OU, Bama Set for New Year's Eve Battle

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 14 in the AP poll and No.15 in the ESPN/USA Today version, Oklahoma (7-2) plays its marquee non-conference home game of the year Saturday when its hosts Alabama (6-4) at Lloyd Noble Center at 3:30 p.m. CST. 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 by ESPN (Cox 29 in OKC and Cox 25 in Tulsa) with Dave O'Brien (play-by-play) and Jay Bilas (analyst) announcing.

TICKET INFORMATION
Reserved seats to Saturday's game are sold out. Restricted admission tickets will go on sale for $15 beginning at 2 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows.

Game Notes PDF | Season Stats

ALABAMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 1 Chuck Davis (6-8, 230, Sr., 18.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.2 apg)
F 12 Richard Hendrix (6-8, 265, Fr., 8.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 0.9 apg)
F 35 Alonzo Gee (6-6, 215, Fr., 8.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.2 apg)
C 33 Jermareo Davidson (6-10, 220, Jr., 12.8 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 0.9 apg)
G 22 Ronald Steele (6-3, 185, So., 10.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.7 apg)

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 16.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 0.6 apg)
F 24 Nate Carter (6-6, 220, Jr., 8.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.8 apg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 13.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 0.0 apg)
G 2 Michael Neal (6-3, 191, Jr., 11.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.3 apg)
G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 11.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 6.0 apg)

OU UPDATE
In a tight contest, the Sooners rebounded from a 24-point loss to West Virginia with an 81-73 home win over Oral Roberts on Wednesday. Oklahoma was outshot by the Golden Eagles (.549 to .431) and was outrebounded for the first time this season (35 to 33) but committed a season-low five turnovers while forcing 18. After taking a 37-31 halftime lead, OU fell behind by seven (51-44) at the 13:18 mark. The Sooners regained a couple of short-lived leads but they evaporated into a five-point deficit with 5:37 to play. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Terrell Everett, a 3-point play by Kevin Bookout and two final-minute offensive rebounds by Nate Carter that led to four OU points highlighted a 19-6 spurt to close the game.

Bookout scored a season-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Everett scored 17 points (all in the second half) and handed out five assists, Carter contributed 16 points (his most in an OU uniform) and six rebounds, and Taj Gray had 12 points and nine boards as OU won its 45th straight non-conference home game and ninth consecutive overall at Lloyd Noble Center.

Gray, who is averaging 21.0 points over the last five games, averages team highs in scoring (16.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg) on the year while shooting .642 from the field and .764 from the free throw line. Since halftime of the Villanova game on Dec. 3, the 6-9, 238-pounder is 36-for-47 from the field for a remarkable .766 figure. Frontcourt mate Bookout averages 13.0 points and 7.1 boards while shooting .639 from the field. The OU career leader in field goal percentage (.585) has shot .500 or better in all nine games and in 34 of his last 41 games dating back the the start of last season.

Everett averages 11.7 points in a team-high 33.3 minutes a game and ranks second in the Big 12 with his 6.0 assists per contest. Junior guard Michael Neal adds 11.2 points and 2.3 assists an outing. He has also made 26 treys (2.9 average).

WEDNESDAY'S LEFTOVERS
Kevin Bookout scored 11 straight first-half points for OU. He was 10-of-18 from the field after going 2-for-4 in the loss to West Virginia. The 18 field goal attempts were a career high and his 24 points marked his second highest career total.
The Sooners were 20-for-26 (.769) from the free throw line, giving them six performances of .750 or better in nine games this year.
Oklahoma's five turnovers tied as the second fewest of the 12-year Kelvin Sampson era.
Freshman guard Austin Johnson was held out of the game due to a sprained ankle.

