Men's Basketball Season Review

SOONERS WIN 20 GAMES AGAIN
Oklahoma posted a 20-9 record in 2005-06 and went 11-5 in the Big 12 for a third-place finish. OU, which was ranked in the AP's top 25 all season, reached the 20-win plateau for the ninth straight year. Following is a list of notes and accomplishments from the 2005-06 campaign.

The 20-win season marked the 10th of the 12-year Kelvin Sampson era.
The Sooners reached 11 wins in Big 12 play for the eighth time in the last nine seasons.
OU No. 3 nationally with its +8.9 rebounding margin.
Oklahoma won four straight games, all by one point, in late February. Based on polling of the country's media relations directors, it is believed to be the first time a current Division I school ever accomplished the feat. OU played in seven one-point games and won five of them.
Terrell Everett averaged 6.9 assists per game to lead the Big 12 and rank third in the nation.
Michael Neal set a Big 12 record by averaging 3.9 3-point makes per league contest (the old record of 3.8 was set by OU's Nate Erdmann in 1997).
Taj Gray finished his career ranked No. 3 in OU history in field goal percentage (.562), No. 6 in blocks (104) and blocks per game (1.7) and 10th in rebounds per game (8.0).
Kevin Bookout finished his career ranked No. 2 in school history in field goal percentage (.574), No. 14 in rebounds (682) and No. 26 in points (1,108).
Bookout earned third-team Academic All-America honors.

Season Review (PDF) | Final Stats | Season Results

OU BOASTS NATION'S LONGEST POSTSEASON STREAK
Oklahoma made its 25th consecutive postseason appearance this year (20 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 11 times in Kelvin Sampson's 12 seasons.

NINE STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASONS
Kelvin Sampson coached Oklahoma to a 20-win campaign (20-9) for the ninth consecutive season. Including this season, only five other coaches have posted 20 victories each of the last nine years: Lute Olson (16), Tubby Smith (13) Mike Krzyzewski (10), Jim Boeheim (nine) and Jim Calhoun (nine).

GRAY, EVERETT NAMED SECOND-TEAM ALL-BIG 12
Taj Gray, the Big 12's Preseason Player of the Year, earned second-team All-Big 12 honors after leading the Sooners in scoring (14.2 ppg), rebounding (7.7 rpg) and blocked shots (1.6 bpg). The Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year also shot .569 from the field to rank third in the league. Gray, who was also named to the league's all-defensive team, averaged 2.1 rejections over the final nine games. The senior forward also shot .500 or better from the field in 24 of the team's 29 contests.

Terrell Everett, a senior guard who ranked third in the nation with his 6.9 assists average (he averaged 8.9 over the final nine games), also earned second-team All-Big 12 accolades. In addition to his assists average, which was the fourth-highest in school history, Everett contributed 12.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. He scored in double figures in 16 of OU's last 18 games and racked up 21 points, 11 assists and three steals in the team's NCAA Tournament contest. In league play, Everett averaged 13.7 points, 3.9 boards, a Big 12-best 6.9 assists and 1.9 steals. He led OU in assists in 24 of 29 games this season and in 47 of his 61 career outings, despite not being recruited as a point guard. His career-high 15 assists against Baylor on Feb. 11 were the most by a Sooner in eight seasons and three off the school record.

THE BOOK CLOSES ON A SOLID CAREER

Kevin Bookout

Senior forward Kevin Bookout concluded his injury-plagued career as an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection after averaging 11.2 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. He also shot .563 from the field and ranked second on the squad by averaging 31.6 minutes per contest.

Bookout, who had right elbow surgery on Sept. 15 to reposition a displaced ulnar nerve, played the last 14 games of the year with a fractured navicular bone in his left wrist. He sustained the injury Jan. 21 against Texas Tech and it had a noticeable effect on his play the next couple of games. Per usual, Bookout persevered and averaged 10.1 points and 5.9 boards over the final 14 outings.

The Stroud, Okla., native finished his career ranked second in school history with his .574 field goal percentage (Wayman Tisdale holds the school record with a .578 mark), 14th in rebounds (682) and 26th in points (1,108).

NEAL NAMED BIG 12'S TOP NEWCOMER

Michael Neal

Junior guard Michael Neal, a transfer from Lon Morris Junior College, was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year after averaging 12.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 30.4 minutes a game. Neal shot .424 from 3-point range on the season and led the Big 12 (conference games) with his .495 3-point mark and his 3.9 treys per contest. He broke the old Big 12 record of 3.8 treys per league game set by OU's Nate Erdmann in 1997.

Oklahoma's leading scorer in Big 12 games (14.8 ppg), Neal made at least four treys in eight of the team's final 15 outings. OU's sixth man the majority of the season, Neal started the last eight games and averaged 14.0 points and 3.6 treys over the stretch. Included in those eight games were back-to-back efforts of 26 points at Colorado (seven treys) and a career-high 29 points against Iowa State (eight treys). Neal missed OU's first two league games with a strained groin (the Sooners lost both by a combined three points).

Neal made at least one 3-pointer in all 27 of his games, at least two in 22 contests, at least four in 11 outings and at least five in six games. He canned 26 3-pointers over a four-game span (6.5 average) from mid to late February (six versus Baylor, seven at Colorado, eight versus Iowa State and five at Texas Tech).

ACADEMIC HONORS
Kevin Bookout earned the fourth Academic All-America honor in OU men's basketball history when he garnered third-team acclaim on March 1. The award was sponsored by the College Sports Information Directors of America and ESPN The Magazine. Bookout, a human relations major with a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average, also earned first-team Academic All-Big 12 honors along with teammate Nate Carter. It was the second consecutive first-team league academic honor for Bookout and the first for Carter, a junior.

BIG 12 TOURNAMENT REVIEW
No. 3 seed Oklahoma lost to No. 6 seed Nebraska in the quarterfinals, 69-63, marking the first year since 1999 that the Sooners failed to win at least one Big 12 Tournament game.
OU had advanced to the Big 12 Tournament title game each of the four previous times it was the No. 3 seed.
Terrell Everett posted team highs of 14 points and nine assists despite missing eight minutes due to foul trouble.
Oklahoma was 11-for-24 from 3-point range (.458) against Nebraska but just 12-for-34 from two point territory (.353). Its 11 treys tied as the second most of the season.
Kevin Bookout's two assists versus Nebraska matched his season total entering the game.
OU started the game with an 11-2 rebounding margin but was outboarded 34-19 the rest of the way.
Austin Johnson's four 3-pointers were twice as many as his previous career high of two. His 12 points were two shy of his career high.

NCAA TOURNAMENT REVIEW
No. 6 seed Oklahoma lost to No. 11 seed UW-Milwaukee, 82-74, in first-round play in Jacksonville, Fla., as part of the Minneapolis Regional.
The Sooners never led, but had four possessions to do so early in the second half.
Terrell Everett led OU with 21 points, 11 assists and three steals while David Godbold tied a career high with 15 points and matched a season high with seven rebounds.
Kevin Bookout had 14 points and eight rebounds while Taj Gray contributed 13 and eight.
Oklahoma outshot (.525 to .455) and outrebounded (35-32) the Panthers but commited six more turnovers.
UW-Milwaukee was 26-for-32 (.813) from the free throw line while OU was 5-for-8 (.625).

GOOD POINT
Seven of Oklahoma's games this year (all in Big 12 play) were decided by one point (the Sooners were 5-2 in those contests). Prior to the regular season finale at Texas, OU played four straight one-point games and won each of them. Based on polling of the nation's men's basketball media relations directors, it is believed to be the first time that any Division I school ever won four consecutive games by one point each. Here are more notes about OU's one-point games this season...

OU participated in seven of the nine Big 12 league contests that were decided by one point.
The seven one-point decisions are the most in single-season school history, as are the five victories. Oklahoma played five one-point games in 1955-56 and 1979-80 and won three one-point decisions in five different seasons (1944-45, 1961-62, 1969-70, 1997-98 and 1998-99).
This year marked just the second time a current Big 12 program has had four straight games decided by one point. In 1925-26, Oklahoma State played four consecutive one-point games (it won the first three).
The record for one-point games in a season by a current Big 12 school is eight by Texas A&M in 1968-69 (it finished with a 6-2 record).
Kelvin Sampson improved to 16-4 at Oklahoma in one-point games.

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS

Lloyd Noble Center

Lloyd Noble Center has been overly kind to the Sooners, as they have won 31 of the last 33 games and 79 of the last 85 in the building. Oklahoma finished 14-1 at home this year after also going 14-1 in 2004-05. It is 161-22 (.880) at Lloyd Noble in Kelvin Sampson's 12 years as head coach. OU is 398-65 (.860) 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.

HOME COURT NON-CONFERENCE RULE
The Sooners have won 46 straight non-conference home games and 54 of their last 55. The 46 consecutive home non-conference wins gives them the longest current streak in the country (tied with Illinois). Cincinnati is the last non-conference opponent to hand OU a loss inside Lloyd Noble Center, a 72-57 outcome on Dec. 22, 1999. Oklahoma posted an 83-5 (.943) home non-conference record under 12-year head coach Kelvin Sampson. Besides Cincinnati, the four non-league teams to beat a Sampson-coached OU team in Norman were Texas Tech (81-69 on Nov. 29, 1995 [pre-Big 12]), Mississippi State (76-71 on Feb. 10, 1996), Memphis (80-78 on Dec. 13, 1997) and Murray State (68-64 on Nov. 28, 1998).

Trailing Oklahoma and Illinois in consecutive home non-conference wins are Duke (41), Utah State (37), Sam Houston State (28) and Tennessee-Martin (28).

WINTER WARMTH
Oklahoma endured below-average 3-point shooting over its first 13 games but turned up the heat in its final 16 outings. In their first 13 contests, the Sooners shot .294 from beyond the arc and averaged 5.0 treys. Over the last 16 games, however, OU shot .413 from long range and averaged 6.8 makes. Michael Neal made 57 treys on 119 attempts (.479) during the stretch. The Sooners shot .400 or better from 3-point range in 10 of the season's final 14 contests.

WINDOW WIPERS
Oklahoma outboarded its opponents 1,060-803 on the year and ranked third in the nation with its +8.9 rebounding margin per game (Texas ranked first at 10.6 and Connecticut ranked second at 9.5). Here are more board notes...

OU outrebounded 24 of its 29 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 grabbed 420 offensive boards (14.5 per game) while its foes secured just 259 (8.9).
In 2004-05, OU registered 20 or more offensive rebounds twice in 33 games. This year's squad accomplished the feat four times with other games of 19, 18, 17, 17, 17, 15 and 15 offensive boards.
Taj Gray or Kevin Bookout led Oklahoma in rebounding in 28 of 29 games.

PREACHING PROTECTION
Dating back to the start of the 2003-04 season, Oklahoma committed more turnovers than its opponent just 29 times in 93 games (31 percent of the time). OU finished 14-1 this year and 20-2 in 2004-05 when committing fewer (or the same number of) turnovers than its foes.

MAKING THE GRADE

Michael Ott

The 2005 fall semester was a productive one in the classroom for the Sooners. The squad posted a 3.14 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, setting a single-semester record for the 12-year Kelvin Sampson era. Eight of the 12 team members recorded a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Each student-athlete posted at least a 2.5 GPA.

Sophomore Michael Ott earned a team-high 3.75 GPA and was followed by freshman Taylor Griffin (3.71), freshman Austin Johnson (3.63), senior Kevin Bookout (3.50), junior Nate Carter (3.50), sophomore Kellen Sampson (3.40), sophomore Longar Longar (3.00) and junior Michael Neal (3.00).

BRIGHT FUTURE
Oklahoma 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). Reynolds was named a McDonald's All-American, OU's first since Ryan Humphrey played in the 1997 game. Reynolds scored three points (he attempted only three shots) and added a game-high-tying five assists without a turnover in 13 minutes.

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

OKLAHOMA TIP INS

Terrell Everett

Michael Neal became the fourth OU player to be named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in the league's 10 years. Taj Gray earned the honor in 2005, guard Ebi Ere in 2002 and guard Corey Brewer in 1997.
Gray and Terrell Everett led all Big 12 seniors with their respective 14.2 and 12.7 scoring averages. Gray also led the league's seniors with his 7.7 rebounds per game.
Dating back to the 2004-05 season, Oklahoma has outrebounded 30 of its last 36 opponents.
Three of OU's five Big 12 losses came by a combined four points.
The Sooners held leads of at least seven points in six of their nine losses (10 points at Villanova, nine vs. West Virginia, 10 at Nebraska, seven against Missouri, 16 at Kansas and eight at Colorado).
OU was 14-1 this year when committing fewer (or the same number of) turnovers than its opponents. It was 6-8 when it committed more turnovers.
Kevin Bookout (.574) and Gray (.563) finished their careers ranked second and third in OU history in field goal percentage.
Gray shot .500 or better from the field in 24 of 29 games this year while Bookout did it 23 times. Gray shot .569 on the season and Bookout shot .563.
Bookout played in 108 career games and started 107 of them. As a freshman in 2003, he yielded to Jozsef Szendrei on Senior Day.
Everett ranked third nationally in assists (6.9 per game). He led OU in assists in 24 of 29 outings this year and in 48 of his 62 career games.
Neal made at least two treys in 22 of his 27 games. In Big 12 play, he led the conference with his 3.9 treys per game and his .495 3-point percentage.
Opponents shot .389 from 3-point range (OU ranked last in the Big 12 in the category). In 2004-05, OU set a school record by allowing foes to shoot just .292 from beyond the arc.
OU registered double-digit offensive boards in 27 of 29 games while foes did it 14 times.

UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
OU made 12 postseason showings in 12 seasons (11 NCAA Tournaments and one NIT).
OU advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 (1999), Final Four (2002) and Elite Eight (2003).
OU shared the 2005 Big 12 regular season title with Kansas (the Sooners won the only head-to-head meeting).
OU posted a 111-49 (.694) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU recorded a 161-22 (.880) record at Lloyd Noble Center and won 79 of its last 85 home games.
OU won at least 20 games each of the last nine years.
OU averaged 25 victories over the past seven seasons.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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