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 Hosts 6-1 Stephen F. Austin
December 07, 2007 | Men's Basketball
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GAME PREVIEW
A 24-point winner at TCU on Sunday and a 26-point victor over Tulsa on Wednesday, Oklahoma (7-2) plays its final game before final exam week when it hosts Stephen F. Austin (6-1) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CST at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners are 5-0 at home this year, where they have shot .533 from the field and .424 from 3-point range. Stephen F. Austin, whose only loss came at Texas Tech (60-44) three weeks ago, has won four straight contests (the last three by an average of 18.7 points).
Saturday's game will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC-AM 1520 in Oklahoma City; KTBZ-AM 1430 in Tulsa; Sirius channel 119) with Bob Barry Sr. and Mike Houck announcing. The game will be televised by the Sooner Sports Network (KWTV Channel 9/Cox 10 in OKC; KQCW Channel 19/Cox 12 in Tulsa; ESPN Full Court) with Toby Rowland and Charlie Spoonhour announcing. An Internet webcast will be available on SoonerSports.com (an "All-Access" subscription is required).
TICKET INFORMATION
• Tickets for Saturday's game are available for $10 and $20. The $10 seats are located in the upper north and south sections of Lloyd Noble Center. The $20 seats are located in the upper east and west, and lower north and south sections.
• Family packs are available for Saturday's game. For $10, fans get a game ticket, a hot dog, a soft drink and a coupon for a free T-shirt (a minimum purchase of four tickets is required).
• Tickets for OU students are $5 at the door (west entrance).
• Tickets may be purchased online at SoonerSports.com or at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668). Lloyd Noble Center ticket windows will open Saturday at 11 a.m.
"NOTE" WORTHY
• The lone previous meeting between OU and Stephen F. Austin occurred in Billy Tubbs' 12th game as the Sooners' head coach (OU won 88-55 on Jan. 7, 1981, in Norman).
• Oklahoma outscored TCU and Tulsa over the last two games by an average count of 85.5 to 60.5. OU shot a combined .545 from the field and .515 from 3-point range.
• OU's five starters (Tony Crocker, Blake Griffin, Austin Johnson, Omar Leary and Longar Longar) are shooting a combined .541 from the field on the year.
• 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 nine games this year, OU is surrendering 56.8 points a contest and is allowing opponents to shoot just .358 from the field.
• The Sooners have used six different starting lineups in their nine games (the same one the last two outings).
• Tony Crocker ranks second in the Big 12 with his .571 3-point shooting (20-for-35). He has made at least three treys in a game four times (he is 17-for-22 in those contests).
• Seventeen of Crocker's 20 3-pointers this season have come in four games. He was 4-for-5 against Denver, 4-for-6 versus Morehead State, 6-for-7 at TCU and 3-for-4 against Tulsa.
• OU has attempted three more field goals than its opponents this year (503 to 500) but has made 65 more of them (244 to 179).
• Austin Johnson is averaging 12.3 points and 5.3 boards while going 13-for-18 from the field and 7-for-10 from 3-point range over the last three games.
• In five home games, Oklahoma is averaging 81.0 points and shooting .533 from the field and .424 from 3-point distance. It is holding foes to 52.2 points a contest and .357 field goal and .243 3-point marks.
• Freshman Blake Griffin is averaging 15.6 points and 9.2 rebounds in 26.0 minutes per outing at Lloyd Noble Center this year. Projected to 40 minutes, those averages balloon to 24.0 points and 14.2 rebounds. Griffin is also shooting .667 from the field at home.
• Griffin has shot .500 or better from the field in eight of the team's nine games.
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OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Strong shooting has carried the Sooners to convincing victories in their last two outings. Oklahoma shot .545 from the field in a 90-66 win at TCU last Sunday before duplicating the figure in its 81-55 home triumph over Tulsa on Wednesday. Three-point shooting was a major asset in both outings, as OU went a combined 17-for-33 (.515) from behind the arc. The team also posted double-digit rebounding advantages in both games (50-33 against TCU and 37-27 versus Tulsa).
Tony Crocker is playing the best basketball, by far, of his young career. The sophomore guard registered a career-high 24 points against TCU (20 in the first half) to go along with a career-high-tying nine rebounds. He was 6-for-7 from 3-point range against the Horned Frogs, with all of his attempts coming before halftime. Crocker was nearly as impressive in the Tulsa game, with 22 points, three rebounds, five assists and no turnovers. He made three more treys against the Golden Hurricane on four tries. His first points of the night came at the 10:06 mark of the first half, and he did not play the final 6:19 of the contest. Crocker is averaging 13.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team-high 3.0 assists per contest while shooting .565 from the field and .571 from 3-point range (ranks second in the Big 12). At Lloyd Noble Center, he is averaging 14.8 points over five outings and is shooting .694 from the floor and .667 from long distance (12-for-18).
Freshman forward Blake Griffin bounced back from a season-low four-point game at USC on Nov. 29 with 15- and 13-point efforts against TCU and Tulsa, respectively. He was a combined 13-for-21 from the field in the two games with five dunks, six assists and five steals. He also blocked three shots versus Tulsa. Griffin leads the team in scoring (13.6 ppg), rebounding (8.2 rpg), steals (1.7 spg) and field goal percentage (.586 to rank second in the Big 12). He also ranks second in the conference with three double-doubles, despite going three games without one. Longar Longar, Griffin's starting frontcourt mate, is averaging 11.1 points a game to rank third on the squad and 6.8 boards to rank second. He is coming off a near double-double at TCU (nine points, 10 rebounds) and a 16-point, four-rebound game against Tulsa.
OU's chief ball-handlers, guards Austin Johnson and Omar Leary, have been impressive of late. Johnson entered the USC game averaging 5.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists, but over the last three contests has averaged 12.3 points, 5.3 boards and 3.3 handouts while going 13-for-18 from the field and 7-for-10 from 3-point distance. He has scored in double figures in each of the three games (13 at USC, 13 at TCU and 11 versus Tulsa) and is now averaging 8.0 points a game on the year while sporting a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. Leary, who has started the last seven contests, has 11 assists over the last two outings (he had 10 on the year heading into Sunday's game at TCU). The 5-10 lefty is averaging 7.4 points while shooting .510 from the field.
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TULSA LEFTOVERS
• Oklahoma became just the second team to shoot better than .500 from the field against Tulsa since Doug Wojcik became TU's head coach (he is in his third year at Tulsa). OU shot .545 on the night for its fifth performance this season better than .500.
• Tulsa's Ben Uzoh entered the game averaging a team-high 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in 32.6 minutes a contest. He finished with 11 points and five rebounds in 36 minutes on Wednesday. All of Uzoh's points came in the final 10:59 of the game.
• OU won for the 58th time in its last 59 home non-conference games and improved to 27-11 all-time against Tulsa.
• Tony Crocker was 3-for-4 from 3-point range to increase his shooting from behind the arc in home games to .667 on the year (12-for-18).
• Oklahoma staked a 30-point halftime lead (46-16) by shooting .633 from the field and holding Tulsa to a .231 figure. It was the Sooners' largest halftime lead since the season opener last season.
• OU wore an alternate home (gray) jersey for the first time ever.
PREVIEWING STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
A winner of four straight, Stephen F. Austin enters Saturday's game with a 6-1 overall record and a 2-1 road mark. The Lumberjacks, who are coming off a 56-39 home win over Southern on Tuesday, suffered their only loss of the year three weeks ago at Texas Tech (60-44) and have won their six games by an average of 15.0 points. SFA has been especially good defensively, holding opponents to 55.1 points per game (ranks in the top 20 nationally) and to .400 field goal shooting. It is averaging 65.7 points per contest while shooting .453 from the floor and .287 from 3-point territory.
Junior center Matt Kingsley is averaging team highs of 19.0 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting a team-best .595 from the field. The 6-9, 225-pounder has led the team in scoring in five of its seven games and has netted at least 20 points three times (recorded a season-high 26 against Jackson State). He leads the Southland Conference in scoring and has reached double figures in all seven outings. Josh Alexander, a junior forward, ranks second on the team in scoring and rebounding with his 13.8 and 6.2 averages. Alexander has made a team-high 14 3-pointers on 42 attempts for a .333 figure. Sophomore point guard Eric Bell, who is scoring 7.4 points a game, leads the Southland Conference (and ranked fourth nationally as of Monday) by handing out 6.6 assists per contest. Bell is also shooting .526 from the field and has a team-high 15 steals. Junior forward Nick Shaw contributes 7.3 points and 6.0 rebounds a game while senior guard Gerald Fonzie adds 7.1 points and 1.4 treys per outing.