ABOUT ALABAMA
Southeastern Conference foe Alabama sports a 6-4 record after beginning the season ranked No. 15 and 14 in the AP and ESPN/USA Today preseason polls. The Crimson Tide had lost three of four games before downing Jackson State on Tuesday, 101-66, in Tuscaloosa. Alabama's four losses have come to Memphis (87-76), Notre Dame (78-71), at Temple (68-58) and N.C. State (68-64). Saturday's game will mark UA's second road contest of the year. The Tide is shooting .479 from the field, .348 from 3-point range and .689 from the free throw line.

Like Oklahoma, Alabama's top two scorers are big men. Senior forward Chuck Davis averages 18.0 points a game (he had a season-high 29 against Notre Dame) on .585 shooting and also supplies 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.0 blocks. Junior center Jermareo Davidson averages 12.8 points and squad highs in boards (10.3) and blocks (2.6). He is coming off a 22-point, 11-rebound performance against Jackson State. Sophomore point guard Ronald Steele averages 10.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest. He is also shooting a team-high .862 from the foul line (25-for-29). Freshmen forwards Alonzo Gee and Richard Hendrix average 8.6 and 8.3 points, respectively.

Mark Gottfried is in his eighth year as Alabama's head coach and owns a 149-87 (.631) record. He is in his 11th season as a collegiate head coach and is 217-111 (.662) overall.

SERIES WITH ALABAMA
Oklahoma holds a 3-1 series advantage with Alabama and is 1-0 against the Crimson Tide in Norman. OU won the first three meetings, 79-70 in 1970-71 in Tuscaloosa, 79-73 in 1971-72 in Norman and 79-61 in 1997-98 in Oklahoma City. The Crimson Tide won the last matchup, 68-62, in the opening game of 2002-03 in New York City (the box score is on page 21 of these game notes). Kelvin Sampson is 1-1 against Alabama as OU's head coach.

Kevin Bookout is the lone current Sooner who played in the last meeting between the schools (Nov. 14, 2002). Then a freshman, Bookout started and supplied six points and two rebounds in his first career game.

SAMPSON, GOTTFRIED, BILAS REUNITE
Saturday will mark a special occasion as Kelvin Sampson, Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried and ESPN announcer Jay Bilas will reunite four months after a trip to Kuwait saw them coach military basketball teams as part of the “Operation Hardwood Hoops With The Troops” tournament at Camp Arifjan. Joining the trio in Kuwait as head coaches of U.S. service members were Michigan State's Tom Izzo, Charlotte's Bobby Lutz, South Carolina's Dave Odom, former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins and former St. John's coach Mike Jarvis.

Sampson's Camp Ali Al Salem squad finished in third place with a 2-2 record and defeated Gottfried's team in a first-round matchup by two points. Izzo's Camp Arifjan team won the tournament.

The event was documented by ESPN cameras and a one-hour show will be televised by the network following Saturday's game.

SMU GAME DATE MOVED
Oklahoma's game at SMU originally scheduled for Jan. 4 has been moved up one day to Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 7 p.m. CST.

QUICK TIPS
Dating back to last year, Oklahoma has outrebounded 15 of its last 17 opponents.
Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout rank second and third in the Big 12 with respective field goal marks of .643 and .639.
Gray is shooting .766 from the field (36-for-47) over the last four-and-a-half games. He was 8-for-8 in the second half against Villanova, 5-for-6 versus Coppin State, 8-for-11 against Southern, 11-for-14 against West Virginia and 4-for-8 versus Oral Roberts.
Bookout is shooting .727 from the field over the past six games and owns the OU career record in field goal percentage with a .585 mark.
Gray has made 29 of his last 36 free throw attempts (.806) and owns a .764 season mark. He shot .646 last year.
Michael Neal ranks second the Big 12 in 3-pointers made per game (2.9) and ranks sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (.351). He has made at least two treys in eight of nine games.
Gray is averaging 21.0 points while shooting .698 from the field over the last five games (37-for-53).
Opponents are shooting .420 from 3-point range through nine games (OU ranks last in the Big 12 in the category). Last year, OU set a school record by allowing foes to shoot just .292 from beyond the arc.
In 33 games last year, OU logged 20 or more offensive rebounds twice. It has at least 20 offensive boards three times already in nine games this year, and 19 in another.
The Sooners have won 71 of their last 76 games at Lloyd Noble Center (.934).

AS DIFFERENT AS NIGHT AND GRAY
After a somewhat slow start in which he averaged 10.3 points over OU's first four games, Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Taj Gray has more than come to life since. The 6-9, 238-pounder is averaging 21.0 points and shooting .698 from the field over the last five contests. Gray, who averages 16.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks on the year, averages 27.7 minutes per game and has played more than 30 minutes just three times in nine outings.

First 4 games: 15-28 FGs (.536), 11-15 FTs (.733), 10.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg
Last 5 games: 37-53 FGs (.698), 31-40 FTs (.775), 21.0 ppg, 8.6 rpg

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS
Lloyd Noble Center has been overly kind to the Sooners, as they have won 71 of their last 76 games (.934) in the building dating back to January 2001. Oklahoma posted a 14-1 home mark in 2004-05 and is now 153-21 (.879) at Lloyd Noble in Kelvin Sampson's 11-plus years as head coach. OU is 390-64 (.859) in the building since it opened prior to the 1975-76 campaign. The Sooners have posted home winning streaks of 51 games (1987-90) and 37 games (2001-03). The 37-game streak is a Big 12 Conference record.

HOME COURT NON-CONFERENCE RULE
The Sooners have won 45 straight non-conference home games and 53 of their last 54. The 45 consecutive home non-conference wins gives them the longest current streak in the country (tied with Illinois). Cincinnati is the last non-conference opponent to hand OU a loss inside Lloyd Noble Center, a 72-57 outcome on Dec. 22, 1999. Oklahoma holds an 83-5 (.943) home non-conference record under 12th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson. Besides Cincinnati, the four non-league teams to beat a Sampson-coached OU team in Norman were Texas Tech (81-69 on Nov. 29, 1995 [pre-Big 12]), Mississippi State (76-71 on Feb. 10, 1996), Memphis (80-78 on Dec. 13, 1997) and Murray State (68-64 on Nov. 28, 1998).

Trailing Oklahoma and Illinois in consecutive home non-conference wins are Duke (40), Utah State (34), Maryland (28), Tennessee-Martin (28), Wisconsin (27) and Sam Houston State (26).

WINDOW WIPERS
Oklahoma ranks third in the nation in rebounding margin. The Sooners are outrebounding their opponents 343-230 on the year for a per-game margin of +12.6. Only LSU (+18.7) and Texas (+12.8) average a larger rebounding margin. Here are some more rebounding notes.

OU outrebounded its first eight opponents of the year. Included were margins of 28 against Samford, 22 against Belmont, 18 against Binghamton, 16 versus Tulsa and 13 against Southern.
Oklahoma has grabbed 154 offensive boards (17.1 per game) while its foes have secured 69 (7.7).
Last year, OU registered 20 or more offensive rebounds twice in 33 games. This year's squad has already accomplished the feat three times with another game of 19 offensive boards.
Taj Gray averages a team-high 7.9 rebounds while Kevin Bookout averages 7.1. The last time two Sooners both averaged more than 7.0 rebounds a game was in 1998-99 (Eduardo Najera and Ryan Humphrey averaged 8.3 and 7.5 boards, respectively).
Pro-rated to 40 minutes, Taylor Griffin, a freshman, is averaging a team-high 12.5 boards per outing. He has averaged 12.4 minutes per game.

GRAY, BOOKOUT POSTING GAUDY NUMBERS
Senior big men Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout are showing why they're regarded as one of the nation's top frontcourt tandems. Over the last five games, the pair has scored 183 of the team's 348 points, or 53 percent (Gray is averaging 21.0 points while Bookout is averaging 15.6). During the same span, they have shot a combined .676 from the field (69-for-102).

