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 at Kansas for Big Monday Tilt
January 14, 2008 | Men's Basketball
| OU (12-4, 0-1) at Kansas (16-0, 1-0) | |
| Date & Tip Time | Monday, Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. CST |
| Location | Lawrence, Kan. | Allen Fieldhouse |
| Tickets | Sold Out |
| TV | ESPN |
| Radio | Sooner Radio Network KOKC AM-1520 in Oklahoma City KMOD FM-97.5 in Tulsa Sirius 125 |
| Webcast | None |
| Live Stats | SoonerSports.com / GameTracker |
| Game Info | Gameday Central | Game Notes (PDF) |
GAME PREVIEW
After suffering its first loss in six games, Oklahoma (12-4, 0-1) plays its first Big 12 road contest of the season when it travels to Lawrence to face Kansas (16-0, 1-0) on Monday at 8 p.m. CST inside Allen Fieldhouse. The Sooners, No. 26 in last week's AP poll, lost their league opener to Kansas State in the final seconds at home on Saturday, 84-82. Kansas, ranked No. 3 nationally and off to its best start since the 1996-97 season, is coming off a 79-58 road win against Nebraska on Saturday. The Jayhawks have won 24 consecutive regular season games.
Monday's contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC 1520-AM in Oklahoma City; KMOD 97.5-FM in Tulsa; Sirius channel 125) with Bob Barry Sr. and Mike Houck announcing. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN with Ron Franklin, Fran Fraschilla and Holly Rowe calling the action.
"NOTE" WORTHY
• Kansas is the only Big 12 school that owns a winning record against Oklahoma. The Jayhawks are 132-64 against OU and boast a 67-16 mark in Lawrence.
• OU had won four of seven against Kansas before losing twice to the Jayhawks last year.
• OU is shooting .482 from the field on the year. The last Oklahoma team to shoot a higher percentage for an entire season was the 1988-89 squad (.491).
• OU's three leading scorers (Blake Griffin, Longar Longar and Tony Crocker) are shooting a combined .552 from the field on the year.
• The Sooners are holding opponents to a .390 season field goal mark. The last time opponents shot worse for an entire campaign was 47 years ago (.377 in 1960-61).
• Over Oklahoma's last six games, Blake Griffin (.641) and Longar Longar (.620) are shooting a combined .632 from the field. They are averaging a combined 34.2 points per game over the stretch.
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KANSAS STATE RECAP
• Oklahoma had its five-game winning streak snapped by visiting Kansas State on Saturday, 84-82. Michael Beasley's lay-in with 2.3 seconds remaining was the game-winner.
• Blake Griffin's steal and dunk with 24 seconds left tied the score at 82.
• Beasley scored a game-high 32 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and committed eight of Kansas State's 16 turnovers. Bill Walker scored 18 of his 22 points after halftime.
• Griffin recorded his sixth double-double of the year with a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds. He was 10-for-14 from the field and 7-for-13 from the free throw line.
• Longar Longar finished with 18 points, six boards and two blocks. He made a career-high 10 free throws on 11 attempts.
• David Godbold netted 15 points (second highest total this year) and Tony Crocker added 13 points and four assists.
• Kansas State's .564 field goal performance was the best against a Jeff Capel-coached Oklahoma team.
• OU fell to 8-1 this season when shooting at least .500 from the field (it shot .528) and to 7-1 when scoring at least 80 points.
OKLAHOMA UPDATE
• Oklahoma has scored at least 80 points eight times this season after doing it four times all of last year. The Sooners have surpassed the 80-point mark in six of the last nine games and are averaging 77.8 over those nine outings.
• After getting outrebounded in each of its previous two games (against Rice and Mount St. Mary's), Oklahoma outrebounded Kansas State on Saturday by a 30-26 margin and held the Wildcats to eight offensive boards. K-State entered the game averaging 45.1 rebounds per game (ranked second in the Big 12) and 17.4 offensive boards (ranked first).
• OU is averaging 75.1 points per game. Only once in the last five years has it averaged that many points per contest for a whole season (75.2 in 2004-05 when it shared the Big 12 regular season title).
• OU has held eight of its 16 opponents to fewer than 60 points this year. It has also held half of its foes under .400 shooting.
• Oklahoma is 2-1 in road games this year. It lost at then-No. 22 USC (66-55 on Nov. 29) before winning at TCU (90-66 on Dec. 2) and then-No. 23 West Virginia (88-82 in double-overtime on Dec. 29). The Sooners are shooting .480 from the field and .424 from 3-point range (28-for-66) in those contests.
• OU's top four scorers in its road games are all shooting at least .515 from the field.