Danny Kaspar is in his eighth season as Stephen F. Austin's head coach and owns a 114-91 (.556) record at the school. He is in his 17th year as a collegiate head coach and is 333-143 (.700).
SERIES WITH THE LUMBERJACKS
Oklahoma posted an 88-55 win over Stephen F. Austin in Norman on Jan. 7, 1981, in the teams' only previous meeting. With the game tied at 31 at halftime, OU outscored the Lumberjacks 57-24 in the second half. Chucky Barnett led five Sooners in double figures with a game-high 24 points. Bo Overton added 14 points, John Grammer netted 13 and Steve Bajema and Randy Samuels chipped in with 10 apiece. Alden Wren paced the Lumberjacks with 12 points. The win was Billy Tubbs' fifth as OU head coach.
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 eight games in 2007-08, OU's defense has been just as good, if not better...
• OU is surrendering just 56.8 points per game (ranks fourth in the Big 12) and is allowing opponents to shoot .358 from the field (ranks first) and .295 from 3-point land (ranks second).
• No opponent has scored more than 66 points this season and six of OU's nine foes have been held under 60 points.
• Third-ranked Memphis, which averaged 78.9 points last year and is averaging 82.3 points this season, was held to 63 points Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden.
• Through nine games, Oklahoma has forced eight of its opponents into at least as many turnovers as it has committed. Foes are averaging 16.4 turnovers per contest (OU is averaging 14.1).
• All nine opponents have shot under .460 from the field and seven have finished with a mark less than .400. Gardner-Webb, which won at Kentucky by 16 points when it shot .531 from the field, was held to a .279 performance against OU in New York.
HOT HANDS
With the exception of the Memphis and USC games when they combined for a .362 field goal mark, the Sooners have displayed excellent shooting this year. On the season, Oklahoma sports a .485 mark from the field and a .390 figure from 3-point range (last year OU shot .435 and .326, respectively). OU's five starters are all shooting at least .488 from the floor. Forward Blake Griffin owns a team-high .586 field goal mark and is followed by guard Tony Crocker (.565), guard Austin Johnson (.542), guard Omar Leary (.510) and center Longar Longar (.488). Combined, the quintet owns a .541 field goal mark.
The starting guard trio of Crocker, Johnson and Leary has combined to shoot .477 from 3-point range (42-for-88). Crocker is shooting .571 from behind the arc (20-for-35) to rank second in the Big 12, Johnson is shooting .440 (11-for-25) and Leary is shooting .393 (11-for-28). Taylor Griffin owns a .455 mark from long range but has attempted considerably fewer shots (he is 5-for-11). Seven Sooners have made at least five treys each through nine games.
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FOR STARTERS
Head coach Jeff Capel has used six different starting lineups through nine games. Nine different Sooners have started this season, with only Blake Griffin getting the nod in each outing. Wednesday's contest against Tulsa marked the first time this year the Sooners used the same starting five in consecutive games (Tony Crocker, Blake Griffin, Austin Johnson, Omar Leary and Longar Longar).
GET THE ROCK TO T-CROCK
Sophomore guard Tony Crocker has had a highly productive last two games in just about every statistical phase. Already having a successful season entering Sunday's TCU game (he was averaging 10.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting .500 from the field and .458 from 3-point range), Crocker averaged 23.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in OU's wins over the Horned Frogs and Tulsa. The San Antonio, Texas, product shot .714 from the floor (15-for-21) in the two games and a torrid .818 from behind the 3-point arc (9-for-11). Here is a recap of Crocker's week...
• Crocker entered Sunday's game at TCU with a career high of 19 points (versus Villanova last December) but scored 20 in the first half against the Frogs when he was 6-for-7 from 3-point range. He finished the game with 24 points (he did not attempt a 3-pointer in the second half) and a career-high-tying nine rebounds.
• Against Tulsa on Wednesday, Crocker scored 22 points (with the help of 3-for-4 shooting from long range) despite not scoring until 10:06 remained in the first half (he exited the game for the final time with 6:19 left in the second). He added three boards, a game-high five assists and committed no turnovers.
Crocker is now averaging 13.0 points (ranks second on team), 4.3 rebounds (ranks third), 3.0 assists (ranks first) while shooting .565 from the field, .571 from 3-point land (ranks second in Big 12) and .826 from the free throw line.