Since halftime of the Villanova game on Dec. 3, Gray is shooting a stellar .766 from the field (36-for-47). Bookout has shot .500 or better in all nine games and has posted a .667 figure over the past six outings (34-for-51).

CHARITY CASE
After ranking sixth in the Big 12 last year in free throw percentage with a .690 season mark (and ranking 10th in league games with a .675 figure), the Sooners rank third in the conference so far this year by shooting .730. OU has shot better than .750 in six of its nine games. Nate Carter ranks seventh in the Big 12 with his .778 season mark while Taj Gray ranks ninth at .764.

Gray is averaging 8.0 free throw attempts over the last five contests.

DECEMBER 3-POINT COLD SPELL
The Sooners went 17-for-37 (.459) from 3-point range over their first two games of the year but have struggled since. Over the last seven games, OU has gone 31-for-120 (.258) from beyond the arc to drop its season figure to .306 (ranks last in the Big 12). Junior guard Michael Neal is 26-for-74 (.351) from 3-point range on the year while the rest of the squad is only 22-for-83 (.265). Terrell Everett ranks second on the team with nine 3-pointers.

POLL VAULTING
Oklahoma has been ranked in the AP Top 25 poll 108 weeks since Kelvin Sampson became head coach in 1994. The Sooners made their top-10 debut under Sampson during their 2001-02 Final Four season and since then have been ranked in the top 10 in 41 of the polls. This marks the first time in eight weeks this year that OU is not ranked in the top 10 (it is No. 14).

BOOKOUT PASSES TISDALE FOR FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE RECORD
For the moment, at least, Kevin Bookout holds the Oklahoma school record for career field goal percentage. The 6-8, 270-pound senior is 46-for-72 (.639) from the field this year and has upped his career mark to .585, bettering Wayman Tisdale's .578 figure that previously ranked No. 1 in school annals. Bookout, who has started 87 of his 88 games at OU (he yielded as a freshman on Senior Day), shot .587 from the field as a frosh, .516 in 13 games as a sophomore and .592 last year as a junior. Tisdale, regarded as the best player in school history, played the 1982-83 through 1984-85 seasons and was an All-American all three years. He holds six OU career records, including points (2,661), points per game (25.6) and rebounds (1,048).

DIME DROPPER
Though he was not recruited to OU as a point guard, senior Terrell Everett ranks second in the Big 12 with his 6.0 assists per game (he trails only Iowa State's Will Blalock, who averages 7.2). Everett, a natural wing who played some point last year, is the Big 12's leading returning assists man from last season when he averaged 5.0. The slender 6-4 lefty has led the Sooners in assists 32 times in his 42 career games, including eight times in nine games this year.

IMPROVED BALLHANDLING
OU struggled taking care of the basketball in its first six games, averaging 15.8 turnovers and committing no fewer than 15 during the stretch. Over the last three games, though, the Sooners have solidified their ballhandling by averaging just 9.3 miscues. Against Oral Roberts on Wednesday, OU committed a season-low five turnovers. The squad is now averaging a Big 12-low 13.7 turnovers per game on the year.

WANTED: DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
The Sooners have allowed 62.7 points per game sixth fewest in the Big 12 but the figure would be significantly lower if OU didn't rank last in the Big 12 in both field goal percentage defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense. Oklahoma is allowing foes to shoot .460 from the field and .420 from beyond the arc. Last year, opponents shot a mere .292 from 3-point territory when OU set a school record for 3-point field goal percentage defense.

LOOKING TO JOIN THE CLUB
Kevin Bookout (901 career points) and Taj Gray (627) have an excellent chance of increasing OU's 1,000-point club to 35 members. Bookout would have to average 4.1 points thre rest of the season over a 33-game schedule (the number of games OU played last year) to reach 1,000 points while Gray would have to average 15.5 points (he is averaging 16.2 this year).

VETERAN STAFF
Kelvin Sampson has compiled a staff that boasts a wealth of collegiate head coaching experience 68 years to be exact. Sampson has been a head coach for 22 seasons, while assistants Bob Hoffman and Ray McCallum have spent 17 and 11 years, respectively, guiding college programs. Jerry Green, the program's new director of basketball operations, returned to college basketball after four years of retirement. Green has 18 years of head coaching experience at UNC Asheville, Oregon and Tennessee.

BACK TO BACK?
Oklahoma, co-Big 12 champs last year with Kansas, will attempt to earn back-to-back regular season conference titles for the fourth time in school history. The Sooners won the 1928 Missouri Valley Conference crown and followed by claiming the 1929 Big Six title. Under head coach Billy Tubbs, OU won Big Eight championships in 1984, '85, '88 and '89.

OU BOASTS NATION'S LONGEST POSTSEASON STREAK
Oklahoma has made 24 consecutive postseason appearances (19 NCAA and five NIT), good for the longest current streak among Division I programs. The last time OU did not compete in the postseason was in 1980-81. The Sooners have competed in the NCAA Tournament 10 times in the last 11 seasons.

EIGHT STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASONS
With a 25-8 record last year, Kelvin Sampson has now coached OU to eight consecutive 20-win seasons. Only seven other coaches have posted 20 victories each of the last eight years: Lute Olson (15 straight seasons), Tubby Smith (12), Mike Krzyzewski (9), Skip Prosser (9), Jim Boeheim (8), Jim Calhoun (8) and Eddie Sutton (8).

BIG 12 KING
Kelvin Sampson has amassed 100 regular season Big 12 victories, most in league history. He is 100-44 (.695) in conference play since the formation of the Big 12 in 1996-97. Sampson also holds the Big 12 record for most combined regular season and conference tournament wins (he is 117-50) and holds the mark for most overall wins by a conference coach since the Big 12 was formed (he is 225-79).

RECRUITING HAUL
Kelvin Sampson announced the signing of five prep players on Nov. 9, a recruiting class that ranks as the nation's fourth best by Rivals.com and fifth best by Scout.com. Joining the Sooners as freshmen in 2006-07 will be Keith Clark (Oklahoma City/Putnam City HS), Tony Crocker (San Antonio, Texas/The Patterson School [N.C.], Damion James (Nacogdoches, Texas/Nacodoches HS), Jeremy Mayfield (Irving, Texas/Gulf Shores Academy [Houston]) and Scottie Reynolds (Herndon, Va./Herndon HS).

“This is as good a class as we've had since I've been here,” said Sampson, who is in his 12th year at OU. “Sure, all five players are rated high, but just as important is the fact that they're high-character kids. They love to play basketball and they're fun to be around. Our staff is very, very happy with this class.”

2005-06 SIGNEES
Keith Clark (F, 6-8, 220, Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Ranked No. 43 in nation by Hoopmasters

Tony Crocker (G, 6-5, 180, San Antonio, Texas)
Ranked No. 6 post grad prep by Scout.com

Damion James (F, 6-8, 225, Nacogdoches, Texas)
Ranked No. 16 in nation by Rivals.com

Jeremy Mayfield (F/C, 6-10, 234, Irving, Texas)
Ranked No. 4 post grad prep by Scout.com

Scottie Reynolds (G, 6-0, 170, Herndon, Va.)
Ranked No. 31 in nation by Scout.com

UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
OU shared the 2005 Big 12 regular season title with Kansas (the Sooners won the only head-to-head meeting).
OU has made 11 straight postseason showings (10 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 a 100-44 (.694) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 153-21 (.879) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 70 of its last 75 home games.
OU has won at least 20 games each of the last eight years.
OU has averaged 26 victories over the past six seasons.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

OU, Bama Set for New Year's Eve Battle

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