Sooners Host Cyclones Saturday

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 19 in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (16-6, 7-4) hosts Iowa State (14-10, 4-7) on Saturday at noon 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 ABC with Ron Franklin (play-by-play) and Fran Fraschilla (analyst) announcing.

SAMPSON BOBBLEHEAD PROMOTION
The first 500 fans through Lloyd Noble Center's doors on Saturday will receive a free Kelvin Sampson bobblehead doll. Doors are scheduled to open at 10:30 a.m.

TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of reserved seat tickets for Saturday's game are available for $20 and $25 and can be purchased online here at SoonerSports.com and from the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668 or 405-325-2424). If reserved tickets sell out, $20 restricted admission tickets will be available Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center's north and east windows beginning at 10:30 a.m.

A limited number of $20 and $25 tickets are also available for OU's home game against Kansas State (Feb. 25).

Tickets | Notes PDF | Season Stats | Gameday Central

OU SELLING BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS
The OU Athletics Ticket Office has a -limited number of unclaimed student tickets currently for sale for the 2006 Men's Big 12 Basketball Championship (March 9-12 at American Airlines Center in Dallas). Tickets will be sold to the general public as all-session packages at $210 and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tickets may be purchased by calling the Athletics Ticket Office at 800-456-4668 or 405-325-2424. They may also be purchased in person at the Athletics Ticket Office (west side of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on the plaza level of the Asp Avenue parking garage).

NOTEWORTHY
OU has won five of its six games against Iowa State in Norman under Kelvin Sampson ... Michael Neal is 34 for his last 63 (.540) from 3-point range ... Terrell Everett averages 14.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists in Big 12 action ... Everett ranks seventh nationally with his 6.5 assists per game on the season ... Taylor Griffin is averaging 9.3 points over the last three games ... Oklahoma has won 76 of its last 82 games (93 percent) at Lloyd Noble Center.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 14.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.4 bpg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 11.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 0.6 spg)
G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 12.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 6.6 apg)
G 15 David Godbold (6-5, 217, Jr., 5.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.5 apg)
G 20 Austin Johnson (6-3, 168, Fr., 3.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.8 apg)

IOWA STATE PROJECTED STARTERS
F 0 Shawn Taggart (6-10, 225, Fr., 5.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.3 apg)
F 13 Rahshon Clark (6-6, 190, So., 13.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.4 apg)
C 33 Jiri Hubalek (6-11, 205, So., 8.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.6 apg)
G 1 Curtis Stinson (6-3, 215, Jr., 19.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 5.5 apg)
G 11 Will Blalock (6-0, 205, Jr., 14.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 6.2 apg)

OU UPDATE
With their 84-75 loss at Colorado on Wednesday, the Sooners fell into a third-place Big 12 tie with the Buffaloes. OU had won seven of eight games prior to Wednesday's defeat and, despite the loss in Boulder, would still have a first-round Big 12 Tournament bye as the No. 4 seed if the season ended today. Michael Neal's career night wasn't enough for the Sooners against the Buffs. Neal scored a career-high 26 points with the help of a career-high seven treys, six in the first half. The junior guard also pulled down a career-high-tying five rebounds. He tied a school record with six consecutive 3-point makes. Colorado, which trailed 40-35 at halftime, went 19-for-22 at the free throw line on the night (it entered the game shooting .629 on the season) and outboarded OU 41-32. It was the Sooners' largest rebounding deficit of the year.

Taj Gray, who netted 11 points and pulled down eight rebounds at Colorado, leads Oklahoma in both scoring and rebounding this year with his 14.1 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 18 of the team's 22 games this year. Kevin Bookout, another senior forward, has played the last seven games with a fractured navicular bone in his left wrist (he sustained the injury Jan. 21 against Texas Tech) and has averaged 10.0 points and 6.3 boards during the stretch. Bookout ranks fourth on the squad in scoring and second in rebounding with his 11.5 and 7.3 season averages. Owner of OU's second-best career field goal percentage (.577), he is shooting .571 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.

Terrell Everett, who has scored in double figures in 10 of OU's 11 Big 12 games, ranks second on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and third in rebounds (4.3 rpg), and first in the conference in assists (6.5 apg). In league play, the senior guard is averaging a team-high 14.6 points, 5.0 boards, a league-best 6.6 assists and 1.6 steals. He has led OU in assists in 19 of 22 games this season and ranks seventh nationally in the category.

OU's hot-shooting sixth man, Neal is averaging 15.9 points over the last eight games on 34-for-66 (.515) 3-point shooting. He has made at least four treys in six of the those eight outings (4-for-7 against Texas Tech, 5-for-7 at Baylor, 4-for-8 against Texas, 4-for-9 against A&M, 6-for-11 versus Baylor and 7-for-14 at Colorado). The junior, who missed OU's first two league games with a strained groin, is averaging 12.4 points on the year and leads the team with 65 treys and a .417 3-point percentage.

WEDNESDAY'S LEFTOVERS
Michael Neal's seven 3-pointers were the most by a Sooner in more than three years (Hollis Price drained nine at Iowa State on Jan. 18, 2003). Neal tied an OU record also held by Terry Evans and Michael Johnson with six consecutive 3-point makes. He missed his first attempt of the game before going 6-for-6 the rest of the first half.
The Sooners' nine-rebound deficit was their largest since getting outboarded by 10 (34-24) by Washington in the third game of the 2004-05 season.
OU's 10 turnovers were its fewest in defeat since committing seven in a season-ending loss to Utah last year.
Richard Roby's 28 points were the second most scored against OU this year (Villanova's Randy Foye scored 32 on Dec. 3).
Nate Carter's 10 points marked his third-highest output of the season and his most points since netting 16 against Oral Roberts on Dec. 28.
Austin Johnson did not play due to an injured ankle sustained against Baylor last Saturday.

ABOUT IOWA STATE
Iowa State (14-10 overall, 4-7 Big 12) enters weekend play on a three-game losing streak and has dropped four of its last five. The Cyclones, coming off a 73-63 home defeat to Nebraska on Wednesday in which they were outrebounded 45-28, are tied with Kansas State for eighth place in the Big 12. ISU leads the league in steals (10.1 spg) and turnover margin (+6.1), ranks second in free throw percentage, third in scoring (77.5 ppg) and fourth in field goal percentage (.458). However, it ranks last in scoring defense (73.8 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (.462). Overall, the Cyclones are 8-6 at home and 3-3 on the road (2-4 and 2-3 in conference play).

All-Big 12 candidate Curtis Stinson ranks second in the league in scoring with his 19.5 points a game (Missouri's Thomas Gardner averages 19.8) and is tied for the conference lead in steals (2.7 spg). He also averages 5.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists a contest. Stinson needs nine more steals to become the third player in Big 12 history to accumulate 1,500 points, 400 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals in a career (Nebraska's Cookie Belcher and Kansas' Kirk Hinrich are the others). Junior point guard Will Blalock supplies 14.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.2 steals a game. His assists average ranks second in the league behind OU's Terrell Everett (6.5). Blalock scored 23 points on 10-for-20 shooting Wednesday. Sophomore forward Rahshon Clark averages 13.4 points, a team-high 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals a game while shooting .504 from the floor. Sophomore center Jiri Hubalek, from Prague, Czech Republic, contributes 8.1 points and 3.7 boards per contest.

Head coach Wayne Morgan is 53-35 (.602) in his third year at ISU and is 144-119 (.548) in his ninth year overall.

SERIES WITH THE CYCLONES
Oklahoma owns a 104-76 series lead against Iowa State and holds a 57-21 advantage in Norman. The Sooners are 8-6 against the Cyclones under Kelvin Sampson and boast a 5-1 mark versus ISU under the head coach at Lloyd Noble Center. OU has won four straight in the series in Norman with ISU's last win coming in 1996 (70-58). The Sooners won the last meeting at Lloyd Noble Center by a 75-48 count two years ago.

LAST YEAR AGAINST IOWA STATE
The Sooners took a 10-game winning streak and a 5-0 Big 12 record into Ames last year, but dropped a 74-66 decision on Jan. 29. Iowa State forced 18 OU turnovers and scored 70 of its 74 points in the paint or at the free throw line (it was 0-for-6 from 3-point range). Taj Gray (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Kevin Bookout (12 points, 12 boards) both logged double-doubles for Oklahoma, and Lawrence McKenzie was 5-for-6 from 3-point range in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the Cyclones snapped a six-game losing skid. Curtis Stinson scored a game-high 23 points while Jared Homan finished with 14. Iowa State led 30-25 at the half.

QUICK TIPS
Dating back to last year, Oklahoma has outboarded 26 of its last 30 opponents.
Three of OU's four conference losses have come by a combined four points.
The Sooners have held leads of at least seven points in all six losses (10 points at Villanova, nine vs. West Virginia, 10 at Nebraska, seven against Missouri, 16 at Kansas and eight at Colorado).
Taj Gray has shot .500 or better from the field in 18 of 22 games this year while Kevin Bookout has done it 17 times. Both are shooting .571 on the season.
Gray (7.9) and Bookout (7.2) rank fourth and sixth in the Big 12 in rebounding.
Bookout has played in 101 career games and has started 100 of them. As a freshman in 2003, he yielded to Jozsef Szendrei on Senior Day.
Terrell Everett ranks seventh nationally in assists (6.5 apg). He has led OU in assists in 19 of 22 outings this year and in 43 of his 55 career games.
Michael Neal has made at least two treys in 17 of his 20 games. He leads the Big 12 (league games only) with his 3.9 treys per game and ranks second with his .500 3-point percentage.
Neal is averaging 4.3 3-point makes over the last eight games.
Over the last two outings, Neal is averaging 22.0 points and 6.5 treys.
Freshman Taylor Griffin is averaging 7.0 points and 4.2 rebounds over the last five games and 9.3 and 3.7 over the last three.
Opponents are shooting .378 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 21 of 22 games while foes have done it 10 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 28 of their last 30 home games and 76 of their last 82.

WINTER WARMTH
Oklahoma endured below-average 3-point shooting over its first 13 games but has turned up the heat in its last nine outings. In their first 13 contests, the Sooners shot .294 from beyond the arc and averaged 5.0 treys. Over the past nine games, however, OU is shooting .401 from long range and is averaging 6.8 makes. Michael Neal has made 35 treys on 70 attempts (.500) during the stretch.

RETURNED TO FORM
Over the last nine games, senior guard Terrell Everett has looked like the player that Kelvin Sampson labeled as OU's MVP last year. Everett is averaging 15.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.6 steals over the last nine outings (OU is 7-2) while shooting .452 from the field. 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 nine games, seven of them wins. In his nine league outings, Neal is averaging 14.4 points and is shooting .500 from beyond the 3-point arc (35-for-70). He is averaging 15.9 points and 4.3 treys over the last eight contests.

PROFESSOR GRIFF
Freshman forward Taylor Griffin is coming off three of his most productive games of the year. The 6-7, 232-pounder played a career-high-tying 22 minutes at Oklahoma State Feb. 8 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 last Saturday. Griffin was 6-for-7 from the free throw line at OSU and 6-for-6 versus Baylor. On Wednesday at Colorado, Griffin went 3-for-4 from the field and scored six points in 14 minutes. On the year, Griffin, a pre-med major who earned a 3.7 GPA during the fall semester, is averaging 3.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 12.9 minutes a contest. He has scored at least six points in four of the last five 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 11.5 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting a team-high-tying .571 from the field and .625 from the foul line. He ranks fifth in the Big 12 (league games) in rebounding with 7.4 per game, despite playing the last seven 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 1,036 points to his credit to rank 30th all-time at OU. Bookout also ranks No. 2 all-time in field goal percentage (.577) and ranks 15th with 643 career rebounds.

DIME DROPPER
Although he was not recruited to OU as a point guard, senior Terrell Everett leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally with his 6.5 assists per game. The slender 6-4 lefty, a natural wing who played some point last year, has led the Sooners in assists 43 times in his 55 career games, including 19 times in 22 outings this year. He had a career-high 15 assists last Saturday against Baylor.

WINDOW WIPERS
The Sooners are outboarding their opponents 761-528 on the year and rank second in the nation with a +10.6 rebounding margin per game (Texas ranks first with a +11.4 margin). Here are some more rebounding notes...

OU has outrebounded 19 of its 22 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 342 offensive boards (15.5 per game) while its foes have secured just 193 (8.8).
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 7.3. 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 21 of 22 games (12 times by Gray and nine by Bookout).
Freshman Taylor Griffin leads OU in rebounds per minute. Pro-rated to 40 minutes, Griffin is averaging a team-high 11.1 boards per outing. He is averaging 3.6 rebounds in 12.9 minutes a game.

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS
Lloyd Noble Center has been overly kind to the Sooners, as they have won 28 of the last 30 games and 76 of the last 82 in the building. Oklahoma is 11-1 at home this year and finished 14-1 last season. It is 158-22 (.878) at Lloyd Noble in Kelvin Sampson's 11-plus years as head coach. OU is 395-65 (.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 107 regular season Big 12 victories, most in league history. He is 107-48 (.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 124-54) and holds the mark for most overall wins by a conference coach since the Big 12 was formed (he is 234-83).

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 25 times in 86 games (29 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 107-48 (.690) 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

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors