OU to Battle Buffs in Big Boulder Contest

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 19 in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, third-place Oklahoma (16-5, 7-3) travels to play at fourth-place Colorado (16-5, 6-4) on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. CST inside the Coors Events Center. 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 nationally by ESPN2 with Dave Pasch (play-by-play) and Stephen Bardo (analyst) announcing.

NOTEWORTHY
OU has won 16 of its last 18 against Colorado and 42 of its last 46 ... Michael Neal is 27 for his last 49 (.551) from 3-point range ... Terrell Everett averages 14.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.5 assists in Big 12 action ... Oklahoma leads the nation in rebounding margin (+11.6 rpg) ... The Sooners' three league losses have come by four combined points.

Notes PDF | Season Stats | Gameday Central

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 14.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.4 bpg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 11.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 0.7 spg)
G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 12.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 6.4 apg)
G 15 David Godbold (6-5, 217, Jr., 5.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.4 apg)
G 20 Austin Johnson (6-3, 168, Fr., 3.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.8 apg)

COLORADO PROJECTED STARTERS
F 4 Andy Osburn (6-9, 225, Sr.. 8.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
F 15 Chris Copeland (6-8, 235, Sr.. 12.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.1 apg)
F 33 Julius Ashby (6-9, 235, Sr., 4.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.3 bpg)
G 21 Marcus Hall (6-1, 180, Jr., 9.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 4.0 apg)
G 23 Richard Roby (6-6, 195, So., 18.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.6 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
The Sooners won a pair of games last week (73-65 at Oklahoma State and 80-52 over Baylor) and have now taken seven of their last eight (the lone defeat during the stretch was a one-point loss at Kansas). In Saturday's 28-point win over the visiting Bears, Michael Neal scored a career-high 18 points on 6-for-11 3-point shooting and Terrell Everett registered a career-high 15 assists. It was the most assists by a Sooner in eight seasons. Oklahoma, which shot .846 from the free throw line (22-for-26), held Baylor to an opponent-season-low .265 field goal figure, including a .190 (4-for-21) mark in the first half. OU also outrebounded the Bears, 43-33.

Taj Gray, who netted 10 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds versus Baylor, leads Oklahoma in both scoring and rebounding this year with his 14.3 and 7.9 averages. The senior forward is shooting .571 from the field to rank third in the Big 12 and has shot .500 or better from the field in 17 of the team's 21 games this year. Kevin Bookout, another senior forward, has played the last six games with a fractured navicular bone in his left wrist (he sustained the injury Jan. 21 against Texas Tech) and has averaged 11.0 points and 5.8 boards during the stretch. Bookout ranks third on the squad in scoring and second in rebounding with his 11.8 and 7.2 season averages. OU's career leader in field goal percentage (.579), he is shooting .581 this year. Bookout was also named an ESPN The Magazine First-Team Academic All-District selection last week and is eligible for Academic All-America acclaim.

Everett, who scored in double figures in OU's first nine Big 12 games, ranks second on the team in scoring (12.2 ppg) and third in rebounds (4.4 rpg), and first in the conference in assists (6.4 apg). In league play, the senior guard is averaging a team-high 14.3 points, 5.3 boards, 6.6 assists and 1.7 steals. He has led OU in assists in 18 of 21 games this season.

OU's hot-shooting sixth man, Neal is averaging 14.4 points over the last seven games on 27-for-52 (.519) 3-point shooting. He has made at least four treys in five of the last seven outings (4-for-7 against Texas Tech, 5-for-7 at Baylor, 4-for-8 against Texas, 4-for-9 against A&M and 6-for-11 versus Baylor). The junior, who missed OU's first two league games with a strained groin, is averaging 11.7 points on the year and leads the team with 58 treys and a .408 3-point percentage.

SATURDAY'S LEFTOVERS
OU won for the 24th straight time against Baylor and improved to 22-0 against the Bears under Kelvin Sampson.
Terrell Everett's 15 assists were the most by a Sooner since Michael Johnson handed out a school-record-tying 18 against North Texas on Dec. 22, 1997.
One game after scoring a career-high 10 points and grabbing six boards at Oklahoma State, freshman forward Taylor Griffin finished with 12 points and four rebounds against the Bears. He was 6-for-6 at the foul line Saturday.
Sophomore center Longar Longar matched a season high with five points and tied a career high with seven rebounds. He was 5-for-6 at the free throw line (he entered the game 3-for-12 on the season).
OU's bench scored 47 of the team's 80 points (59 percent).
The Sooners held Aaron Bruce, Baylor's leading scorer entering the game, to two points on 0-for-5 field goal shooting. In two games against OU this year, Bruce has gone 2-for-18 (.111) from the field.

ABOUT COLORADO
Colorado stands alone in fourth place in the Big 12 with a 6-4 record, a game behind Oklahoma. The Buffaloes, who have 10 seniors on their roster, have lost two of their last three and are coming off a 66-64 home win over Texas Tech on Saturday. Before losing at Iowa State (Feb. 5) and at Texas A&M (Feb. 8), the Buffs won five consecutive league games. They are 11-1 at home this year with the lone defeat coming at the hands of Kansas (75-63) on Jan. 11. Colorado leads the Big 12 in scoring (80.4 ppg), 3-point makes per game (9.0) and blocked shots (6.2 bpg).

Sophomore guard Richard Roby ranks fifth in the Big 12 with his 18.2 scoring average and also suppllies a team-high 5.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 steals per outing. Roby, who leads the league with his .444 3-point percentage (he averages 2.5 treys), had 17 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals Saturday against Texas Tech. Senior forward Chris Copeland averages 12.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks a game and has made 35 3-pointers (he's shooting .417 from beyond the arc). Junior guard Marcus Hall scores 9.7 points a game and also averages a team-high 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals. Andy Osborn, a senior forward, averages 8.9 points a contest (2.0 treys per outing) while fellow senior forward Martane Freeman averages 8.7 points.

Head coach Ricardo Patton is 173-135 (.562) in his 11th year as a collegiate head coach, all at Colorado.

SERIES WITH THE BUFFALOES
Oklahoma owns an 84-46 series lead against Colorado, but the Buffaloes hold a 29-26 edge in games played in Boulder. The Sooners have won 16 of their last 18 games against CU and 42 of their last 46, and have taken 14 of the last 18 meetings in Boulder. Kelvin Sampson is 14-2 against the Buffaloes as OU's head coach and is 4-2 in Boulder. Colorado's two wins against Sampson-coached OU squads came in 2000 (88-80) and 2004 (94-87 in OT).

LAST YEAR AGAINST COLORADO
The Sooners opened their 2005 Big 12 campaign with an 85-55 win over Colorado in Norman on Jan. 8. Kevin Bookout was 13-for-14 from the field and finished with a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Bookout's .929 field goal effort that game was the nation's fifth best of the season. Frontcourt mate Taj Gray also recorded a double-double with 19 points and 11 boards while Terrell Everett had 13 points and four assists. Colorado's Richard Roby scored 12 points and was the only Buffalo in double figures. OU outrebounded the Buffs by a 48-35 count and committed 11 turnovers compared to CU's 18. It was Oklahoma's 21st straight home win against Colorado.

QUICK TIPS
Dating back to last year, Oklahoma has outboarded 26 of its last 29 opponents.
OU's three conference losses have come by a combined four points.
Oklahoma has shot .500 or better from the field in four of its last six games.
The Sooners have held leads of at least seven points in all five losses (10 points at Villanova, nine vs. West Virginia, 10 at Nebraska, seven against Missouri and 16 at Kansas).
Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray have each shot .500 or better from the field in 17 of 21 games this year. Bookout owns a .581 season mark while Gray is shooting .571.
Gray (7.9) and Bookout (7.2) rank third and sixth in the Big 12 in rebounding.
Bookout has played in 100 career games and has started 99 of them. As a freshman in 2003, he yielded to Jozsef Szendrei on Senior Day.
Terrell Everett has led OU in assists in 18 of the team's 21 outings this year and in 42 of his 54 career games.
Michael Neal ranks second in the Big 12 in 3-pointers made per game (3.1) and has made at least two treys in 16 of his 19 games. He is 27 for his last 49 from 3-point range.
Freshman Taylor Griffin is averaging 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds over the last four games and 11.0 and 5.0 over the last two.
Opponents are shooting .379 from 3-point range (OU ranks 10th 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 four times already in 21 games this year, with other games of 19, 18, 17, 17, 15 and 15.
OU has registered double-digit offensive boards in 20 of 21 games while foes have done it nine times.
OU posted a 3.14 team grade point average during the fall semester, a record for the Sooners under 12th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson. Eight team members posted at least a 3.0 GPA and all 12 registered at least a 2.5.
The Sooners have won 27 of their last 29 home games and 75 of their last 81.