• Five Sooners are averaging double figures in scoring on the road: Austin Johnson leads with 13.0 points per game and is followed by Blake Griffin (12.3), Tony Crocker (12.0), Longar Longar (11.3) and David Godbold (11.0).
• The Sooners are slotted 26th in the Jan. 7 AP poll, their highest ranking since the final poll of the 2005-06 season (24th).
• OU posted 12 regular season non-conference wins, tied for its most since the 1994-95 season.
• Capel announced last Thursday that sophomore forward Keith Clark is academically ineligible and will not be enrolled at OU for the spring semester. Clark averaged 5.4 points and 2.0 rebounds in his 14 games (15.3 minutes per contest).
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INDIVIDUAL PLAYER UPDATES
• Freshman Blake Griffin has posted a career high in points in each of the last three games and is averaging 23.7 points and 10.0 boards while shooting .719 from the field during the stretch. The forward has attempted at least 12 free throws in each of the last three outings (12 against Rice, 18 versus Mount St. Mary's and 13 against Kansas State).
• Griffin ranks ninth in the Big 12 in scoring (15.4 ppg), third in rebounding (9.1 rpg), second in field goal percentage (.600) and third in double-doubles (six). He leads the Sooners in scoring, rebounding, steals (1.4 spg) and field goal percentage.
• Griffin has scored in double figures in nine straight outings and in 14 of 16 games overall. He has shot at least .500 from the field in 13 of 16 contests (five of the last six).
• Griffin was named the Dec. 31 Big 12 Player of the Week after registering 18 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in OU's 88-82 double-overtime win at West Virginia. He is averaging 23.7 points and 10.0 boards in three games since.
• Griffin is shooting better from the field (.600) than he is from the free throw line (.591).
• Senior center Longar Longar has scored in double figures in seven of the last eight games (he finished with six points off the bench Jan. 5 against Rice playing with a shoulder sprain). Over those eight games, Longar is averaging 15.6 points and shooting .592 from the field and .761 from the free throw line.
• Longar has scored at least 16 points in six of the last eight games.
• Longar scored a game-high 22 points against West Virginia (all after halftime) on Dec. 29. Eight came in the two overtime periods.
• In seven of the last eight games, Longar has scored more points after halftime than in the first 20 minutes. He is averaging 4.6 points in the first half of those eight contests and 11.0 after the break. Over the last seven games, Longar is shooting a gaudy .771 from the field after halftime (27-for-35).
• Sophomore guard Tony Crocker, OU's best 3-point shooter at .492 (31-for-63), is one make shy of qualifying in the Big 12 individual rankings (he would rank third). He has made at least three treys in a game six times and is 23-for-35 in those contests.
• Crocker, who scored a career-high 26 points at TCU on Dec. 2 (he netted 20 points in the first half with the help of 6-for-7 3-point shooting), ranks third on the team in scoring and rebounding (11.5 and 4.8 averages) and first in assists (3.1).
• Junior guard Austin Johnson is averaging 11.0 points over the last 10 outings (he has scored at least nine points in eight of those 10 games) while shooting .386 (17-for-44) from 3-point distance. Johnson is now averaging 8.9 points a game on the year and sports a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• In OU's last four games, Johnson is averaging 9.0 points, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals. He tied a career high with nine assists at West Virginia and set a career high with six steals Jan. 5 against Rice (he had 10 steals on the year entering the Rice game).
• After averaging 4.5 points in OU's first six games, senior guard David Godbold is averaging 8.5 over the last 10. His 15 points on Saturday against Kansas State were his second most this season (he scored 18 in the double-overtime win at West Virginia).
• Godbold is 5-for-9 from 3-point range over the last two games.
PREVIEWING KANSAS
• Kansas enters Monday's game with a 16-0 record and a 12-0 home mark. It is off to its best start since 1996-97 and has won 24 straight regular season contests. KU has won 30 of its last 31 games overall (only loss was to UCLA in last year's Elite Eight).
• The third-ranked Jayhawks are coming off a 79-58 win at Nebraska on Saturday, a game in which they shot .519 from the field and .455 from 3-point range (10-for-22). They outrebounded the Huskers by a 37-24 margin.
• KU leads the Big 12 in scoring offense (83.7 ppg), scoring margin (+25.1), field goal percentage (.522), assists (19.9 apg), steals (11.1 spg), blocked shots (6.6 bpg), turnover margin (+6.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5).
• Sophomore forward Darrell Arthur leads the Jayhawks with his 13.4 points and 1.8 blocks per game and also averages 5.7 rebounds. Recording eight points, two boards and three blocks against Nebraska, he is shooting .542 from the field on the year.
