Sooners Take Aim at Wildcats Saturday

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 22 in this week's AP poll and No. 20 in the ESPN/USA Today version, Oklahoma (18-6, 9-4) plays host to Kansas State (14-10, 5-8) on Saturday at 3 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 KWBT 19/Cox 12 in Tulsa) with Bob Carpenter (play-by-play) and Paul Splittorff (analyst) announcing.

TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of reserved seat tickets for Saturday's game are available for $20 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 1:30 p.m.

Tickets | Notes PDF | Season Stats | Gameday Central

SENIOR NIGHT PLANS
Monday's 8 p.m. home finale against Oklahoma State will mark the last home game for seniors Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett and Taj Gray. The three will be honored prior to the game (at approximately 7:45 p.m.) and will also address the crowd following the game. Reserved seat tickets for the Bedlam contest are sold out, but $20 restricted admission tickets will be sold Monday beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Lloyd Noble's north and east windows.

The first 200 OU students to the CrimZone student section areas on Monday will receive a free OU replica jersey of Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett or Taj Gray. Doors open at 6 p.m. for OU students.

NOTEWORTHY
OU has won seven straight against Kansas State and four consecutive in Norman ... Michael Neal has made 26 3-pointers over the last four games (6.5 average) ... Terrell Everett ranks third in the nation in assists (6.7 per game) ... OU is tied with UConn for the nation's best average rebounding margin (+10.9) ... Oklahoma has won 29 of its last 31 home games and 77 of its last 83.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 14.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.4 bpg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 11.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 0.6 spg)
G 2 Michael Neal (6-3, 191, Jr., 13.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.8 apg)
G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 12.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.7 apg)
G 15 David Godbold (6-5, 217, Jr., 5.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.5 apg)

KANSAS STATE PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Dramane Diarra (6-8, 245, Sr., 4.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.6 bpg)
G 15 David Hoskins (6-5, 225, So., 12.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.1 apg)
G 20 Cartier Martin (6-7, 220, Jr., 18.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G 22 Mario Taybron (6-2, 195, Jr., 4.7 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 2.5 apg)
G 34 Akeem Wright (6-6, 190, Jr., 5.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.6 apg)

OU UPDATE
Kevin Bookout's tip-in with 4.5 seconds left at Texas Tech Monday night gave the Sooners their fourth win in the last five games and their ninth in the last 11 outings. Oklahoma had to weather a last-second miss by Tech's Jarrius Jackson before it could celebrate the 71-70 triumph. Michael Neal continued his torrid stretch of 3-point shooting as he was 5-for-8 from 3-point range and finished with a team-high 18 points. It marked the fourth straight game he made at least five treys and the fourth consecutive contest he paced OU in scoring. Taj Gray notched his fifth double-double of the year with 13 points and 13 boards while Bookout finished with 12 points. Terrell Everett added 10 points and a game-high eight assists. The Sooners dominated the Red Raiders on the boards, 45-24, and posted a 17-5 advantage on the offensive glass.

Neal is averaging 17.4 points over the last 10 games on 47-for-86 (.547) 3-point shooting. He has made at least four treys in eight of those 10 outings and has netted 26 triples over the past four games. Usually OU's sixth man, Neal has started the last three games in place of Austin Johnson (injured right ankle) and is averaging 24.3 points and 6.7 treys over the three outings. He was 7-for-14 from 3-point range at Colorado Feb. 15 and scored a then-career-high 26 points before netting eight more treys on 12 attempts en route to 29 points versus Iowa State last Saturday. Neal, who missed OU's first two league games with a strained groin (the Sooners lost both by a combined three points), is averaging 13.4 points on the year and leads the Big 12 with 3.5 treys per game and a .443 3-point percentage.

Everett, who ranks third in the nation with his 6.7 assists average, has scored in double figures in 12 of OU's 13 conference games. In league play, the senior guard is averaging 14.5 points, 4.5 boards, a league-best 7.1 assists and 1.8 steals. He has led OU in assists in 21 of 24 games this season.

Gray, a senior forward, leads Oklahoma in both scoring and rebounding this year with his 14.0 and 8.1 averages. He is shooting .566 from the field to rank third in the Big 12 and has shot .500 or better from the field in 19 of the team's 24 games this year. Bookout, another senior forward, has played the last nine games with a fractured navicular bone in his left wrist (he sustained the injury Jan. 21 in OU's first game against Texas Tech) and has averaged 9.9 points and 6.0 boards during the stretch. Bookout ranks fourth on the squad in scoring and second in rebounding with his 11.3 and 7.1 season averages. Owner of OU's second-best career field goal percentage (.575), he is shooting .563 this year. Bookout was also recently named an ESPN The Magazine First-Team Academic All-District selection, making him eligible for Academic All-America acclaim.

