OU Hosts Connecticut on Big Monday

GAME INFORMATION
Winner of five straight and nine of its last 10, Oklahoma (11-2) hosts defending national champ Connecticut (9-2) on Monday at 8 p.m. CST at Lloyd Noble Center. The Huskies are ranked 10th in the current AP poll and ninth in the ESPN/USA Today version. Monday's 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 nationally televised by ESPN (Cox Cable 29 in OKC) and ESPN HD with Ron Franklin (play-by-play), Fran Fraschilla (analyst) and Stacey Dales-Schuman (courtside reporter) announcing.

Game Notes in PDF

TICKET AVAILABILITY
Upper-level reserved seats for Monday's game are still available for $20 and $25 online at SoonerSports.com. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open at 6 p.m. on Monday.

PROJECTED CONNECTICUT STARTERS (Stats averages)
F 3 Charlie Villanueva (6-11, 240, So., 11.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 0.9 apg)
F 22 Rudy Gay (6-9, 220, Fr. 10.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.5 apg)
C 21 Josh Boone (6-10, 237, So. 16.6 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 1.2 apg)
G 5 Marcus Williams (6-3, 205, So. 6.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 7.3 apg)
G 31 Rashad Anderson (6-5, 215, Jr. 14.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.3 apg)

PROJECTED OKLAHOMA STARTERS (Stats averages)
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 235, Jr., 15.0 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.5 apg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 259, Jr., 13.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 0.7 apg)
G 2 Jaison Williams (6-3, 181, Sr., 9.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.9 apg)
G 3 Drew Lavender (5-7, 153, So., 7.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 4.0 apg)
G 20 Terrell Everett (6-4, 185, Jr., 13.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 4.4 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
The Sooners successfully began Big 12 Conference play on Saturday with a comfortable 85-55 home win over Colorado as junior forwards Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray combined for 46 points and 22 rebounds. Bookout scored a career-high 27 points on remarkable 13-for-14 field goal shooting (his only miss was blocked) and pulled down 11 boards for his second double-double of the year. Gray netted 17 of his 19 points in the first half and also finished with 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Sophomore guard Lawrence McKenzie drained four 3-pointers for the second straight game and scored 14 points while junior backcourt mate Terrell Everett made three treys en route to 13 points. OU outboarded the Buffs by a 48-35 margin and held them to .383 field goal shooting.

Bookout leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage (.684) while Gray ranks eighth in scoring (15.0 ppg), third in rebounding (8.4 rpg), fourth in blocked shots (1.5 bpg), fifth in field goal percentage (.545) and first in offensive rebounding (3.6). Everett ranks fifth in assists (4.4 apg) and third in steals (2.3 spg) while McKenzie ranks second in 3-point percentage (.476) and third in treys a game (2.5).

COLORADO LEFTOVERS
The frontcourt accounted for 64 percent of OU's points. The frontcourt's biggest production this year prior to Saturday was 52 percent of the team's points (against Cal State Northridge in the season opener).
Twenty-three of OU's 48 rebounds were offensive. Its previous season high for offensive boards was 16.
Taj Gray made six of his first seven shots and scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half. Gray and Kevin Bookout were a combined 14-for-16 from the field in the first half (Bookout was 7-for-7).
Drew Lavender and Jaison Williams did not score but combined for 13 assists (seven by Lavender and six by Williams) and just two turnovers.
Lawrence McKenzie was 4-for-11 from 3-point range and is 22-for-46 (.478) from beyond the arc over the last eight games. He ranks second in the Big 12 with his .476 season mark.
The Sooners won their 21st straight at home against Colorado and 39th in their last 40 versus CU at home.
OU recorded more steals than its opponent for the ninth 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 THREE GAMES...
Oklahoma has shot .524 from the field and won by an average of 43.0 points.
Taj Gray has averaged 19.3 points and 10.3 boards.
Longar Longar has gone 14-for-18 from the field and averaged 13.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 22.3 minutes a game.
Lawrence McKenzie has gone 10-for-23 from 3-point range and has averaged 13.3 points.
Terrell Everett has gone 11-for-11 from the free throw line.
The Sooners have outrebounded their foes by an average of 12.7 a game.
Oklahoma has forced 66 turnovers while committing 34.
OU has recorded halves of 50, 54, 48, 46, 44 and 41 points (chronological order).

ABOUT CONNECTICUT
Defending national champion Connecticut enters Monday's game with a 9-2 record and has won five of its last six. The Huskies rebounded from a 75-70 home loss to Boston College on Wednesday with a 66-59 win at Georgetown on Saturday. UConn led the Hoyas by 20 at the half. The Huskies, whose only other defeat came at Massachusetts (61-59 on Dec. 9), is shooting .443 from the field, .326 from 3-point range and .695 from the free throw line. They are outscoring their opponents 83.5 to 63.4 and are outrebounding them 51.8 to 34.2.

Sophomore forward/center Josh Boone averages a double-double with his 16.6 points and 10.6 rebounds a game, both team highs. He also leads the Huskies with 3.5 blocked shots a game. The 6-10 Boone is shooting .618 from the field and .770 from the foul line. Forty-seven percent of his rebounds have been offensive. Junior guard/forward Rashad Anderson scores 14.2 points a contest and has made a team-high 24 treys (he is shooting .282 from beyond the arc). Sophomore forward Charlie Villanueva, a member of the USA World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Team coached by OU's Kelvin Sampson last summer, averages 11.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 rejections. He had 19 points and 13 boards Saturday at Georgetown. Rudy Gay, a freshman forward, is averaging 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds, and is shooting .625 from 3-point territory (10-for-16). Sophomore point guard Marcus Williams averages 6.0 points and 7.3 assists a game.

Jim Calhoun is in his 19th year as Connecticut's head coach and owns a 441-167 (.725) record there. He has directed the Huskies to national titles in 1999 and 2004. In his 33rd year as a collegiate head coach, Calhoun sports a 689-304 (.694) record.

SERIES WITH CONNECTICUT
Oklahoma leads the series with Connecticut, 2-1, with one game being played each of the last three years. The Sooners won 69-67 on Jan. 7, 2002, in Hartford and posted a 73-63 home win exactly a year later. Last season in Storrs, the No. 1 Huskies handed the No. 6 Sooners an 86-59 defeat as OU shot .274 from the field and was outrebounded 50-37. Oklahoma's five frontcourt players combined for eight points on 3-for-22 shooting and all 10 Sooners who played shot below .500 from the field. Drew Lavender was 5-for-8 from 3-point range and scored a game-high 22 points (20 after halftime) to go along with seven assists. Emeka Okafor led five UConn players in double figures with 21 points and added 10 rebounds. It was OU's first loss of the year after winning its first 10.

SAMPSON TO RECEIVE USA BASKETBALL TROPHY MONDAY
Following Monday's national anthem, OU head coach Kelvin Sampson will be presented with the USA Basketball 2004 Developmental Coach of the Year Award, an honor announced on Dec. 16 for guiding the USA World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Team to a 5-0 record and a gold medal last summer in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As recipient of the award, which was determined by the USA Basketball Executive Committee, Sampson has been nominated by USA Basketball for the U.S. Olympic Committee's Developmental Coach of the Year award, which will be announced by the USOC at a later date. Said Sampson, “It's wonderful to receive this honor, but the real honor is just to be asked to represent your country. The fact that they asked me to be the head coach of that team I was raised to say yes' to that.” Players on Sampson's USA squad included Chris Paul and Justin Gray (Wake Forest), Hassan Adams and Mustafa Shakur (Arizona), Sean May (North Carolina), P.J. Tucker (Texas), Charlie Villanueva (Connecticut), Curtis Withers (Charlotte) and Bracey Wright (Indiana).

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, and a .500 performance Jan. 2 versus Texas-Pan American. The Sooners now own a .484 season mark and have shot .500 or better in eight of 13 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. Lawrence McKenzie is averaging 2.5 3-point makes a game and ranks second in the Big 12 Conference with his .476 season percentage. Jaison Williams, who had a five 3-point field goal performance against Tulsa on Dec. 28, averages 1.9 treys per outing.

GENEROUS GUARDS
Starting guards Terrell Everett and Drew Lavender lead the team in assists with 4.4 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 leads the Big 12 with its 10.2 steals a game. The Sooners have logged 10 or more thefts in six of the last eight games and have recorded more steals than their opponents each of the last nine games. Junior guard Terrell Everett is averaging 2.3 steals on the year to rank third in the Big 12 and has 17 over the last five outings (3.4 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 (15.0 ppg), rebounding (8.4 rpg) and blocked shots (1.5 bpg) in 26.6 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 six games of 11 or more rebounds and has registered double-doubles in five of the last seven games.

Everett, a 6-4, 185-pound left-handed guard, has been steady all season at the wing and point guard spots. He is averaging 13.3 points (ranks second on team), 4.2 rebounds (ranks third) and a team-high 4.4 assists a game, and is shooting .433 from beyond the 3-point arc. Everett has scored in double figures in each of the last 12 games and is averaging 14.1 over the last 11. 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 .684 from the field this season (67-for-98) to lead the Big 12 Conference (Baylor's Tommy Swanson ranks second in the league at .614). Entering the week, Xavier's Brian Thornton led the NCAA with a .671 figure. The 6-8, 259-pound Bookout has shot .500 or better in all 12 of his games this year. He is coming off a 13-for-14 field goal performance against Colorado. 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 577 of the squad's 1,027 points, or 56 percent this season. Junior forwards Taj Gray (15.0 ppg) and Kevin Bookout (13.0 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 (.248). Over the last 10 games, opponents are shooting .237 from beyond the arc (27-for-114). No opponent has made more than five 3-pointers against OU this year. Conversely, the Sooners have made at least five treys in 12 of 13 games.

BETTER TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE
The Sooners have registered 218 assists through 13 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 two games of four rejections while Longar has blocked three shots on three occasions. Gray is averaging 1.5 swats an outing to rank fourth in the Big 12. Longar is averaging 1.4 blocks in 12.8 minutes a game to rank ninth in the league. The Sooners are averaging 4.2 blocks a contest as a team. Senior Johnnie Gilbert, who has five blocked shots this year, ranks fourth on OU's career list with 114.

TURNOVERS UP, BUT...
Partially because of OU's up-tempo style of play this season, the team's turnover average has increased by nearly two a game from last year. The Sooners are averaging 14.6 offensive miscues a game compared to 13.1 per contest last season. However, Oklahoma has committed fewer turnovers than 11 of its 13 opponents this year. OU is forcing its foes into 19.4 turnovers a game, 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 44 games (14 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.

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS
Lloyd Noble Center has always been extremely kind to the Sooners. Oklahoma, which has won 10 straight inside LNC, has gone 140-20 (.875) inside the building during Kelvin Sampson's 10-plus years as head coach. Since the start of the 2001-02 season, OU is 52-4 (.929) at Lloyd Noble (it finished 14-3 last year, 15-1 in 2002-03 and 16-0 in 2001-02). Oklahoma is 376-63 (.856) inside Lloyd Noble since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign and has won 58 of its last 62. 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 home streak in Big 12 history.

TOUGH SLATE
Oklahoma will play four games this year against teams in the current AP poll's top seven and will play eight games against teams in the top 15. OU has already faced No. 5 Duke and No. 12 Washington. It will play once against No. 2 Kansas and No. 10 Connecticut, and twice each against No. 7 Oklahoma State and No. 15 Texas.

OKLAHOMA TIP INS
OU's two losses have come to teams who own a combined 25-2 record (Duke is 11-0 and Washington is 13-2).
The Sooners have made 52 more 3-pointers than their opponents this season.
Junior guard Terrell Everett has scored in double figures in each of the last 12 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 eight of its 13 games this year. The Sooners shot .408 last year but own a .484 mark this season.
Junior forward Kevin Bookout went 13-for-14 from the field against Colorado on Saturday and has shot .500 or better in each of his 12 games (he leads the Big 12 with a .684 season figure). He also went 5-for-5 from the field against Cal State Northridge, 9-for-10 against Washington and 6-for-6 in the second half at Purdue.
OU's starting frontcourt of Bookout (.684) and Taj Gray (.545) is shooting a combined .603 from the field.
Lawrence McKenzie has made multiple 3-point field goals in 10 of his 12 games this year, including each of the last eight. He is 22-for-46 over the last eight contests.
Oklahoma was outrebounded by an average of 6.0 boards in its losses to Washington and Duke. In its 11 wins, OU is outrebounding its foes by 6.8 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.
A career .527 free throw shooter entering the year, Bookout is off to a 22-for-30 start this season (.733).
OU averaged 2.3 dunks a game last year. Through 13 games this season it is averaging 3.8 a contest.
Four Sooners are averaging double figures in points.
OU has won 58 of its last 62 home games (.935).

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).

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 140-20 (.875) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 58 of its last 62 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

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors