Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Auburn on February 24, 2026 , Win , 91, to, 79
Final
Men's Basketball
91
vs Auburn
79
University of Oklahoma Athletics
OU Meets No. 22 USC in Los Angeles
November 28, 2007 | Men's Basketball
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GAME PREVIEW
The Oklahoma men's basketball team (5-1) plays its first true road game of the season when it travels to Los Angeles to take on No. 22/24 USC (5-1) on Thursday at 10 p.m. CST. To be played at the Galen Center on the USC campus, the contest will be part of the inaugural Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. The Trojans will play in Norman next season.
Thursday's game will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC-AM 1520 in Oklahoma City; KMOD-FM 97.5 in Tulsa) with Bob Barry Sr. and Mike Houck announcing (it will also air on Sirius Channel 181 with USC's broadcast). The contest will be televised by FSN (Cox 37 in OKC; Cox 27 in Tulsa) with Ted Robinson, Marques Johnson and Michael Eaves announcing.
UP NEXT
The Sooners play at TCU on Sunday at 7 p.m. CST. The game will be televised by CSTV.
"NOTE" WORTHY
• OU's top four scorers (Blake Griffin, Longar Longar, Tony Crocker and Omar Leary) are all shooting at least .551 from the field. They are shooting a combined .572.
• 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 six games this year, OU is surrendering 54.0 points a contest. Only one opponent has scored more than 59 points (third-ranked Memphis scored 63).
• The Sooners have used five different starting lineups in the last five games.
• Point guard Omar Leary leads the Sooners in field goal percentage (.607) and 3-point field goal percentage (.529). He has made at least one trey in each game and is 9-for-17 from behind the arc on the year.
• Leary and Tony Crocker are shooting a combined .514 from 3-point range (19-for-37).
• Freshman forward Blake Griffin ranks second in the Big 12 with three double-doubles.
• Griffin averages a team-high 27.0 minutes per game. No other Big 12 team leader in minutes averages a figure that low.
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OKLAHOMA UPDATE
A winner of two straight, Oklahoma received 13 votes in this week's ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll (good for the 38th spot). The Sooners, whose only loss came to third-ranked Memphis (63-53) on Nov. 15 in New York City, are coming off a 74-42 home victory over Morehead State last Wednesday in which they overcame 20 turnovers by shooting .511 from the field, .400 from 3-point range and .769 from the free throw line. They held the Eagles to a .302 field goal mark (.259 after halftime) and a .158 3-point field goal figure while also posting a 38-26 rebounding advantage.
Oklahoma's starting frontcourt of freshman forward Blake Griffin and senior center Longar Longar combined to go 12-for-16 from the field against Morehead State and finished with 26 points and 20 rebounds. Griffin registered team highs of 16 points and 12 boards while Longar finished with 10 points and eight rebounds in just 19 minutes. The pair leads OU in both scoring and rebounding on the year, with Griffin averaging 15.0 and 9.2, respectively, and Longar averaging 12.0 and 7.5. Griffin has led the Sooners in scoring in four of OU's six games this year while Longar has done it the other two.
Sophomore guard Tony Crocker, who has scored in double figures in five games this year, ranks third on the team by averaging 11.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest. He adds a team-high 2.8 assists after handing out a career-high seven against Morehead State. Crocker is shooting .561 from the field, .500 from 3-point range (10-for-20) and .857 from the foul line (12-for-14). Twice this year he has made four 3-pointers in a game (versus Denver and Morehead State). Junior guard Omar Leary, a first-team junior college All-American last year who has started OU's last four games after coming off the bench the first two, leads the team in both field goal percentage (.607) and 3-point field goal percentage (.529). He is 9-for-17 from long range and has made at least one trey in all six outings. Leary averages 8.2 points a game after going for 13 last Wednesday.
To say the Sooners' defense has been good this year would be an understatement. Through six contests, OU is holding opponents to an average of just 54.0 points (the fewest by a Big 12 team) and to .346 field goal and .277 3-point shooting. Only one foe has managed to reach 60 points (Memphis scored 63). Oklahoma's six foes have also averaged 17.8 turnovers.
MOREHEAD STATE LEFTOVERS
• With OU's win, Jeff Capel notched his 100th career victory against just 57 losses.
• Tony Crocker netted 14 points with the help of 4-for-6 shooting from behind the arc. In four home games this year, the sophomore guard is shooting .692 from the field (18-for-26) and .643 from 3-point range (9-for-14).
• The Sooners shot .511 from the field, marking the third time in six games this year they shot above .500.
• OU's starting lineup of Blake Griffin, Longar Longar, Tony Crocker, Omar Leary and Austin Johnson was the team's fifth consecutive different look to open a game.
• After playing one total minute during OU's two games in New York City Nov. 15-16 (he battled illness), freshman guard Cade Davis played 14 minutes against the Eagles and netted eight points on 2-for-2 3-point and 2-for-2 free throw shooting.
• Morehead State's 42 points marked its lowest total in 55 games.
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PREVIEWING USC
After a surprising 96-81 season-opening home loss to Mercer on Nov. 10, USC has reeled off five straight victories and is ranked No. 22 and No. 24 in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, respectively. The Trojans are coming off three wins in the inaugural Anaheim Classic, including an impressive 70-45 triumph in the title game over then-No. 19/18 Southern Illinois. USC is outscoring its opponents by 10.2 a game on the year and holds a +2.5-per game rebounding edge. It is shooting .495 from the field, .415 from 3-point territory and .659 from the free throw line. Opponents, meanwhile, have been held to .399 field goal and .309 3-point shooting. Thursday's game will mark just the second at home for the Trojans this year.
USC is expected to start two freshmen and three sophomores. Freshman guard O.J. Mayo, a McDonald's High School All-American last year, is averaging a team-high 21.8 points to go along with 4.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 36.0 minutes a game. He has made at least three 3-pointers in all six outings and is shooting .422 from beyond the arc (19-for-45) and .842 from the foul line (16-for-19). Daniel Hackett, a sophomore guard from Italy who missed the Mercer game with a broken jaw, is averaging 12.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and a team-high 5.8 assists per contest while shooting a sizzling .611 from the field and .667 from long range (6-for-9). Sophomore forward Taj Gibson averages 11.8 points and team highs of 9.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots per outing. Gibson, who is shooting .480 from the floor, gets to the free throw line for 6.0 attempts per game (he is shooting .611 at the charity stripe).
Sophomore guard Dwight Lewis, who was 6-for-9 from the floor against Southern Illinois en route to a 14-point performance, is averaging 10.7 points and 2.2 rebounds a game. Redshirt-freshman forward Kasey Cunningham is averaging 3.5 points and 3.0 boards. Another freshman, forward Davon Jefferson, missed the first three games but is averaging 10.7 points off the bench over the last three. He scored 20 points against Southern Illinois.
Head coach Tim Floyd is in his third year at USC and owns a 47-26 (.644) record there. He is in his 15th season as a collegiate head coach and sports a 290-156 (.650) career record. The former Iowa State mentor (1995-98) compiled a 3-3 record against Oklahoma while with the Cyclones. After four years in Ames, Floyd spent five seasons as an NBA coach with the Chicago Bulls (four) and New Orleans Hornets (one). He posted a 93-235 (.284) record in the pro ranks.
SERIES WITH THE TROJANS
Oklahoma holds a 5-4 series lead against USC and posted a 92-91 win in the most recent meeting, a Nov. 25, 1983, matchup in the opening round of the Great Alaska Shootout. Sophomore Wayman Tisdale finished with 35 points and 12 rebounds for the 20th-ranked Sooners in that contest. All of the other series meetings took place prior to the 1970s, with the first two games occurring on Dec. 13 and 14, 1935, in Norman. OU is 1-2 at USC.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Last year, Oklahoma's strength under first-year head coach Jeff Capel was its defense. The Sooners held opponents to 59.6 points a game (the lowest average in 29 years) and to .406 field goal shooting (the second lowest figure over the past 46 seasons). Through six games in 2007-08, OU's defense has been just as good, if not better...
• OU is surrendering just 54.0 points per game and allowing opponents to shoot .346 from the field and .277 from 3-point land.
• No opponent has scored more than 63 points this season and five of OU's six foes have been held under 60 points.
• Third-ranked Memphis, which averaged 78.9 points last year and 91.0 through its first two games this season, was held to 63 points Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden.
• In its six games, Oklahoma has forced each of its opponents into as many or more turnovers than it committed. Foes are averaging 17.8 turnovers per contest on the year and 18.8 over the past four outings.
LONGAR INCREASES PRODUCTION
Since averaging 6.7 points and 6.0 rebounds over OU's first two games, senior Longar Longar has upped his production over the last four outings. In games versus Alcorn State (20 points, eight rebounds), Memphis (13 points, six rebounds), Gardner-Webb (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Morehead State (10 points, eight rebounds), the center has averaged 14.8 points and 8.3 boards. He has shot .568 from the field over the four outings and was 17-for-24 at the foul line (.708). Longar also averaged 1.3 assists and 1.3 blocks over the four games.
A native of Sudan, Longar is the Sooners' leading returning scorer (10.4 ppg) and rebounder (7.0 rpg) from last year. He owns a .582 career field goal percentage.
FOR STARTERS
Head coach Jeff Capel has used five different starting lineups through six games, including a different starting group in each of the last five contests. Nine different Sooners have started this season, with only Blake Griffin getting the nod in all six outings.
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HOT HANDS
The Sooners have displayed solid shooting through six games, posting a .486 mark from the field and a .375 figure from 3-point range (last year OU shot .435 and .326, respectively). Oklahoma's top four scorers are all shooting at least .551 from the floor. Guard Omar Leary is shooting a team-high .607 from the field and is followed by forward Blake Griffin (.581), guard Tony Crocker (.561) and center Longar Longar (.551). Combined, the four players own a .572 field goal mark.
Three OU players are shooting at least .500 from 3-point distance. Leary owns a .529 mark (9-for-17) while Tony Crocker (10-for-20) and Taylor Griffin (4-for-8) are shooting .500 (4-for-8). Seven Sooners have made at least four treys each through six games.
A BREATH OF FROSH AIR
• Forward Blake Griffin's 18 points Nov. 8 against San Francisco were the most by an OU freshman in a 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.
YOUNG GRIFFIN GETTING PRESEASON PUB
He has played six games as a collegian, but Blake Griffin is already attracting plenty of national publicity. The freshman forward is listed by FOXsports.com senior college basketball writer Jeff Goodman as the country's seventh-best post player and was 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.
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 six regular season games, OU's top nine scorers average between 15.7 and 27.0 minutes a contest (a 10th player, Tony Neysmith, averages 11.0 minutes). Eight players average at least 5.0 points a game, with three of them (Blake Griffin, Longar Longar and Tony Crocker) averaging double figures.
FINDING THEIR 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 18-for-25 (.720) in the regular season to rank sixth in the Big 12 Conference. Griffin shot .578 from the line as a high school senior last year.
Similarly, center Longar Longar has improved his free throw stroke this season. Longar, who entered his senior campaign with a .542 career free throw mark and shot .570 as a junior, is shooting .667 through six games this year (18-for-27).
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