OU Will Try for Sweep of Texas A&M

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 19 in this week's AP poll and No. 18 in the ESPN/USA Today version, Oklahoma (13-4, 4-2) hosts Texas A&M (13-5, 3-4) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST inside Lloyd Noble Center. 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 and KJRH 2/Cox 9 in Tulsa) with Dave Armstrong (play-by-play) and Reid Gettys (analyst) announcing.

TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of reserved seat tickets for Wednesday's game are available for $20 each and can be purchased online here at SoonerSports.com and from the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668 or 405-325-2424). After reserved tickets sell out, $20 restricted admission tickets will be available Wednesday at Lloyd Noble Center's north and east windows beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets | Notes PDF | Season Stats | Gameday Central

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 15.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.2 bpg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 11.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 0.5 bpg)
G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 11.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 6.4 apg)
G 15 David Godbold (6-5, 217, Jr., 5.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.4 apg)
G 20 Austin Johnson (6-3, 168, Fr., 3.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.7 apg)

TEXAS A&M PROJECTED STARTERS
F 10 Chris Walker (6-5, 210, Sr., 3.4 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.2 apg)
F 42 Marlon Pompey (6-8, 225, Jr., 6.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.6 apg)
C 30 Joseph Jones (6-9, 250, So., 16.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G 1 Acie Law (6-3, 185, Jr., 16.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.4 apg)
G 22 Dominique Kirk (6-3, 180, So., 6.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.9 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
The Sooners made a season-high 31 field goals, shot a season-high .544 from the field and posted a 35-30 rebounding advantage in an 82-72 home win over fourth-ranked Texas on Saturday. Terrell Everett scored 25 points (one shy of his career high) and added seven rebounds and eight assists while Taj Gray registered 22 points (9-of-12 shooting), eight boards and three assists as OU downed the Longhorns for the third straight time. Oklahoma also made eight 3-pointers and committed only 10 turnovers en route to its fourth consecutive win. It was the highest ranked opponent OU beat since it downed No. 3 Connecticut on Jan. 7, 2003, in Norman.

Gray leads Oklahoma in both scoring and rebounding this year by averaging 15.2 points and 8.0 boards. The senior forward is shooting .604 from the field to rank third in the Big 12 and owns a .739 season free throw percentage to rank 10th. Fellow senior forward Kevin Bookout has played the last two games with a fractured navicular bone in his left wrist (he sustained the injury Jan. 21 against Texas Tech) and averaged 9.5 points and 4.0 boards against Baylor and Texas. Bookout ranks third on the squad in scoring and second in rebounding with his 11.8 and 7.3 season averages. OU's career leader in field goal percentage (.581), he is shooting .585 this year.

Everett, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, ranks second on the team in scoring with his 11.9 points per game and also averages 4.2 rebounds and a team-high 6.4 assists. In six league games, Everett is averaging a team-high 14.8 points, 5.3 boards, 6.5 assists and 1.8 steals. He has led OU in assists in 15 of 17 contests this season.

Michael Neal, OU's hot-shooting sixth man, is averaging 14.7 points over the last three games on 13-for-23 (.565) 3-point shooting. He has made at least four treys in each of the last three outings. The junior guard was 5-for-7 from 3-point range at Baylor last Wednesday before going 4-for-8 against Texas. Neal, who missed OU's first two league games with a strained groin, is averaging 11.0 points a contest on the year and leads the team with his 44 3-pointers (2.9 per game) and .393 season 3-point percentage.

SATURDAY'S LEFTOVERS
Texas took its only lead of the second half (48-47) with 10:50 left before OU used a 13-2 run to take command.
The crowd of 12,908 was the 10th largest in Lloyd Noble Center history.
OU's bench netted 16 points while Texas' was held scoreless.
The Sooners grabbed double-digit offensive rebounds (12) for the 17th time in 17 games.
Michael Neal made four 3-pointers, marking the third straight game he made at least four treys.
Oklahoma improved to 45-21 against Texas and 21-7 in Norman. Kelvin Sampson improved to 18-8 against UT.
Two Sooners both scored 20 or more points in the same game for the first time this year (Everett 25, Gray 22).
The game was the 700th of Sampson's head coaching career.

ABOUT TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M began 10-0 this season (it played its first 10 games at home) but is 3-5 since. The Aggies are 12-2 in College Station this year and 1-3 on the road. Coming off a 72-70 home win over Baylor on Saturday in which the Bears made 16 3-pointers, A&M leads the Big 12 in turnover margin (+6.1), ranks third in scoring defense (61.2 ppg) and fourth in steals (9.3 spg). It also averages more fouls than any team in the league at 22.7 per game.

The Aggies boast a potent inside-outside duo in sophomore center Joseph Jones and junior guard Acie Law, a combo that has accounted for 43 percent of the team's points. Law, a lefty, averages 16.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting .500 from the field. Over the past six games he is averaging 21.2 points. Jones averages 16.3 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds while ranking fifth in the conference with his .552 field goal percentage. The 6-9, 250-pounder has five double-doubles on the year (including a 29-point, 10-rebound effort Saturday against Baylor) to rank third in the league. Freshman guard Josh Carter has made a team-high 30 3-pointers and averages 8.3 points. Junior forward Marlon Pompey averages 6.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 block while sophomore guard Dominique Kirk supplies 6.2 points, 3.2 boards and 2.9 assists per outing.

Head coach Billy Gillispie is 34-15 (.694) in his second year at Texas A&M and is 64-45 (.587) 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 24-1 all-time record against Texas A&M and has won the series' last 13 meetings. It is 11-0 all-time in games played in Norman. Under Kelvin Sampson, the Sooners are 19-1 against the Aggies and are 9-0 at Lloyd Noble Center. Texas A&M's lone win against OU came on Feb. 24, 1999 (74-72).

EARLIER THIS YEAR AGAINST TEXAS A&M
Terrell Everett scored Oklahoma's last 10 points, including a 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left, to give the Sooners a thrilling 45-44 win at Texas A&M on Jan. 14. OU endured a length-of-the-court drive and errant shot in the lane by Joseph Jones before celebrating its first conference win of the year. Everett, who had two points in the first half and changed shoes at intermission, finished with a game-high 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals while Taj Gray (13 points) was the only other Sooner in double figures. Kevin Bookout scored six points and pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds. Acie Law paced Texas A&M with 14 points while Chris Walker had 10. OU trailed 22-17 at halftime and 44-40 with 33 seconds left in the game. Everett drained a 15-foot fadeaway with 25 seconds to go before his final 3-point dagger. Oklahoma's 45 points were the fewest ever scored by a victorious Big 12 team in league play. Texas A&M became just the second team to outrebound OU on the year (31-29).

TEXAS STATE CHAMPS
OU is 5-0 this year against teams from Texas. The Sooners won at SMU (50-47), at Texas A&M (45-44), versus Texas Tech (60-48), at Baylor (82-52) and versus Texas (82-72). Since Kelvin Sampson became OU's head coach in 1994, the Sooners are 91-17 (.843) against teams from the Lone Star State. Against Big 12 foes Baylor (21-0), Texas (18-8), Texas A&M (19-1) and Texas Tech (14-8), OU is 72-17 (.809) under Sampson.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Oklahoma's current four-game winning streak coincides with some gritty defensive performances. During the streak, the Sooners have limited their foes to an average of 54.0 points and to combined .385 field goal shooting. OU has also forced an average of 16.3 turnovers per game during the stretch. OU held Texas A&M to 44 points, Texas Tech to 48 and Baylor to 52 before Texas netted 72.

RETURNED TO FORM
Over the last four games, senior guard Terrell Everett has looked like the player that Kelvin Sampson labeled as OU's MVP last year. Everett is averaging 16.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.8 steals during the Sooners' four-game winning streak while shooting .500 from the field and .412 from 3-point territory (7-for-17). Everett's recent performances are reminiscent of his efforts late last season when he averaged 14.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals over OU's final 10 games (the Sooners were 8-2 in those contests).

