OU Set to Host Missouri Tuesday Night

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 22 in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (9-3, 0-1) plays its first Big 12 Conference home game of the year Tuesday when it hosts Missouri (8-4, 1-0) at 7 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. The contest will be televised by ESPN Plus (KOCB 34/Cox 11 in OKC; KJRH 2/Cox 9 in Tulsa) and ESPNU with Dave Armstrong (play-by-play) and Chris Piper (analyst) announcing.

TICKET INFORMATION
Upper-level reserved seats are still available for $20 and $25. They can be purchased online here at SoonerSports.com and at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668). Tickets will also go on sale at Lloyd Noble Center's north and east windows beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Tickets | Game Notes PDF | Season Stats

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.

On the 37-player ballot from Oklahoma are Corey Brewer, Taj Gray, Aaron McGhee, Eduardo Najera and Hollis Price.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 15.2 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 0.8 apg)
F 24 Nate Carter (6-6, 220, Jr., 7.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.6 apg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 13.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 0.1 apg)
G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 10.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 6.5 apg)
G 20 Austin Johnson (6-3, 168, Fr., 3.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.3 apg)

MISSOURI PROJECTED STARTERS
F 15 Marshall Brown (6-6, 220, So., 9.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.2 apg)
F 23 Marcus Watkins (6-4, 200, Jr., 3.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.0 apg)
C 14 Kevin Young (6-9, 270, Sr., 8.3 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 0.7 apg)
G 1 Jimmy McKinney (6-3, 212, Sr., 11.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.2 apg)
G 3 Thomas Gardner (6-5, 225, Jr., 20.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.9 apg)

OU UPDATE
The Sooners dropped their Big 12 opener in heartbreaking fashion at Nebraska on Saturday, 59-58. OU led by 10 points early in the second half and held a five-point advantage with 40 seconds remaining before giving up a pair of 3-pointers in the final 23 seconds the second with 5.6 seconds left to lose for the first time in eight games against NU. Terrell Everett's baseline five-footer at the buzzer following a full-court drive was off the mark. The Sooners shot .453 from the field while holding the Huskers to a .385 mark and outrebounded them 38-28. Fifteen turnovers (compared to just nine for Nebraska) plagued OU, however.

Senior forward Kevin Bookout has been consistently productive since Christmas and continued his solid play with 14 points (on 7-for-11 shooting) and eight rebounds for OU on Saturday. He is averaging 16.3 points and 8.3 boards over the past four games. Fellow senior forward Taj Gray grabbed 10 boards Saturday but was held to eight points (his fewest since Nov. 30). On the year, Gray leads the team in scoring (15.2 ppg), rebounding (8.2 rpg) and blocked shots (1.2 bpg).

OU's third-leading scorer on the year, junior guard Michael Neal did not play against Nebraska due to a strained groin. His status for Tuesday's game is uncertain. Neal averages 10.7 points and has made a team-high 30 3-pointers. Everett, a senior guard, averages 10.4 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 OU's previous seven games, broke out of his slump last week with eight points at SMU and 13 against Nebraska. He went 5-for-10 from 3-point range over the two games and made three treys versus the Huskers. Godbold now averages 5.2 points a game.

SATURDAY'S LEFTOVERS
OU outboarded Nebraska 38-28. Over the last three games, the Sooners have outrebounded Alabama, SMU and Nebraska by a combined 119-67 count (46-20 on the offensive glass).
Charles Richardson's 15 points were a career high for Nebraska while Jason Dourisseau's 17 were one shy of a season high. The pair entered the game a combined 3-for-12 from 3-point range on the year but went 5-for-9 on the afternoon from beyond the arc.
The Sooners held Wes Wilkinson, Nebraska's leading scorer entering the game (13.8), to just two points on 1-for-6 shooting.
Senior Kevin Bookout fouled out for just the second time of his career and first time since he was a freshman.
Guards Terrell Everett and David Godbold both played all 40 minutes.

ABOUT MISSOURI
After a 2-3 start, Missouri has won six of its last seven games and each of its last four. The Tigers, who are 8-1 at home but 0-3 away from it, are coming off a 69-61 home win over Oklahoma State in their league opener Saturday night in which they shot .528 from the field and .400 from 3-point range (6-for-15). Mizzou is shooting .447 from the field on the year, .361 from 3-point range and .637 from the free throw line

Junior guard Thomas Gardner leads the Big 12 in scoring with his 20.2 points per game and his 40 3-pointers (3.3 per contest). Gardner, who is shooting a stout .449 from beyond the arc, has scored 30 points twice this season and has been held to single digits once (six points versus Illinois). Senior guard Jimmy McKinney averages 11.6 points per outing and adds 2.2 assists. He is coming off a career-high 23-point effort against OSU. Sophomore forward Marshall Brown scores 9.9 points a game and pulls down 5.8 rebounds a contest. He is shooting .506 from 2-point range but just .188 from 3-point distance (3-for-16). Kevin Young a 6-9, 270-pound senior center, averages 8.3 points and 8.4 rebounds a game while shooting .494 from the field. Sophomore point guard Jason Horton contributes 6.0 points a game and team highs in assists (4.5) and steals (2.4).

Head coach Quin Snyder is 124-84 (.596) in his seventh year as a collegiate head coach, all at Missouri.

SERIES WITH THE TIGERS
Oklahoma holds a 110-91 series lead against Missouri and has won 11 of the last 14 meetings. In Norman, OU is 62-20 against the Tigers. Under Kelvin Sampson, OU is 13-8 against Mizzou with a 5-1 home mark (the lone loss came in overtime in 2004, 79-75).

The teams split last year with Missouri winning the regular season matchup in overtime in Columbia, 68-65, and OU winning the rematch in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals in Kansas City, 83-79. In the first meeting, the Sooners squandered a 14-point second-half lead and a 10-point advantage with 5:40 left in regulation. OU also led by three twice in overtime. Taj Gray had 19 points, nine boards, four blocks and three steals for Oklahoma while Thomas Gardner and Linas Kleiza netted 18 points each for Mizzou. In a foul-plagued Big 12 Tournament game, OU was 28-for-33 (.848) from the free throw line and Missouri was 33-for-36 (.917). The Sooners led by 17 in the first half and by 15 in the second before the Tigers took four one-point leads in the final five minutes.Terrell Everett led five Sooners in double figures with 18 points while Kleiza scored a career-high 33.

OU IN LEAGUE HOME OPENERS
Oklahoma is 9-2 in conference home openers under Kelvin Sampson and is 7-2 in Big 12 home openers. The Sooners have opened their Big 12 home season against Missouri once and came away with an overtime loss in 2004 (79-75).

QUICK TIPS
Dating back to last year, Oklahoma has outboarded 18 of its last 20 opponents.
OU has held substantial leads in all three of its losses (10 points at Villanova, nine versus West Virginia and 10 at Nebraska).
Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray rank third and fourth in the Big 12 with respective field goal marks of .636 and .621.
Gray is shooting .696 from the field (48-for-69) over the last seven-and-a-half games. He has shot .500 or better in 11 of 12 games this year.
Bookout is shooting .645 from the field over the past eight games and owns the OU career record in field goal percentage with a .587 mark. He has shot at least .500 from the field in all 12 games.
Gray has made 41 of his last 51 free throw attempts (.804) and owns a .771 season mark. He shot .646 last year.
Bookout and Gray have accounted for 260 of OU's 524 points (50 percent) over the last eight games.
Michael Neal ranks second the Big 12 in 3-pointers made per game (2.7) and ranks fifth 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 .389 from 3-point range through 12 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, 15 and 15.
OU has posted double-digit offensive rebounds in all 12 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 third (3.3 per game), Bookout ranks seventh (2.9) and Nate Carter ranks 12th (2.4).
The Sooners have won 10 straight home games, 24 of their last 25 and 72 of their last 77.

BOOKOUT HAS A HOT HAND
Senior forward Kevin Bookout is having a more-than-solid senior season. Bookout, who is a two-time All-American in the shot put (outdoor), 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 13.2 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting .636 from the field and .681 from the foul line. Over the last four contests, Bookout is averaging 16.3 points and 8.3 boards while shooting .600 overall and .786 from the free throw line.

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 17.6 points and shooting .653 from the field over the last eight contests. Gray, who averages 15.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks on the year, scored a career-high 31 points in a loss to West Virginia on Dec. 22. He has played more than 30 minutes just six times in 12 outings.

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS
Lloyd Noble Center has been overly kind to the Sooners, as they have won 10 straight, 24 of the last 25 and 72 of the last 77 games in the building. Oklahoma posted a 14-1 home mark in 2004-05 and is now 154-21 (.880) at Lloyd Noble in Kelvin Sampson's 11-plus years as head coach. OU is 391-64 (.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.

BIG 12 KING
Kelvin Sampson has amassed 100 regular season Big 12 victories, most in league history. He is 100-45 (.690) 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 117-51) and holds the mark for most overall wins by a conference coach since the Big 12 was formed (he is 227-80).

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.

VALUING THE BASKETBALL
Oklahoma entered last week leading the Big 12 by committing just 13.5 turnovers per game. In two games last week, though, the Sooners averaged 17.0 against SMU (19) and Nebraska (15). OU still ranks first in the league, 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 462-297 on the year for a per-game margin of +13.8. Only LSU (+15.2) averages a larger rebounding margin. Here are some more rebounding notes.

OU has outrebounded 11 of its 12 opponents. Included were margins of 28 against Samford, 22 against Belmont and Alabama, 20 versus SMU, 18 against Binghamton, 16 versus Tulsa and 13 against Southern.
Oklahoma has grabbed 200 offensive boards (16.7 per game) while its foes have secured just 89 (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, 15 and 15 offensive boards.
Taj Gray averages a team-high 8.2 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 12 games (seven times by Gray and five times by Bookout).
Pro-rated to 40 minutes, Taylor Griffin, a freshman, is averaging a team-high 12.5 boards per outing. He has averaged 11.5 minutes in his 10 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 .737. OU has shot better than .750 in seven of its 12 games and has posted a .778 mark (70-for-90 over the last five games). Nate Carter ranks third in the Big 12 with his .789 season mark while Taj Gray ranks sixth at .771 and Kevin Bookout 14th at .681. Gray is averaging a team-high 5.8 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 10 games, OU has gone 45-for-168 (.268) from beyond the arc to drop its season figure to .302 (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 32-for-119 (.269). David Godbold and Terrell Everett rank second on the team with 11 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 63-for-99 (.636) from the field this year and has upped his career mark to .587, bettering Wayman Tisdale's .578 figure that previously ranked No. 1 in school annals. Bookout, who has started 90 of his 91 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 7.0). 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 35 times in his 45 career games, including 11 times in 12 games this year.

WANTED: DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
The Sooners have allowed 60.5 points per game fifth fewest in the Big 12 but the figure would be significantly lower if OU didn't rank next to last in the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense and last in 3-point field goal percentage defense. Oklahoma is allowing foes to shoot .443 from the field and .389 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 (956 career points) and Taj Gray (663) have an excellent chance of increasing OU's 1,000-point club to 35 members. Bookout would have to average 2.1 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 16.0 points (he is averaging 15.2 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.

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).

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 20 times in 76 games (26 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 100-45 (.690) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 154-21 (.880) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 72 of its last 77 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

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