MONDAY'S LEFTOVERS
OU was 7-for-14 from 3-point range, marking the eighth time in the last nine games it shot at least .400 from deep.
Michael Neal was 5-for-8 on 3-pointers and ran his streak of shooting .500 or better from long range to five games.
The Sooners posted a 45-24 rebounding advantage and have outboarded 21 of their 24 opponents this year.
OU led by 10 (62-52) with 7:35 left before Tech used an 18-6 run to go up by two (70-68) with 1:08 remaining.
The Sooners swept the regular season series with the Red Raiders for the fourth time in 10 Big 12 seasons.
Oklahoma's bench outscored Texas Tech's, 14-4. Nate Carter had seven points, Longar Longar four and Austin Johnson three.

ABOUT KANSAS STATE
After a 4-5 conference start that featured a 59-55 win at Kansas on Jan. 14, Kansas State has dropped three of its last four games. The Wildcats, who are coming off a 65-64 home loss to No. 7 Texas on Wednesday, are 13-3 at home this season and 1-7 on the road. They are 1-5 in Big 12 road games. K-State ranks third in the conference (league games) in field goal percentage defense (.399) and fourth in rebounding margin (+3.2). Only two opponents this season have shot .500 or better from the floor.

Junior guard/forward Cartier Martin ranks fourth in the Big 12 in scoring with his 18.1 points per game and also averages a team-high 6.8 rebounds and a team-high 1.1 steals. Martin has canned 45 3-pointers on the season (1.9 per game) and is shooting .437 from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard/forward David Hoskins, a two-time Big 12 Rookie of the Week honoree, averages 12.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting .513 from the field. He has attempted a team-high 143 free throws (shooting .692). A third double-digit scorer on the season, junior guard Lance Harris contributes 11.4 points and 1.9 assists. Harris, a 13-game starter, came off the bench Wednesday and scored a team-high 18 points against Texas in 28 minutes of play. Junior guard Akeem Wright is KSU's next leading scorer at 5.8 points per contest. He also averages 5.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Sophomore guard Clent Stewart, from Broken Arrow, Okla. (Tulsa Union High School), averages 5.3 points and a team-high 3.5 assists. He did not play Wednesday due to an injured ankle.

Head coach Jim Wooldridge, who hails from Oklahoma City (attended Putnam City High School), is 82-87 (.485) in his sixth year at Kansas State and is 311-234 (.571) in his 19th year overall.

SERIES WITH THE WILDCATS
Oklahoma owns a 100-87 all-time record against Kansas State and is 57-23 in Norman. Under Kelvin Sampson, the Sooners are 10-4 against the Wildcats and boast a 5-1 record at Lloyd Noble Center. OU has won seven straight games in the series, including the last four in Norman. Kansas State last won in Norman on Jan. 20, 1996 (70-65).

LAST YEAR AGAINST KANSAS STATE
The Sooners pulled off a “Miracle in Manhattan” last year as Drew Lavender's six-foot left-handed bank shot in traffic at the buzzer gave them a 69-68 victory. Lavender raced the length of the court after receiving an inbounds pass from Terrell Everett with 4.5 seconds left. Officials consulted television replays before counting the basket. It was the biggest second-half comeback for OU under Kelvin Sampson as it trailed by 16 early in the second half. Lavender scored 29 points off the bench and hit six of the Sooners' 11 treys on the day while Everett had 16 points and a game-high six assists. Taj Gray added 11 points and David Godbold was 3-for-4 from 3-point range and scored nine points. Kansas State's Cartier Martin was 9-of-11 from the field and finished with 22 points and six rebounds.

A VICTORY WOULD...
An OU win Saturday over Kansas State would...

Give the Sooners a 10-4 league record, marking the eighth time in 10 Big 12 seasons that they reached double digits in victories.
Clinch a first-round Big 12 Championship bye if coupled with a Colorado or a Nebraska loss this weekend.
Give the Sooners their eighth straight win against the Wildcats and fifth straight in Norman.
Give it 10 victories in the last 12 games.

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 11 games, nine of them wins. In his 11 league outings, Neal is averaging a team-high 16.1 points and is shooting .533 from beyond the 3-point arc (48-for-90). He is averaging 17.4 points and 4.7 treys over the last 10 contests. Here are more notes on OU's sharpshooter...

Neal's 26 treys over the last four games represent the most by a Sooner over a four-game span in school history. Calvin Curry canned 21 treys over four straight games in 1993-94.
Neal is averaging 24.3 points and 6.7 3-pointers over the last three contests (all starts). He had 26 points and seven treys at Colorado Feb. 15, a career-high 29 points and a career-high eight triples Saturday against Iowa State and 18 points and five more 3s Monday at Texas Tech.
Neal has scored in double figures in each of the last 10 games and has led OU in scoring in each of the last four.
Neal has made at least one 3-pointer in all 22 of his games, at least two in 19 contests, at least four in 11 outings and at least five in six games.
Neal leads the Big 12 in 3-pointers per game (3.5) and in 3-point percentage (.443). In Big 12 games, he leads the league with his 4.4 treys per outing and his .533 3-point mark.
Neal has made at least four 3-pointers in eight of the last 10 games (he made two treys in each of the other two games).
Neal is averaging 19.6 points and 5.4 treys in his five starts this season.
Neal is averaging 4.4 treys per conference game. The Big 12 record is 3.8 per league outing by OU's Nate Erdmann in 1996-97.

RETURNED TO FORM
Over the last 11 games, senior guard Terrell Everett has looked like the player that Kelvin Sampson labeled as OU's MVP last year. Everett is averaging 15.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.8 steals over the last 11 outings (OU is 9-2). 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).

WINTER WARMTH
Oklahoma endured below-average 3-point shooting over its first 13 games but has turned up the heat in its last 11 outings. In their first 13 contests, the Sooners shot .294 from beyond the arc and averaged 5.0 treys. Over the past 11 games, however, OU is shooting .429 from long range and is averaging 7.4 makes. Michael Neal has made 48 treys on 90 attempts (.533) during the stretch. The Sooners have shot .400 or better from 3-point range in eight of the last nine contests.

WINDOW WIPERS
Oklahoma is outboarding its opponents 912-650 on the year and is tied with Connecticut for the nation's lead in rebounding margin per game (+10.9). Here are more rebounding notes...

OU has outrebounded 21 of its 24 opponents. Included were margins of 28 against Samford, 22 against Belmont and Alabama, 21 versus Texas Tech, 20 versus SMU, 18 against Binghamton, 17 versus Missouri, 16 versus Tulsa and 15 against Texas Tech.
Oklahoma has grabbed 369 offensive boards (15.4 per game) while its foes have secured just 205 (8.5).
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, 17, 15 and 15 offensive boards.
Taj Gray averages a team-high 8.1 rebounds while Kevin Bookout averages 7.1. 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 23 of 24 games (14 times by Gray and nine by Bookout).

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS
Lloyd Noble Center has been overly kind to the Sooners, as they have won 29 of the last 31 games and 77 of the last 83 in the building. Oklahoma is 12-1 at home this year and finished 14-1 last season. It is 159-22 (.878) at Lloyd Noble in Kelvin Sampson's 11-plus years as head coach. OU is 396-65 (.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.

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 11.3 points and 7.1 rebounds while shooting .563 from the field and .620 from the foul line. He ranks fifth in the Big 12 (league games) in rebounding with 7.0 per game, despite playing the last nine contests with a broken bone in his left wrist. The wrist and his thumb are heavily taped, limiting his ability to catch and handle 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 1,055 points to rank 30th all-time at OU. Bookout also ranks No. 2 all-time in field goal percentage (.575) and ranks 15th with 653 career rebounds.

DIME DROPPER
Although he was not recruited to OU as a point guard, senior Terrell Everett leads the Big 12 and ranks third in the nation with his 6.7 assists per game. The slender 6-4 lefty, a natural wing who played some point last year, has led the Sooners in assists 45 times in his 57 career games, including 21 times in 24 outings this year. He had a career-high 15 assists against Baylor on Feb. 11 and 11 more against Iowa State on Feb. 18.

BIG 12 KING
Kelvin Sampson has amassed 109 regular season Big 12 victories, most in league history. He is 109-48 (.694) 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 126-54) and holds the mark for most overall wins by a conference coach since the Big 12 was formed (he is 236-83).

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 131-13 (.910) when reaching the 80-point plateau. OU has won 48 of its last 51 and 64 of its last 68 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 27 times in 88 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 109-48 (.694) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 159-22 (.878) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 77 of its last 83 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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