THE REAL DEAL
Michael Neal, nicknamed “Real Deal,” missed OU's first two Big 12 games with a strained groin (the Sooners lost both contests by a combined three points). Neal has returned to play in each of the last four games, all wins. In his four league outings, Neal is averaging 11.8 points and is shooting .538 from beyond the 3-point arc (14-for-26).

WINDOW WIPERS
The Sooners are outboarding their opponents 644-439 on the year and lead the nation with a +12.1 rebounding margin per game. LSU ranks second with a +11.8 margin. Here are some more rebounding notes.

OU has outrebounded 15 of its 17 opponents. Included were margins of 28 against Samford, 22 against Belmont and Alabama, 20 versus SMU, 18 against Binghamton, 17 versus Missouri, 16 versus Tulsa and 15 against Texas Tech.
Oklahoma has grabbed 271 offensive boards (15.9 per game) while its foes have secured just 137 (8.1).
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, 18, 17, 17, 15 and 15 offensive boards.
Taj Gray averages a team-high 8.0 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 17 games (10 times by Gray and seven by Bookout).
Freshman Taylor Griffin leads OU in rebounds per minute. Pro-rated to 40 minutes, Griffin is averaging a team-high 11.8 boards per outing. He has averaged 11.3 minutes in his 15 games.

ROCK SOLID BOOKOUT
Senior forward Kevin Bookout is having a more-than-solid senior season. A two-time All-American in the shot put, 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 11.8 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting .585 from the field and .662 from the foul line. He ranks fourth in the Big 12 (league games) in rebounding with 7.5 per game, despite playing the last two contests with a broken bone in his left wrist. The wrist and his thumb are heavily taped, limiting his ability to catch the basketball.

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 performed as one of the league's top big men since. The 6-9, 238-pounder is averaging 16.8 points and 8.3 rebounds over the last 13 contests while shooting .621 from the field. Gray, who averages 15.2 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks on the year, scored a career-high 31 points in a loss to West Virginia on Dec. 22. He averaged 19.0 points and 7.5 rebounds while going 13-for-18 from the field (.722) in wins over Baylor and Texas last week.

CHARITY CASE
About the only thing Oklahoma has done poorly during its four-game winning streak is convert at the free throw line. The Sooners are just 43-of-75 from the foul line for a .573 figure over the last four contests. Despite its recent troubles, OU still ranks third in the league with a .708 season mark.

WINTER WARMTH
Oklahoma endured below-average 3-point shooting over its first 13 games but has turned up the heat in its last four outings. In their first 13 contests, the Sooners shot .294 from beyond the arc and averaged 5.0 treys. Over the past four games, however, OU is shooting .412 from long range and is averaging 7.0 makes. Michael Neal has made 14 treys on 26 attempts (.538) during OU's four-game winning streak while Terrell Everett is 7-for-17 (.412).

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 79-for-135 (.585) from the field this year and has upped his career mark to .580, bettering Wayman Tisdale's .578 figure that previously ranked No. 1 in school annals. Bookout, who has started 95 of his 96 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
Although he was not recruited to OU as a point guard, senior Terrell Everett ranks second in the Big 12 with his 6.4 assists per game (he trails only Iowa State's Will Blalock, who averages 6.5) and leads the conference in league games with his 6.5 average. 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 39 times in his 50 career games, including 15 times in 17 outings this year.

BIG 12 KING
Kelvin Sampson has amassed 104 regular season Big 12 victories, most in league history. He is 104-46 (.693) 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 121-52) and holds the mark for most overall wins by a conference coach since the Big 12 was formed (he is 231-81).

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 129-13 (.908) when reaching the 80-point plateau. OU has won 46 of its last 49 and 62 of its last 66 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 81 games (26 percent of the time). OU finished 20-2 last year when committing fewer (or the same number of) turnovers than its foe.

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.

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 104-46 (.693) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 156-22 (.876) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 74 of its last 80 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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