Men's Basketball Gears Up For Baylor

GAME INFORMATION
Winner of six straight and 10 of its last 11, No. 25/25 Oklahoma (12-2, 1-0) plays its first Big 12 road game of the year against Baylor (8-4, 0-1) on Saturday at 5 p.m. CST at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. The 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) calling the action. It will be televised in Oklahoma by the Sooner Sports Network (Cox Cable 7 in Oklahoma City) and also by Fox Sports Net Southwest (outside of Oklahoma) with Greg Lucas (play-by-play) and Jim Haller (analyst) announcing.

Game Notes in PDF

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
The Sooners shot .525 from the field and limited defending national champ Connecticut to a .352 figure in a 77-65 win on Monday in Norman. The victory, OU's third in four seasons against the Huskies, was highlighted by the inside-outside combination of junior forward Taj Gray and sophomore guard Lawrence McKenzie. Gray posted his Big 12-leading seventh double-double of the year with 23 points and 10 rebounds, and added four blocked shots. McKenzie was 5-for-7 from 3-point territory and finished with 18 points and three assists. Also in double figures for Oklahoma were forward Kevin Bookout (11 points) and guards Terrell Everett and Drew Lavender (10 each). Everett added seven assists, seven boards and three steals while Lavender also contributed four assists. OU held Josh Boone, the sophomore center who was Connecticut's leading scorer (16.6 ppg) and rebounder (10.6 rpg) entering the game, to two points and three boards in 22 minutes. The Huskies outboarded their previous 11 opponents by an average of 18 rebounds a game, but posted just a 42-39 advantage against the Sooners.

Bookout leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage (.661) while Gray ranks eighth in scoring (15.6 ppg), second in rebounding (8.5 rpg), fourth in blocks (1.7 bpg), sixth in field goal percentage (.543) and second in offensive rebounding (3.6). Everett ranks fourth in assists (4.6 apg) and third in steals (2.4 spg) while McKenzie ranks first in 3-point percentage (.500) and third in treys a game (2.5).

CONNECTICUT LEFTOVERS
OU shot .525 from the field a year after shooting .274 against the Huskies.
Connecticut's .352 field goal mark was its second worst of the season.
Taj Gray's double-double was his third straight and sixth in the last eight contests.
Kevin Bookout was 5-for-11 from the field, marking the first time this year he shot below .500 in a game.
Lawrence McKenzie was 5-for-7 from 3-point range to improve to 27-for-53 (.509) from beyond the arc over the last nine games. He leads the Big 12 with his .500 season mark.
Five Sooners scored in double digits for the fifth time of the year (OU is 5-0 under the circumstance).
OU recorded more steals than its opponent for the 10th straight game.
Oklahoma improved to 58-4 in its last 62 home games (.935) and won its 10 straight at Lloyd Noble.

OVER THE LAST FOUR GAMES...
Oklahoma has shot .524 from the field and won by an average of 35.0 points.
Taj Gray has averaged 20.3 points and 10.3 boards.
Lawrence McKenzie has gone 15-for-30 from 3-point range and has averaged 14.5 points.
Terrell Everett has gone 11-for-11 from the free throw line.
The Sooners have outrebounded their foes by an average of 8.8 a game.
Oklahoma has forced 79 turnovers (19.8 average) while committing 46 (11.5 average).

ABOUT BAYLOR
Baylor, picked to finish last in the Big 12 by both league coaches and media, sports an 8-4 record and has won six of its last seven following a 2-3 start. The Bears are coming off an 86-50 Thursday night home win over Savannah State. Baylor is 0-1 in conference play, losing at Texas on Sunday by a 79-60 score. It is 7-2 at home this year and 1-2 on the road. Its lone road win came at Purdue on Dec. 30, 73-72.

Freshman point guard Aaron Bruce, who hails from Australia, leads Baylor in scoring and assists with 16.3 and 3.7 respective averages. Bruce makes 2.1 3-pointers per game and is shooting .490 from beyond the arc and .875 from the foul line. Sophomore forward Tim Bush, who began his career at LSU, is averaging 15.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in his eight games. He has scored at least 20 points three times and is shooting .526 from 3-point range (10-for-19). Junior center Tommy Swanson is Baylor's lone returning letterwinner from last year and is averaging 13.4 points and a team-high 7.2 boards. He also leads the squad with 10 blocked shots. A pair of guards sophomore Patrick Fields and junior Kevis Shipman round out BU's starting five. Fields averages 12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists a game while Shipman averages 7.0 points and has made 25 treys.

