season at OU).

LOVING “LAV”
Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year Drew Lavender has led OU in scoring seven times this season and has tallied at least 22 points on three occasions. 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. He also garnered Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors Feb. 17. Lavender averages 11.4 points and leads the team with his 3.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.8 three-pointers per game. His .385 three-point percentage also tops the squad. The last Oklahoma freshman to average 11.4 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).

SERVED ON A TREY
Oklahoma's three-point shooting has been a key factor in its Big 12 victories this year. OU has made at least eight treys in each of its six league wins (it has averaged 9.5 makes and shot .432). Freshman Lawrence McKenzie has 16 treys in those six games while sophomore De'Angelo Alexander has 13 and freshman Drew Lavender has 12 (he made six treys Feb. 14 at Texas A&M). Four Sooners have made at least 31 three-pointers on the year (42 by Lavender, 36 by McKenzie, 33 by Alexander and 31 by Jaison Williams).

MORE FROM THE LAND OF THREE
Sophomore De'Angelo Alexander became the fourth Sooner to make five three-pointers in a game this year when he went 5-for-7 against Iowa State on Feb. 4 (Drew Lavender since made six at Texas A&M). Jaison Williams was 5-for-9 against Texas-Pan American (Dec. 29), Drew Lavender was 5-for-8 at Connecticut (Jan. 11) and Lawrence McKenzie was 5-for-8 at Nebraska (Feb. 1). The last time four Sooners made at least five treys in a game in a season was in 1998-99 (Tim Heskett, Michael Johnson, Eric Martin and Eduardo Najera).

NOT AFRAID OF REJECTION
Through 24 games, the Sooners have registered 128 blocked shots, an average of 5.3 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 eighth in the Big 12 with his 1.5 blocks per game (total of 35) and has recorded two rejections in six of the last seven outings. Freshman center Larry Turner has 24 blocked shots on the year while senior center Jabahri Brown has 22 (sophomore forward Kevin Bookout recorded 13 in his 13 games). Brown ranks sixth on the school's career list with 101 blocks while Gilbert ranks seventh with 99.

COMPARING WINS AND LOSSES
The Sooners' biggest downfalls in their eight losses have been shooting and rebounding. Below is a statistical comparison between OU's 16 wins and its eight defeats.

FG Percentage -- .437 in wins, .353 in losses
Opp. FG Percentage -- .386 in wins, .491 in losses
3FG Percentage -- .355 in wins, .313 in losses
Opp. 3FG Percentage -- .338 in wins, .417 in losses
Rebounding Margin -- +2.8 in wins, -10.4 in losses

SOONERS LEAD BIG 12 IN STEALS
Oklahoma's defense has been sound this season (OU ranks second in the Big 12 by giving up just 62.3 points per game) and its ability to come up with steals has been a major reason. The Sooners lead the conference by averaging 8.9 steals per contest. OU has reached double digits in steals seven times this year and logged 26 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Dec. 2 (the most under head coach Kelvin Sampson). Jason Detrick and Drew Lavender both recorded five steals in that game. On the season, Detrick, Lavender and Jaison Williams all average 1.5 steals per outing while Jabahri Brown averages 1.2. De'Angelo Alexander has recorded 20 steals and Lawrence McKenzie has 19.

BOOKOUT'S SURGERY A SUCCESS
Kevin Bookout underwent successful right shoulder surgery Feb. 5 in Oklahoma City. Team physicians Brock Schnebel and Don McGinnis performed the two-hour shoulder reconstruction that corrected instability in the joint. Bookout, a 6-8, 265-pound sophomore forward who earned Big 12 All-Freshman Team honors last year when he led the league in field goal percentage (.587), was in a sling until this week. According to team medical personnel, standard recovery time for surgery of this nature is three to five months. Bookout played in 13 games this season and averaged 7.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and shot .516 from the field (his final game was at Texas Tech on Jan. 19). Last year he averaged 9.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. The Stroud native also earned All-America honors in the shot put last June. Bookout, who will redshirt in track and field this year, will have two seasons of basketball eligibility remaining and three in track. He hurt the shoulder the first week of basketball practice (on Oct. 21).

OU'S SCHEDULE NO PICNIC
By the time the regular season is over, Oklahoma will have played eight games against teams in this week's AP top 25 (two vs. No. 6 Oklahoma State, one vs. No. 8 Connecticut, two vs. No. 10 Texas, one vs. No. 20 Kansas and two vs. No. 25 Texas Tech). The Sooners also beat preseason AP No. 3 Michigan State and Purdue, and lost in overtime to preseason AP No. 5 Missouri.

LOW LEADER
Jason Detrick leads the team with his 11.8 points per game. The last time a Sooner averaged as few points 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 .408 overall season mark to rank last in the Big 12. The last OU team to shoot less than .408 for an entire season was the 1963-64 squad (it shot .398). Kevin Bookout (.516), Larry Turner (.509) and Johnnie Gilbert (.505) are the only Sooners with a field goal percentage at or above .500 this year. The Missouri and Baylor games marked the only times this season OU shot .500 or better.

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 24 games, the group has accounted for 648 of OU's 1,619 points (40 percent), 172 of its 309 assists (56 percent) and 111 of its 161 three-pointers (69 percent). Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner has also seen action in 23 games and scored a career-high nine points against both Prairie View A&M and Texas Tech (Jan. 19). Five of OU's 11 roster players are freshmen (walk-on Kellen Sampson is the fifth) while seven are freshmen or sophomores.

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 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. Opponents are scoring 62.3 points per game this season.
Oklahoma is 18-10 in overtime games under Sampson and has won 12 of its last 16. OU went 3-0 in overtime affairs last season and is 1-2 this year.
Sampson's .721 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.

SIX STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASONS
The Sooners have compiled six straight seasons of at least 22 wins under head coach Kelvin Sampson. Last year marked the 21st 20-win season in school history and seventh under Sampson (this is his 10th year).

UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
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 posted an 86-39 (.688) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 130-20 (.867) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 48 of its last 52 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.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sampson's Sooners at Kansas Sunday for National TV Game

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