WINTER WARMTH
Oklahoma endured below-average 3-point shooting over its first 13 games but has turned up the heat in its last eight outings. In their first 13 contests, the Sooners shot .294 from beyond the arc and averaged 5.0 treys. Over the past eight games, however, OU is shooting .417 from long range and is averaging 6.6 makes. Michael Neal has made 28 treys on 56 attempts (.500) during the stretch while Terrell Everett is 11-for-26 (.423).

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Oklahoma's recent 7-1 performance coincides with some gritty defensive performances. Over the last eight games, the Sooners have limited their foes to an average of 56.9 points and to combined .370 field goal shooting. OU has also forced an average of 15.0 turnovers per game during the stretch.

RETURNED TO FORM
Over the last eight games, senior guard Terrell Everett has looked like the player that Kelvin Sampson labeled as OU's MVP last year. Everett is averaging 15.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.6 steals over the last eight outings (OU is 7-1) while shooting .464 from the field and .423 from 3-point territory (11-for-26). Everett's recent performances are reminiscent of his efforts late last season when he averaged 15.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.7 steals over OU's final six regular season games (the Sooners were 6-0 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 eight games, seven of them wins. In his eight league outings, Neal is averaging 13.0 points and is shooting .500 from beyond the 3-point arc (28-for-56). He is averaging 14.4 points and 3.9 treys over the last seven contests.

PROFESSOR GRIFF
Freshman forward Taylor Griffin is coming off quite a week. The 6-7, 232-pounder played a career-high-tying 22 minutes at Oklahoma State last Wednesday and finished with a career-high 10 points, six rebounds and two assists. He followed that effort with a new career high of 12 points and four more rebounds in another 22 minutes of play against Baylor on Saturday. Griffin was 6-for-7 from the free throw line at OSU and 6-for-6 versus Baylor. On the year, Griffin, a pre-med major who earned a 3.7 GPA during the fall semester, is averaging 3.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 12.8 minutes a contest. He has scored at least seven points in three of the last four games and has pulled down at least four boards in each of those four outings.

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 7.2 rebounds while shooting a team-high .581 from the field and .640 from the foul line. He ranks fifth in the Big 12 (league games) in rebounding with 7.2 per game, despite playing the last six contests with a broken bone in his left wrist. The wrist and his thumb are heavily taped, limiting his ability to catch the basketball.

MORE BOOKOUT
Against Kansas on Feb. 5, Kevin Bookout became the 34th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. He now has 1,032 points to his credit to rank 31st all-time at OU. Bookout also ranks No. 1 all-time in field goal percentage (.579) and ranks 15th with 634 career rebounds.

WINDOW WIPERS
The Sooners are outboarding their opponents 761-528 on the year and lead the nation with a +11.7 rebounding margin per game. Texas ranks second with a +11.3 margin. Here are some more rebounding notes...

OU has outrebounded 19 of its 21 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 329 offensive boards (15.7 per game) while its foes have secured just 176 (8.4).
Last year, OU registered 20 or more offensive rebounds twice in 33 games. This year's squad has already accomplished the feat four times with other games of 19, 18, 17, 17, 15 and 15 offensive boards.
Taj Gray averages a team-high 7.9 rebounds while Kevin Bookout averages 7.2. 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 20 of 21 games (12 times by Gray and eight by Bookout).
Freshman Taylor Griffin leads OU in rebounds per minute. Pro-rated to 40 minutes, Griffin is averaging a team-high 11.5 boards per outing. He is averaging 3.7 rebounds in 12.8 minutes a game.

DIME DROPPER
Although he was not recruited to OU as a point guard, senior Terrell Everett leads the Big 12 with his 6.4 assists per game. 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 42 times in his 54 career games, including 18 times in 21 outings this year. He had a career-high 15 assists Saturday against Baylor.

BIG 12 KING
Kelvin Sampson has amassed 107 regular season Big 12 victories, most in league history. He is 107-47 (.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 124-53) and holds the mark for most overall wins by a conference coach since the Big 12 was formed (he is 234-82).

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 130-13 (.909) when reaching the 80-point plateau. OU has won 47 of its last 50 and 63 of its last 67 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 24 times in 85 games (28 percent of the time). OU finished 20-2 last year when committing fewer (or the same number of) turnovers than its foe and is 12-0 this year under the circumstance.

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).

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 107-47 (.695) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 158-22 (.878) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 76 of its last 82 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 to Battle Buffs in Big Boulder Contest

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