Scott Drew is in his second year as Baylor's head coach and owns a 16-25 (.390) record there. He owns a 36-36 career mark after coaching Valparaiso to a 20-11 record in 2002-03.

SERIES WITH BAYLOR
Oklahoma has won its last 20 games against Baylor and leads the all-time series, 25-5 (11-2 in Waco). Kelvin Sampson is 18-0 versus the Bears as OU's head coach (his teams have won by an average of 18 points) and has guided the Sooners to a 9-0 mark inside the Ferrell Center.

Last year, OU posted a 78-67 win in Waco and a 46-41 victory in Norman on Senior Day. In the first meeting on Jan. 28, eight Sooners scored at least eight points for the first time since the first game of the 1995-96 season. Jason Detrick was 9-for-10 from the foul line and scored a team-high 15 points as OU earned the road win. The Sooners' .500 field goal effort was their second best of the season. In the March 6 rematch, Oklahoma shot .296 from the field and trailed by 10 (32-22) with 13 minutes left. It took the lead with 2:49 remaining on a Detrick 3-pointer and won by five. Drew Lavender scored all of his team-high 10 points in the first half. OU's 46 points were its fewest in victory since Jan. 31, 1959 (a span of 1,344 games). The game was the last of the year for Baylor.

BACK IN THE RANKINGS
The Sooners are back in the national rankings this week at No. 25 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. OU did not appear in the previous 15 AP top-25 polls after appearing in 46 straight during the 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. Of those 46 consecutive weeks as a member of the AP's top 25, OU was ranked in the top 10 for 34 of them.

OU HAS WON NEARLY 70 PERCENT OF ITS BIG 12 GAMES
Dating back to the start of Big 12 Conference play during the 1996-97 season, Oklahoma has posted an 89-40 league record for a .690 winning percentage. Only Kansas (108-22; .831) and Texas (90-40; .692) own better marks than OU. Oklahoma State is fourth at 86-44 (.662) and Missouri is fifth at 71-59 (.546). Including Big 12 Tournament games, OU owns a 105-45 record (.700), second best in the conference behind Kansas (123-27; .820). The Sooners are 16-5 in the Big 12 Tournament and have won three of the eight tourney titles.

BOOKOUT REIGNING BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior forward Kevin Bookout was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week on Monday after scoring a career-high 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in OU's 85-55 home win over Colorado last Saturday. Bookout made his first seven field goal attempts and finished 13-for-14 from the field (his lone miss was blocked). The game marked his 12th in a row this year to shoot .500 or better from the field.

LONG DISTANCE DIALER
Sophomore guard Lawrence McKenzie, who leads the Big 12 and ranks 10th in the nation in 3-point percentage (.500), has been especially hot of late. McKenzie has made at least four treys in each of the last three games (he was 5-for-7 against Connecticut) and is averaging 16.7 points over the stretch. The Minneapolis, Minn., native has made at least two 3-pointers in 11 of his 13 games and at least three treys in seven games. He ranks third in the league in 3-pointers made per game (2.7). Last year, McKenzie made 45 3-pointers and registered a .321 mark from beyond the arc.

OU'S FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE MUCH IMPROVED
After shooting better than .500 from the field in six of its first seven games, Oklahoma failed to reach the mark in its next three contests. But OU responded with a .613 effort against Florida A&M on Dec. 30, its third best mark under 11th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and best in 234 games, a .500 performance Jan. 2 versus Texas-Pan American and a .525 effort Jan. 10 against No. 12 Connecticut. The Sooners now own a .487 season mark and have shot .500 or better in nine of 14 games. OU shot .408 from the field last year its worst mark in 40 seasons and shot .500 or better just three times all season.

SOONERS ON POSITIVE END OF 3-POINT DISPARITY
The Sooners have made 89 3-pointers this season (an average of 6.8 a game) and are shooting .377 from beyond the arc. Opponents, by comparison, have canned just 37 treys (2.8 a game) and are shooting .248 from long range. Oklahoma has made more 3-pointers than its opponent in 13 of 14 games (OU and Duke both made four treys on Dec. 18). Lawrence McKenzie is averaging 2.7 3-point makes a game and ranks second in the Big 12 Conference with his .500 season percentage. Jaison Williams, who had a five 3-point field goal performance against Tulsa on Dec. 28, averages 1.8 treys per outing.

GENEROUS GUARDS
Starting guards Terrell Everett and Drew Lavender lead the team in assists with 4.6 and 4.0 per game, respectively. The last time OU had two players average 4.0 or more handouts for an entire season was in 1993-94. John Ontjes averaged 6.5 assists while Pete Lewis averaged 4.0 in Billy Tubbs' final season as Oklahoma's head coach.

WHY DON'T WE STEAL AWAY
OU recorded a season-high 16 steals against Florida A&M on Dec. 30 and now ranks second in the Big 12 with its 9.9 steals a game. The Sooners have logged 10 or more thefts in six of the last nine games and have recorded more steals than their opponents each of the last 10 games. Junior guard Terrell Everett is averaging 2.3 steals on the year to rank third in the Big 12 and has 20 over the last six outings (3.3 average).

JUCO TRANSFERS SUPPLYING IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Junior college transfers Taj Gray and Terrell Everett have quickly become two of OU's top producers this season. Gray, a 6-9, 235-pounder, leads OU in scoring (15.6 ppg), rebounding (8.6 rpg) and blocked shots (1.7 bpg) in 27.2 minutes a contest. The unanimous Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year has already won a pair of league rookie-of-the-week honors, the first one after recording 29 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocks in OU's season-opening win against Cal State Northridge. Gray has registered seven games of 10 or more rebounds and has registered double-doubles in six of the last eight games. He leads the Big 12 with seven double-doubles on the year.

Everett, a 6-4, 185-pound left-handed guard, has been steady all season at the wing and point guard spots. He is averaging 13.1 points (ranks second on team), 4.4 rebounds (ranks third) and a team-high 4.6 assists a game, and is shooting .433 from beyond the 3-point arc. Everett has scored in double figures in each of the last 13 games and is averaging 13.8 over the last 12. He was named Big 12 Rookie of the Week following his three-game performance at the Great Alaska Shootout.

BOOKOUT LEADS BIG 12 IN FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
Oklahoma's leader in field goal percentage his first two seasons, junior forward Kevin Bookout is shooting a remarkable .661 from the field this season (72-for-109) to lead the Big 12 Conference (Baylor's Tommy Swanson ranks second in the league at .594). His field goal mark ranks fourth in this week's national statistics. The 6-8, 259-pound Bookout shot .500 or better in his first 12 games this year (he was 5-for-11 Monday versus Connecticut). Bookout earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors on Monday after a 13-for-14 field goal performance against Colorado in which he scored 27 points. He also made nine of his 10 field goal attempts against then-No. 22 Washington on Nov. 26, was 5-for-5 against Cal State Northridge in the season opener and was 6-for-6 in the second half at Purdue on Dec. 8. He shot .587 as a freshman to lead the Big 12 and posted a .516 mark last year in 13 games.

SOONERS SPORTING MORE SCORING BALANCE IN 2004-05
Oklahoma's guards accounted for 68 percent of the team's points last season. That figure is down this year, however, as the Sooners have showcased a potent inside attack. OU's guards have scored 618 of the squad's 1,104 points, or 56 percent this season. Junior forwards Taj Gray (15.6 ppg) and Kevin Bookout (12.8 ppg) are the main reasons OU's frontcourt production has increased from 32 percent of the team's points last year to 44 percent this year. Gray and Bookout rank first and third on the squad in scoring.

GUARDS TIGHTEN DEFENSIVE SCREWS
Oklahoma's guards have done a solid job of defending the 3-point line this season as the team leads the Big 12 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.261). No opponent has made more than five 3-pointers against OU this year. Conversely, the Sooners have made at least five treys in 13 of 14 games.

BETTER TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE
The Sooners have registered 235 assists through 14 contests for an average of 16.8 a game. An assist has been credited on 58 percent of OU's field goals. Last year's team averaged 12.1 assists a contest and 53 percent of its baskets were assisted.

NOT AFRAID OF REJECTION
Junior forward Taj Gray (6-9) and freshman center Longar Longar (6-11) have been intimidating in the paint with their shot-blocking ability. Gray has registered three games of four rejections while Longar has blocked three shots on three occasions. Gray is averaging 1.7 swats an outing to rank third in the Big 12. Longar is averaging 1.3 blocks in 12.3 minutes a game to rank 11th in the league. The Sooners are averaging 4.3 blocks a contest as a team. Senior Johnnie Gilbert, who has six blocked shots this year, ranks fourth on OU's career list with 115.

TURNOVERS DOWN LATELY
Oklahoma has averaged 9.7 turnovers over the last three games, down significantly from the 15.7 miscues it averaged over its first 11 games. The Sooners are now averaging 14.4 turnovers per game on the year and have committed fewer turnovers than 12 of their 14 opponents this year. OU is forcing its foes into 18.9 turnovers a game, third most in the Big 12.

ANOTHER TURNOVER NOTE
Dating back to the start of the 2003-04 season, Oklahoma has committed more turnovers than its opponent just six times in its last 45 games (13 percent of the time).

BREAKING 80
The Sooners have been tough to beat under Kelvin Sampson when they score at least 80 points in a game. Since Sampson arrived in Norman prior to the 1994-95 season, OU is 120-12 (.909) when reaching 80 points. The Sooners have won 37 of their last 39 and 53 of their last 56 when scoring 80 or more.

TOUGH SLATE
Oklahoma will play four games this year against teams in the current AP poll's top six and will play eight games against teams in the top 14. OU has already faced No. 5 Duke, No. 12 Connecticut and No. 14 Washington. It will play once against No. 2 Kansas and twice each against No. 5 Oklahoma State and No. 10 Texas.

OKLAHOMA TIP INS
Oklahoma has made more 3-pointers than its opponent 13 of its 14 games (it tied Duke with four makes).
Lawrence McKenzie has made at least four 3-pointers in each of the last three games (four versus Texas-Pan American and Colorado, five versus Connecticut) and is averaging 4.3 treys during the stretch.
OU's two losses have come to teams who own a combined 26-2 record (Duke is 12-0 and Washington is 14-2).
The Sooners have made 55 more 3-pointers than their opponents this season.
Junior guard Terrell Everett has scored in double figures in each of the last 13 games.
Everett has made his last 12 free throw attempts after starting the year 32-for-47 (.681).
OU shot .500 or better from the field three times all of last season, but has done it in nine of its 14 games this year. The Sooners shot .408 last year but own a .487 mark this season.
Junior forward Kevin Bookout went 13-for-14 from the field against Colorado last Saturday (Big 12's best field goal percentage game this season) and has shot .500 or better in 12 of his 13 games (he leads the Big 12 with a .661 season figure). His 9-for-10 shooting performance against Washington ranks as the league's second best this year in terms of field goal percentage.
OU's starting frontcourt of Bookout (.661) and Taj Gray (.543) is shooting a combined .592 from the field.
McKenzie has made multiple 3-point field goals in 11 of his 13 games this year, including each of the last nine. He is 27-for-53 over the last nine contests.
Oklahoma was outrebounded by an average of 6.0 boards in its losses to Washington and Duke. In its 12 wins, OU is outrebounding its foes by 6.0 a game.
Freshman guard David Godbold has scored 23 of his 38 points, grabbed 15 of his 27 rebounds and played 60 of his 120 minutes in two games this year versus Coppin State and Florida A&M.
Seventeen of Godbold's 27 rebounds (63 percent) have been offensive.
Freshman center Longar Longar is 21-for-26 from the field this season (.808). His first six field goals were dunks and he has 12 slams on the year.
Sophomore Drew Lavender, a .782 free throw shooter a year ago, is 22-for-23 (.957) this season.
OU averaged 2.3 dunks a game last year. Through 14 games this season it is averaging 3.7 a contest.
Four Sooners are averaging double figures in points.
OU has won 59 of its last 63 home games (.937).

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 89-40 (.690) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 141-20 (.876) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 59 of its last 63 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

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