Sooners Looking for First League Win

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 22 in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (9-4, 0-2) plays at Texas A&M (11-2, 1-1) on Saturday at 1 p.m. CST at Reed Arena in College Station. The game will air on the Sooner Radio Network (flagship KRXO 107.7 FM in Oklahoma City) with Bob Barry Sr. (play-by-play) and Mike Houck (analyst) calling the action. The contest will be televised by ESPN2 with Dave Barnett (play-by-play) and Stephen Bardo (analyst) announcing.

MAKING THE GRADE
The fall semester was a productive one in the classroom for the Sooners. The squad posted a 3.14 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, setting a single-semester record for the 12-year Kelvin Sampson era. Eight of the 12 team members recorded a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Each student-athlete posted at least a 2.5 GPA.

Sophomore Michael Ott earned a team-high 3.75 GPA and was followed by freshman Taylor Griffin (3.71), freshman Austin Johnson (3.63), senior Kevin Bookout (3.50), junior Nate Carter (3.50), sophomore Kellen Sampson (3.40), sophomore Longar Longar (3.00) and junior Michael Neal (3.00). OU's spring semester begins Tuesday.

Game Notes PDF | Season Stats

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 15.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 0.8 apg)
F 24 Nate Carter (6-6, 220, Jr., 7.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.5 apg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 12.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 0.1 apg)
G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 10.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.5 apg)
G 20 Austin Johnson (6-3, 168, Fr., 4.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.2 apg)

TEXAS A&M PROJECTED STARTERS
F 10 Chris Walker (6-5, 210, Sr., 2.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.7 apg)
F 42 Marlon Pompey (6-8, 225, Jr., 7.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.6 apg)
C 30 Joseph Jones (6-9, 250, So., 16.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G 1 Acie Law (6-3, 185, Jr., 16.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.0 apg)
G 22 Dominique Kirk (6-3, 180, So., 6.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.0 apg)

OU UPDATE
The Sooners have dropped consecutive heartbreakers, the most recent a 71-69 home loss to Missouri on Tuesday in which the Tigers made two free throws with 1.8 seconds remaining. OU led by as many as seven in the second half and by five with 6:23 left. Taj Gray was whistled for a foul on a Marshall Brown 3-point attempt and Brown's free throws resulted in just the Sooners' second 0-2 conference start under 12th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson.

Oklahoma outrebounded Missouri 39-26 and shot .857 from the free throw line (18-for-21), but 14 turnovers and .188 3-point shooting (3-for-16) hurt the Sooners. Senior forward Gray was 9-for-9 at the charity stripe and finished with 19 points and seven rebounds while fellow senior big man Kevin Bookout supplied nine points and a game-high eight rebounds. Gray and Bookout have scored 49 percent of the team's points over the last nine games. Gray leads the squad in scoring and rebounding with his 15.5 and 8.1 averages while Bookout ranks second in both categories at 12.8 and 7.3. Bookout is third in the Big 12 in field goal percentage (.617) and Gray ranks fourth (.611).

OU's third-leading scorer on the year, junior guard Michael Neal has not played the last two games due to a strained groin. His status for Saturday's game is uncertain. Neal averages 10.7 points and has made a team-high 30 3-pointers. Terrell Everett, a senior guard, averages 10.5 points a contest and ranks second in the Big 12 with his 6.5 assists a game (he has registered at least five assists in all but one game).

Sophomore guard David Godbold, who totaled 10 points and was 4-for-28 from the field over the seven games prior to OU's Jan. 3 contest at SMU, is averaging 9.3 points over the last three outings. Godbold has made six 3-pointers over those three games and now averages 5.3 points a contest.

TUESDAY'S LEFTOVERS
OU outboarded Missouri 39-26. Over the last four games, the Sooners have outrebounded Alabama, SMU, Nebraska and Missouri by a combined 158-93 count (63-27 on the offensive glass).
Kevin Bookout's 3-for-8 field goal performance marked the first time this year he shot under .500.
The Sooners were 3-of-16 from 3-point range and went 0-for-7 after halftime.
All 12 of Missouri's second-chance points came in the second half.
The loss snapped OU's 10-game home winning streak. It had won 24 of its previous 25 home games and 72 of its previous 77.

ABOUT TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M began 10-0 this season after playing its first 10 games at home. It is 1-2 since with road losses to Pacific (63-56) and Oklahoma State (79-77) sandwiched around a home victory over Texas Tech (63-55). The Aggies lead the Big 12 in turnover margin (+7.9) while ranking second in scoring defense (58.8 ppg) and third in steals (9.9 spg). A&M also averages more fouls than any team in the league at 23.6 per game (Iowa State ranks second at 19.2 per contest).

The Aggies boast a potent inside-outside duo in sophomore center Joseph Jones and junior guard Acie Law, a combo that recorded 62 of the team's 77 points at Oklahoma State on Wednesday. Jones leads the team in both scoring (16.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg) and ranks eighth in the Big 12 in both categories. The 6-9, 250-pounder ranks sixth in the league by shooting .577 from the field and seventh with his .791 free throw mark. Jones is coming off a 27-point, seven-rebound effort against OSU on Wednesday. Law, a lefty, averages 16.3 points, 2.6 boards, 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game. He has made 15 treys on the year (shooting .357) and is 33-for-43 at the free throw line (.767). Law was 13-for-21 from the field Wednesday and finished with a career-high 35 points. Freshman guard Josh Carter is the team's top 3-point threat (20-for-49 for a .408 figure) and averages 7.8 points and 2.2 assists a game. Junior forward Marlon Pompey averages 7.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks while sophomore guard Dominique Kirk supplies 6.9 points, 3.6 boards and 3.0 assists per outing.

Head coach Billy Gillispie is 32-12 (.727) in his second year at Texas A&M and is 62-42 (.596) overall in his fourth season (he spent the 2002-03 and '03-04 seasons as UTEP's head coach).

SERIES WITH THE AGGIES
Oklahoma owns a 23-1 all-time record against Texas A&M and has won the series' last 12 meetings. It is 9-1 all-time in games played in College Station. Under Kelvin Sampson, the Sooners are 18-1 against the Aggies and are 8-1 in College Station. Texas A&M's lone win against OU came on Feb. 24, 1999 (74-72).

LAST YEAR AGAINST TEXAS A&M
Last year, Oklahoma picked up a 70-54 win in College Station on Jan. 18 and a 69-65 victory over the Aggies in Norman on Feb. 2. The Sooners won the first meeting despite getting no points from Taj Gray. The forward did manage eight rebounds, three assists and four blocked shots in his 18 minutes, though. Drew Lavender scored 23 points for OU while Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett and Lawrence McKenzie all contributed 12. OU's guards scored 54 of the team's 70 points. A&M led the nation in field goal percentage defense entering the game (.352) but allowed the Sooners to shoot .532 overall and .529 from 3-point range (9-for-17). Antoine Wright paced the Aggies with 24 points.

Two weeks later in Norman, Texas A&M sprinted to a 25-9 lead before OU pulled to within two at halftime. The Sooners didn't go up for good until 5:36 remained in the game. Gray atoned for his lack of scoring in College Station by netting 24 points to go along with his 13 boards and three blocks. Everett added 20 points and six assists while Antoine Wright and Joseph Jones paced Texas A&M with 18 and 14 points, respectively.

BIG 12 ANNIVERSARY FAN VOTING
Fan voting for the Big 12 Men's and Women's Basketball 10th Anniversary Teams is available through Thursday, Feb. 2, on the Big 12 Web site at www.big12sports.com. Ballots can be accessed through the “Vote” link on the left side of the www.big12sports.com front page. The Big 12 is naming anniversary teams for its sports during 2005-06 to celebrate its 10th anniversary season. The basketball anniversary teams will be selected by a combination of balloting of fans and a media panel.

The Big 12 Women's Basketball 10th Anniversary Team will be released on Tuesday, Feb. 7, while the Big 12 Men's Basketball 10th Anniversary Team will be announced on the ESPN Regional Studio 66 show on Saturday, Feb. 11.

QUICK TIPS
Dating back to last year, Oklahoma has outboarded 19 of its last 21 opponents.
OU has held leads of at least seven points in all four of its losses (10 points at Villanova, nine versus West Virginia, 10 at Nebraska and seven against Missouri).
Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray rank third and fourth in the Big 12 with respective field goal marks of .617 and .611.
Gray is shooting .671 from the field (53-for-79) over the last eight-and-a-half games. He has shot .500 or better in 12 of 13 games this year.
Bookout holds the OU career record in field goal percentage with a .584 mark. Like Gray, he has shot at least .500 from the field in 12 of 13 games.
Gray has made 51 of his last 61 free throw attempts (.836) and owns a .797 season mark. He shot .646 last year.
Bookout and Gray have accounted for 288 of OU's 593 points (49 percent) over the last nine games.
Michael Neal ranks third the Big 12 in 3-pointers made per game (2.7) and ranks seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (.349). He has made at least two treys in nine of his 11 games.
Neal is shooting .349 from 3-point range (30-for-86) but just .200 from 2-point range (6-for-30).
Opponents are shooting .385 from 3-point range through 13 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, with other games of 19, 17, 17, 15 and 15.
OU has posted double-digit offensive rebounds in all 13 games while foes have done it just five times.
Three Sooners rank in the top 15 of the Big 12 in offensive rebounding. Gray ranks fourth (3.2 per game), Bookout ranks fifth (3.0) and Nate Carter ranks 13th (2.5).
The Sooners have won 24 of their last 26 homes games and 72 of their last 78.
Taj Gray is on preseason watch lists for both the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy player-of-the-year awards.

BOOKOUT'S HOT HAND
Senior forward Kevin Bookout is having a more-than-solid senior season. A two-time All-American in the shot put (outdoor), Bookout averaged 9.9 points and 6.1 rebounds a game while shooting .578 from the field and .556 from the free throw line over his first three years (he missed more than half of his sophomore season with a shoulder injury). This season, he is averaging 12.8 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting .617 from the field and .686 from the foul line. Over the last five contests, Bookout is averaging 14.8 points and 8.2 boards while shooting .777 from the free throw line (14-for-18).

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 17.8 points and 8.6 rebounds while shooting .635 from the field over the last nine contests. Gray, who averages 15.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks on the year, scored a career-high 31 points in a loss to West Virginia on Dec. 22. He played 30 minutes once in the OU's first seven games but has played at least that many in each of the team's last six.

VALUING THE BASKETBALL
Oklahoma entered last week leading the Big 12 by committing just 13.5 turnovers per game. In three games since, though, the Sooners have averaged 16.0 (19 at SMU, 15 at Nebraska and 14 versus Missouri). OU still ranks first in the league (tied with Texas A&M), but now averages 14.1 turnovers per contest.

WINDOW WIPERS
Oklahoma ranks second in the nation in rebounding margin. The Sooners are outboarding their opponents 501-323 on the year for a per-game margin of +13.7. Only LSU (+14.9) averages a larger rebounding margin. Here are some more rebounding notes.

OU has outrebounded 12 of its 13 opponents. Included were margins of 28 against Samford, 22 against Belmont and Alabama, 20 versus SMU, 18 against Binghamton, 17 versus Missouri and 16 versus Tulsa.
Oklahoma has grabbed 217 offensive boards (16.7 per game) while its foes have secured just 96 (7.4).
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 other games of 19, 17, 17, 15 and 15 offensive boards.
Taj Gray averages a team-high 8.1 rebounds while Kevin Bookout averages 7.3. 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).
Bookout or Gray have led OU in rebounding in all 13 games (seven times by Gray and six times by Bookout).
Pro-rated to 40 minutes, Taylor Griffin, a freshman, is averaging a team-high 12.3 boards per outing. He has averaged 11.3 minutes in his 11 games.

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 lead the conference so far this year by shooting .746. OU has shot better than .750 in eight of its 13 games and has posted a .793 mark (88-for-111 over the last six games). Nate Carter ranks third in the Big 12 with his 805 season mark while Taj Gray ranks fourth at .797 and Kevin Bookout 14th at .686. Gray is averaging a team-high 6.1 attempts per contest.

The best a Kelvin Sampson-coached OU team has shot from the foul line for an entire season is .767 in 2001-02.

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 11 games, OU has gone 48-for-181 (.265) from beyond the arc to drop its season figure to .294 (ranks last in the Big 12). Junior guard Michael Neal is 30-for-86 (.349) from 3-point range on the year while the rest of the squad is only 35-for-135 (.259). David Godbold and Terrell Everett rank second on the team with 12 3-pointers each.

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 66-for-107 (.617) from the field this year and has upped his career mark to .584, bettering Wayman Tisdale's .578 figure that previously ranked No. 1 in school annals. Bookout, who has started 91 of his 92 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 6.5 assists per game (he trails only Iowa State's Will Blalock, who averages 6.8). 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 36 times in his 46 career games, including 12 times in 13 games this year.

WANTED: DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
The Sooners have allowed 61.3 points per game fifth fewest in the Big 12 but the figure would be significantly lower if OU didn't rank ninth in the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense and last in 3-point field goal percentage defense. Oklahoma is allowing foes to shoot .444 from the field and .385 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 (965 career points) and Taj Gray (682) have an excellent chance of increasing OU's 1,000-point club to 35 members. Bookout would have to average just 1.8 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 15.9 points (he is averaging 15.5 this year).

BIG 12 KING
Kelvin Sampson has amassed 100 regular season Big 12 victories, most in league history. He is 100-46 (.685) 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 117-52) and holds the mark for most overall wins by a conference coach since the Big 12 was formed (he is 227-81).

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).

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.

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.

BREAKING 80
The Sooners have been tough to beat under Kelvin Sampson when they score at least 80 points. During the 12-year Sampson era, Oklahoma is 127-13 (.907) when reaching the 80-point plateau. OU has won 44 of its last 47 and 60 of its last 64 when scoring 80 or more.

PREACHING PROTECTION
Dating back to the start of the 2003-04 season, Oklahoma has committed more turnovers than its opponent just 21 times in 77 games (27 percent of the time). OU finished 20-2 last year when committing fewer (or the same number of) turnovers than its foe.

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 100-46 (.685) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 154-22 (.875) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 72 of its last 78 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

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors