Sooners Go For Consolation Win

Gameday Central | Game Notes (PDF) | Ticket Information

Game Specifics
Date and Tip Time	Friday, Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. CST
Location	New York, N.Y. \| Madison Square Garden
Tickets	OU Athletics Ticket Office
TV	ESPN2
Radio	Sooner Radio Network KOKC AM-1520 in Oklahoma City; KTBZ AM-1430 in Tulsa
Webcast	None
Live Stats	None

GAME PREVIEW
Oklahoma (3-1) looks to rebound from its first loss of the year when it faces Gardner-Webb (3-1) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. CST in the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic consolation game inside New York's Madison Square Garden (Memphis will play Connecticut in the championship game following the consolation contest).

Gardner-Webb advanced to New York by winning the 2K Sports Classic's Lexington (Ky.) Regional last week. The Runnin' Bulldogs beat Alabama A&M (69-55) before stunning No. 20 Kentucky (84-68). This week, they beat North Greenville (99-74) on Tuesday before falling to Connecticut (78-66) Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

OU's game against Gardner-Webb will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC-AM 1520 in Oklahoma City and KTBZ-AM 1430 in Tulsa) with Bob Carpenter and Mike Houck calling the action. It will be televised by ESPN2 with Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale and Doris Burke announcing.

"NOTE" WORTHY
• OU's top five scorers are all shooting at least .535 from the field. They are shooting a combined .580.
• Oklahoma held opponents to 59.6 points a game last year, the lowest figure since the 1977-78 season (a span of 29 years). Through four games this year, OU is surrendering 56.8 points a contest.
• Junior forward Taylor Griffin has made four 3-pointers this year (on seven attempts), twice as many as he made all of last year when he was 2-for-21.

Gardner-Webb's Projected Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Year	Stats / Notes
F	10	Thomas Sanders	6-4	210	Sr.	18.5 ppg, 12.0 rpg
F	25	Nate Blank	6-4	220	Fr.	8.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg
C	42	Auryn MacMillan	6-8	235	So.	6.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg
G	4	Grayson Flittner	6-0	190	So.	17.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg
G	23	Aaron Linn	6-3	180	Jr.	12.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg

Oklahoma's Projected Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Year	Stats / Notes
F	23	Blake Griffin	6-10	243	Fr.	14.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 57.9 FG%
F	32	Taylor Griffin	6-7	230	Jr.	9.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 53.8 FG%
G	5	Tony Crocker	6-6	193	So.	10.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 64.0 FG%
G	11	Omar Leary	5-10	163	Jr.	7.8 ppg, 1.5 apg, 63.6 3FG%
G	20	Austin Johnson	6-3	165	Jr.	6.3 ppg, 2.5 apg

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
The Sooners suffered their worst shooting performance of the young season Thursday in a 63-53 loss to third-ranked Memphis. Oklahoma shot .382 from the field and tied season lows with four 3-pointers and seven free throws made. Despite those numbers, OU trailed by just six (59-53) and had possession with just under two minutes remaining. Two missed shots and a turnover down the stretch, however, prevented OU from drawing any closer.

For the second straight game, senior Longar Longar came off the bench to lead the Sooners in scoring. The center was 5-for-10 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free throw line to finish with 13 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and handed out three assists. Junior guard Austin Johnson and senior guard David Godbold also played well off the bench. Johnson netted nine points and registered three steals while Godbold added eight points, six boards and three assists. Freshman forward Blake Griffin also scored eight points while pulling down a team-high eight rebounds and recording three steals.

OU's zone defense posed problems for Memphis' high-powered offense throughout the game and held the Tigers 28 points below their season average. Memphis was held to .386 shooting from the field and made only one more field goal than the Sooners did. OU also forced 20 Memphis turnovers.

THURSDAY'S MEMPHIS LEFTOVERS
• Sophomore forward Keith Clark made his first career start and finished with four points in 15 minutes of play.
• Oklahoma's three-man bench of Longar Longar (13 points), Austin Johnson (9) and David Godbold (8) outscored the team's five starters, 30-23.
• The Sooners' 19 turnovers were their most in 24 games (also committed 19 against Tulsa on Dec. 21, 2006).

Who's Hot?
	Longar Longar \| Sr. \| Center • Ranks second on team by averaging 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game • Shooting 54.8% from the field and 70.6% from the free throw line • Has come off the bench to lead OU in scoring each of the last two contests • Averaging 16.5 points and 7.0 boards over the last two games

SERIES HISTORY WITH GARDNER-WEBB
Friday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Oklahoma and Gardner-Webb.

OKLAHOMA AT THE GARDEN
Oklahoma has traveled to New York City 16 previous times and now owns a 4-13 record inside famed Madison Square Garden. Prior to Thursday's game against Memphis, the Sooners' two most recent appearances in the building came under former head coach Kelvin Sampson. OU lost to Duke (78-67) on Dec. 18, 2004, in the Dreyfus Classic and fell to Alabama (68-62) in the 2002-03 season opener in the AT&T Wireless Classic.

The Sooners also played at the Garden in the 1992 postseason NIT when Billy Tubbs' squad knocked off Colorado in the semifinals before falling to Stanford in the title game. Tubbs' 1981-82 team lost to Bradley inside MSG in the 1982 NIT semifinals. Prior to that, all of OU's Garden appearances took place between the 1939-40 and 1950-51 seasons. The Sooners lost the 1947 NCAA championship game to Holy Cross there, 58-47.

WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
Two current Sooners had Madison Square Garden playing experience prior to Thursday's contest against Memphis. Senior guard David Godbold was a freshman on the 2004-05 OU squad that lost to Duke, 78-67, on Dec. 18. Godbold played four minutes off the bench and attempted one shot. (Current senior center Longar Longar was also a freshman that year but did not play in the Duke contest.)

Freshman forward Blake Griffin competed in the Jordan Brand All-American Classic this past spring (April 21). A member of the Jordan Yellow team, Griffin registered eight points and eight rebounds in 13 minutes of action in a 127-119 win over the Jordan Royal squad.

HOT HANDS
The Sooners have displayed adept shooting through four games, posting a .498 mark from the field and a .386 figure from 3-point range (OU shot .435 and .326, respectively, during the 2006-07 season). Oklahoma's top five scorers are all shooting at least .538 from the floor. Guard Tony Crocker is shooting a team-high .640 from the field and is followed by guard Omar Leary (.611), forward Blake Griffin (.579), center Longar Longar (.548) and forward Taylor Griffin (.538). Together, the five players own a .580 field goal mark (80-for-138).

Three OU players are shooting .500 or better from 3-point distance. Leary owns a .636 mark (7-for-11), Taylor Griffin is shooting .571 (4-for-7) and Crocker is shooting .500 (5-for-10). Six Sooners have made at least three treys each through four games.

OU Fast Fact

OU has recorded 26 consecutive winning seasons, more than any other Big 12 program. Kansas ranks second (24) and Oklahoma State ranks third (19).

A BREATH OF FROSH AIR
• Forward Blake Griffin's 18 points last Thursday against San Francisco were the most by an OU freshman in his collegiate debut in 22 years (center Stacey King netted 22 off the bench in the first game of the 1985-86 season against UC Santa Barbara).
• Also against San Francisco, guard Cade Davis (six points in 27 minutes) and Griffin became just the second OU freshman pair to start a season opener in the last 24 years. Prior to 2003-04 when guards Drew Lavender and Lawrence McKenzie did it, a freshman tandem had not started the opening game of a season since guard Tim McCalister and forward Darryl Kennedy in 1983-84.

OFF THE BENCH
• Oklahoma's bench has scored 119 of the team's 303 points this season, or 39 percent.
• OU reserves have outscored opponents' benches 119-58 (average of 30-15).
• Two Sooners have come off the bench to record double-digit scoring efforts a total of three times. Omar Leary netted 14 points in 21 minutes of action against Denver last Friday while Longar Longar registered 20 points in 20 minutes of play Monday versus Alcorn State and 13 points in 30 minutes Thursday against Memphis. (In OU's second exhibition game, Cade Davis came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points).

YOUNG GRIFFIN GETTING PRESEASON PUB
He has played four games as a collegian, but Blake Griffin is already attracting plenty of national preseason publicity. The freshman forward is listed by FOXsports.com senior college basketball writer Jeff Goodman as the country's seventh-best post player and is a member of Goodman's fourth-team preseason All-America squad (five players per team). Rivals.com also recently slotted the 6-10, 243-pounder at No. 6 on its list of top 10 impact freshmen.

Wrote Goodman, "(He's) one of our favorite kids in the country and a guy who's been overlooked when the talk turns to the top frosh. He's strong and versatile -- although the brunt of his damage will be done down low."

DEPTH CHARGE
After the 2006-07 season saw only eight Sooners play regular minutes for the majority of the year, Jeff Capel appears to have the luxury of a deeper bench in 2007-08. Through four regular season games, OU's top nine scorers average between 15.0 and 26.3 minutes a contest (a 10th player, Tony Neysmith, averages 12.0 minutes). Seven players average at least 6.3 points a game, with three of them (Blake Griffin, Longar Longar and Taylor Griffin) averaging double figures.

FINDING HIS FREE THROW STROKE
After going 19-for-39 (.487) from the free throw line during OU's four-game exhibition trip to Canada in September and 4-for-7 (.429) in the team's exhibition games Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, freshman forward Blake Griffin is 13-for-18 (.711) in the regular season. Griffin shot .578 from the line as a high school senior last year.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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