JOHNSON INCREASES PRODUCTION
For just the second time in his career (he did it in OU's fourth, fifth and sixth games of last year), junior guard Austin Johnson has scored in double figures in three straight contests. Johnson entered the Nov. 29 USC game averaging 5.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists an outing and was shooting .433 from the field and .267 (4-for-15) from long range. That all changed with OU's game against the 22nd-ranked Trojans in Los Angeles...
• Playing with strep throat, Johnson came off the bench against USC and finished with a team-high 13 points. He was 3-for-4 from 3-point range and added three assists without a turnover.
• At TCU this past Sunday, Johnson scored another 13 points (he was 5-for-8 from the field and 3-for-5 from 3-point distance) while grabbing a career-high eight rebounds and handing out four assists.
• Johnson netted 11 points against Tulsa on Wednesday on 3-for-3 field goal shooting (made his only 3-point attempt) and 4-for-5 free throw shooting.
The 6-3, 165-pounder is averaging 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 0.7 turnovers over the last three games while going 13-for-18 from the floor and 7-for-10 from 3-point distance. He is now averaging 8.0 points, 3.2 boards and 2.7 assists on the season while shooting .542 from the field and .440 from deep.
LEARY SETTLING INTO ROLE
Junior point guard Omar Leary, who has been steady for the Sooners all year, has seemed to take a step forward with his confidence and feel over the last few games. The 2007 first-team junior college All-American, who has started OU's last seven games after coming off the bench the first two, is averaging 7.4 points and 2.3 assists in 22.1 minutes a contest. Over the last four outings, he is averaging 3.5 assists and 24.5 minutes. He had 10 assists on the year going into Sunday's TCU game but has handed out 11 in two games since. Leary has made at least one 3-pointer in eight of nine games this season and is shooting .510 from the field and .393 from long distance (11-for-28).
GRIFFIN: A BREATH OF FROSH AIR
• Freshman forward Blake Griffin is averaging team highs of 13.6 points and 8.2 rebounds this season in 26.2 minutes a game. The last OU freshman to average as many points per contest for a season was Jeff Webster in 1990-91 (18.3 ppg). The last player, regardless of class, to average at least 8.2 boards per game was Taj Gray in 2004-05 (8.2 rpg).
• Griffin has led OU in scoring four times in nine games and has paced the squad in rebounding in six contests. He is shooting a team-high .586 from the field (ranks second in Big 12) and leads the team with his 1.7 steals per outing. He has also registered six games of multiple assists (averages 2.2 apg).
• 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.
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 nine regular season games, OU's top nine scorers average between 13.1 and 27.7 minutes a contest (a 10th player, Tony Neysmith, averages 7.6 minutes). Seven players average at least 16.9 minutes per game. Eight players average at least 5.0 points an outing, with three of them (Blake Griffin, Tony Crocker and Longar Longar) averaging double figures. Tony Crocker averages a team-high 27.7 minutes, the lowest figure among Big 12 players who lead their team in minutes played.
HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS
Lloyd Noble Center has been overly kind to the Sooners, as they have won 48 of the last 54 games and 103 of the last 114 in the building. OU is 415-69 (.857) at Lloyd Noble since it opened for 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 (the league's first year was in 1996-97).
HOME COURT NON-CONFERENCE RULE
The Sooners have won 58 of their last 59 non-conference home games (and 66 of their last 68). Last year, visiting Villanova posted a 67-51 win in Norman for OU's first home defeat in a non-conference game since Dec. 22, 1999 (Cincinnati).
"SOONER HOOPS WITH JEFF CAPEL"
Hosted by Bob Carpenter, the 2007-08 version of the "Sooner Hoops with Jeff Capel" television show began airing on Dec. 6. The 30-minute program, which is taped at OU's SoonerVision studio, will be seen across the state and on regional and national stations this year. In Oklahoma City, the show will air on Cox Cable Channel 7 on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., on KWTV Channel 9 on Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. and on KAUT Channel 43 on Sundays at 8:30 p.m. In Tulsa, it will be shown on Cox Cable Channel 7 on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and KQCW Channel 19 on Saturdays at 3:30 p.m.
"Sooner Hoops with Jeff Capel" will also air in the Enid, Guymon, Lawton, Ponca City and Woodward markets inside the state of Oklahoma, as well as in Sherman, Texas, and Kansas City, Mo. It will be carried regionally by FSN Southwest and nationally by CSTV (beginning Jan. 12) and Fox College Sports. Check local listings for air dates and stations.
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