• Junior guard Mario Chalmers is averaging 12.1 points and team highs of 4.9 assists and 2.9 steals (his steals average leads the Big 12). Chalmers, who is shooting .542 overall and .468 from behind the 3-point arc, missed the Jan. 8 Loyola (Md.) game but came back to register 14 points and six assists against Nebraska.
• Senior forward Darnell Jackson, from Oklahoma City (he attended Midwest City High School), averages 12.0 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds per contest. He is shooting .658 from the field (.712 over the last nine games).
• Junior guard Brandon Rush missed Kansas' first two games after recovering from summer knee surgery. He has bounced back to average 11.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per outing, and is shooting .404 from 3-point distance. Rush led KU to Saturday's win over the Huskers by finishing with 19 points, six boards, four assists and three steals. He was 5-for-7 from behind the arc.
• Bill Self is in his fifth season as Kansas' head coach and owns a 121-29 (.807) record there. He is in his 15th year overall and owns a 328-134 (.710) career mark.
SERIES WITH THE JAYHAWKS
Kansas is the only Big 12 program with a winning record against Oklahoma. The Jayhawks own a 132-64 series advantage and are 67-16 in Lawrence. The Sooners had won three of the last five overall meetings and four of the last seven prior to last year's two-game Kansas sweep (KU won 67-65 in Norman and 64-47 in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals). OU is 4-11 against Kansas since the formation of the Big 12 Conference. The Sooners' have lost eight straight in Lawrence (their last win was an 80-77 victory in the 1992-93 season).
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LAST YEAR AGAINST KANSAS
Kansas won both meetings against Oklahoma last year. Ranked No. 3 in the nation, the Jayhawks edged the Sooners 67-65 on Feb. 26 in OU's home finale. Oklahoma trailed 33-19 at halftime before rallying to knot the score at 51 with 6:12 remaining. KU got the win, though, making 12-of-16 free throw attempts in the final 5:28. It shot 32 free throws in the second half. OU almost sprung the upset despite shooting .333 from the field. Nate Carter was 12-for-13 from the foul line and led the Sooners with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Taylor Griffin registered 12 points, seven boards and three blocks. Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright paced Kansas with 18 points apiece.
In a rematch in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals in Oklahoma City, the top-seeded and second-ranked Jayhawks held OU to a season-low .313 field goal performance and notched a 64-47 win that ended the Sooners' season. OU trailed by only two at halftime, 28-26, but made just 4-of-20 shots in the final 20 minutes. Longar Longar came off the bench to record team highs of 13 points and 14 rebounds while Michael Neal netted 10 in another non-starting effort. No OU starters scored in double figures. Brandon Rush paced Kansas with 16 points while Darrell Arthur added 10.
LAST TIME IN LAWRENCE
Two years ago in Lawrence, Kansas overcame a 50-34 second-half deficit with the help of a 21-5 run to end the game and snatched a 59-58 victory. The Sooners, who shot .433 in the first half en route to a 29-26 lead at intermission, shot just .278 after halftime and were just 1-for-12 from the floor during a seven-minute 19-3 KU run late in the game. Terrell Everett had a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds for OU while Taj Gray registered 13 points and a game-high 12 boards. Kevin Bookout, who added eight points and 11 rebounds, became the 34th player in school history to record 1,000 points in his career. Freshmen Brandon Rush (18 points) and Julian Wright (14 points and eight rebounds) paced Kansas.
OU'S BIG 12 HISTORY
Oklahoma boasts a 117-60 (.661) record in Big 12 Conference regular season games, third best in the league (Kansas is 146-31 while Texas is 123-54). No other team has won more than 108 conference contests. The Sooners earned a regular season league title in 2005 and also won Big 12 Tournament crowns in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
JOHNSON LEARNING TO LIKE THE ROAD
In his first two years as a Sooner, guard Austin Johnson averaged 3.3 points in the team's 20 true road games while going 22-for-80 from the field (.275) and 10-for-47 from 3-point distance (.213). In OU's three road games this year, however, Johnson is averaging 13.0 points on 15-for-24 (.625) field goal shooting and 9-for-14 (.643) 3-point shooting against USC, TCU and West Virginia. He is also averaging 4.7 rebounds (he had a career-high eight at TCU) and 5.3 assists (he had a career-high-tying nine at West Virginia) while committing four turnovers for a 4-to-1 ratio.
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). With the offense much improved this year, the defense has remained solid...
• OU is surrendering just 61.8 points per game (60.8 in regulation) and is allowing opponents to shoot .390 from the field and .303 from 3-point land (the school record is .292). The last time the Sooners held opponents to a worse field goal mark for an entire season was 47 years ago (.377 in 1960-61).
• Only two opponents (Arkansas scored 72 and Kansas State had 84) has scored more than 68 points in regulation this season, and eight of OU's 16 foes have been held under 60 points.
• Second-ranked Memphis, which averaged 78.9 points last year and is averaging 82.7 points this season, was held to 63 points Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden.
• Oklahoma has forced 13 of its 16 opponents into at least as many turnovers as it has committed. Foes are averaging 15.6 turnovers per contest (OU is averaging 13.8).
• Fifteen of OU's 16 opponents have shot under .500 from the field, 14 have shot under .460 and eight 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 on Nov. 16 while Rice shot .291 on Jan. 5.
HOT HANDS
With the exception of the Memphis and USC games when they combined for a .362 field goal mark, the Sooners have displayed solid shooting this year. On the season, Oklahoma sports a .482 mark from the field (its highest since 1988-89) and a .375 figure from 3-point range (last year OU shot .435 and .326, respectively). It has shot .500 or better from the floor in nine of 16 games, including six of the last nine. OU's three leading scorers are shooting a combined .552 from the floor. Forward Blake Griffin owns a team-high .600 field goal mark and is followed by center Longar Longar (.554) and guard Tony Crocker (.488).
The guard trio of Crocker, Austin Johnson and Omar Leary has combined to shoot .429 from 3-point range. Crocker is shooting .492 from behind the arc (31-for-63), Leary is shooting .439 (18-for-41) and Johnson is shooting .350 (21-for-60). Taylor Griffin owns a .462 mark from long range but has attempted considerably fewer shots (he is 6-for-13).
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WINNING AND LOSING
The following notes compare Oklahoma's stats in its 12 wins and four losses this year...
• In its 12 wins this year, OU is outrebounding its foes by 6.5 a game. In its four losses, it is getting outboarded by 2.2.
• OU is shooting .505 from the field, .409 from 3-point range and .684 from the free throw line in its wins. In its losses, it is shooting .415, .274 and .675, respectively.
• OU's assist-to-turnover ratio in its wins is +1.3 (202 assists and 160 turnovers). The ratio in losses is -1.5 (40 and 60).
• Tony Crocker is averaging 13.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting .540 in the Sooners' wins. In losses, those numbers fall to 6.3 points, 3.8 boards, 2.0 assists and .296 (8-for-27), respectively. Crocker is also shooting .571 from 3-point range in OU's victories (28-for-49), but just .214 in defeats (3-for-14).
FOR STARTERS
Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel has used nine different starting lineups in the team's 16 games this year. Saturday's lineup of Tony Crocker, David Godbold, Blake Griffin, Austin Johnson and Longar Longar has been used four times on the season, all within the last five games. The other lineup that has been four times is the one consisting of Crocker, Griffin, Johnson, Omar Leary and Longar. Nine different Sooners have started this season, with Crocker and Griffin getting the nod a team-high 15 times each.
GRIFFIN: A BREATH OF FROSH AIR
• Freshman forward Blake Griffin is averaging team highs of 15.4 points and 9.1 rebounds this season in 28.1 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 OU freshman to average at least 9.1 boards per game was Wayman Tisdale in 1982-83 (10.3 rpg).
• Griffin has led Oklahoma in scoring seven times and has paced the squad in rebounding in 11 contests (including each of the last five). He is shooting a team-high .600 from the field (ranks second in Big 12) and leads the team with his 1.4 steals per outing. He has also registered 10 games of multiple assists (averages 1.8).
OU TO HONOR STACEY KING ON SATURDAY VS. TEXAS TECH
Stacey King, Oklahoma's No. 5 all-time scorer, will be at Lloyd Noble Center to see his No. 33 jersey honored at halftime of Saturday's 3 p.m. game against Texas Tech. King, who will serve as the game's TV color analyst for ESPN Plus, starred for the Sooners from the 1985-86 through 1988-89 seasons. The left-handed center from Lawton, Okla., helped OU to the 1988 national championship game as a junior and was named Big Eight Player of the Year as a senior. Playing under head coach Billy Tubbs, King finished his career by averaging 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots over his 114 games. As a senior, he averaged 26.0 points, 10.1 boards and 2.3 rejections. He is also OU's postseason leader in games played (12), points (246), scoring average (20.5) and rebounds (93). King was the No. 6 overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls and went on to win three world championships with the franchise.
King will join Wayman Tisdale, Alvan Adams and Mookie Blaylock as former Sooners to have their jerseys honored.
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