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
Non-Conference Slate Ends Monday
January 06, 2008 | Men's Basketball
| OU vs. Mount St. Mary's | |
| Date & Tip Time | Monday, Jan. 7 at 6 p.m. CST |
| Location | Norman, Okla. | Lloyd Noble Center |
| Tickets | OU Athletics Ticket Office |
| TV | None |
| Radio | Sooner
Radio Network KOKC AM-1520 in Oklahoma City KTBZ AM-1430 in Tulsa Sirius 123 |
| Webcast | SoonerSports.com All-Access |
| Live Stats | SoonerSports.com / GameTracker |
| Game Info | Gameday Central | Game Notes (PDF) |
GAME PREVIEW
A winner of four straight, Oklahoma (11-3) plays its final regular season non-conference game of the year when it hosts Mount St. Mary's (7-7) Monday at 6 p.m. inside Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners, who are 7-1 at home this year, are coming off a 61-49 win over Rice on Saturday in which they held the Owls to .291 field goal shooting. Mount St. Mary's lost 65-62 at home to Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday despite holding the Knights to .354 shooting from the floor. The Mountaineers, who are 3-1 in Northeast Conference play, own a 4-3 road record this year.
Monday's contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC-AM 1520 in Oklahoma City; KTBZ-AM 1430 in Tulsa; Sirius channel 123) with Bob Barry Sr. and Mike Houck announcing. The game will not be televised.
TICKET INFORMATION
• Tickets for Monday'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.
• 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 Monday at 4:30 p.m.
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OKLAHOMA UPDATE
• The Sooners are slotted 28th in the Dec. 31 AP poll, their highest ranking under second-year head coach Jeff Capel.
• Oklahoma's four-game winning streak matches the longest of the Capel era (it won four in a row on two occasions last year).
• OU has surpassed the 70-point mark nine times in its 14 games, the same number of times it did all of last season in 31 contests.
• A win over Mount St. Mary's would give the Sooners 12 non-conference victories, tied for their most since 1994-95 (13) when they played two fewer league games per year as a member of the Big Eight Conference. OU also won 12 regular season non-conference games in 1999-2000 and 2004-05.
• Oklahoma has held half of its opponents to fewer than 60 points this year. Rice (49 points and .291 field goal shooting) became OU's second opponent this year to score fewer than 50 points (Morehead State scored 42) and second foe to shoot less than .300 from the field (Gardner-Webb shot .279).
• After committing 13 combined turnovers against Arkansas (eight) and Gonzaga (five), the Sooners have committed 37 over the last two outings against West Virginia (20) and Rice (17).
• Freshman Blake Griffin was named Big 12 Player of the Week (and Dick Vitale's "Diaper Dandy of the Week") last Monday after registering 18 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in OU's win over West Virginia. He followed with 18 points and nine boards on Saturday against Rice. u Griffin is assembling one of the best freshman campaigns in school history and leads the Sooners in scoring (13.8 ppg), rebounding (8.9 rpg), steals (1.4 spg) and field goal percentage (.581). Griffin has scored in double figures in 12 of 14 games, including each of the last seven. He ranks third in the league with five double-doubles.
• Griffin is averaging 17.0 points and 13.0 boards over the last three contests.
• Senior center Longar Longar, who had led OU in scoring in four straight games prior to Saturday's Rice contest, came off the bench against the Owls due to a shoulder sprain and finished with six points and four rebounds in 22 minutes. Despite the six-point performance, he is averaging 16.0 points over the last six outings. In OU's previous game, Longar scored a game-high 22 points against West Virginia (all after halftime). He is 30-for-45 (.667) from the field over the last five games.
• In each of the last six games, Longar has scored more points after halftime than in the first 20 minutes. He is averaging 3.8 points in the first half of those six contests and 12.2 after the break. Over the last five games, Longar is shooting .793 from the field after halftime (23-for-29). He has amassed double-digit point totals after intermission in four of those five outings (17 against Stephen F. Austin, 10 against Arkansas, 11 versus Gonzaga and 22 at West Virginia).
• Sophomore guard Tony Crocker, the Big 12's second-best 3-point shooter at .500 (28-for-56), failed to make a 3-pointer for just the fourth time this year against Rice (0-for-2). His four points in the game tied as his second fewest of the year, but he contributed six assists (his second highest total of the season) against just one turnover.
• Junior guard Austin Johnson is averaging 12.1 points over the last eight outings (he has scored at least nine points in all eight) while shooting .421 (16-for-38) from 3-point distance. Johnson is now averaging 9.2 points a game on the year while sporting a 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• In OU's last two games, Johnson is averaging 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 3.0 steals. He tied a career high with nine assists at West Virginia and set a career high with six steals against Rice (he had 10 steals on the year entering the game).
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RICE LEFTOVERS
• Sophomore Keith Clark scored 11 points for his second highest career total (he had 13 at USC this year) and tied a career high with two 3-pointers. Clark, who is averaging 5.4 points per game on the year, is averaging 9.0 points over the last two games.
• Oklahoma forced 22 turnovers on Saturday, an opponent season high.
• Rice became just the fourth team to outrebound the Sooners this year (39-37).
• Ahead 34-32, OU went on a 12-1 run to go up 46-33 with 12:39 remaining in the game. Austin Johnson had five points and an assist during the spurt.
• OU's starting five of Tony Crocker, David Godbold, Blake Griffin, Taylor Griffin and Johnson marked OU's ninth different starting group in 14 games this year.
• The Sooners improved to 7-2 against Rice and 5-0 against the Owls in Norman. It was the teams' first meeting since 1956.
PREVIEWING MOUNT ST. MARY'S
• Mount St. Mary's, located in Emmitsburg, Md., enters Monday's contest with a 7-7 overall record and a 3-1 Northeast Conference mark. It is 4-3 in road games after going 4-15 on the road last year.
• The Mountaineers lost their first four games of the season before winning their next six (including a victory over 2007 NCAA Tournament participant Winthrop). They have lost three of their last four.
• Mount St. Mary's is holding opponents to 66.0 points per game. Since moving to NCAA Division I in 1988-89, it has never held opponents to a lower average for an entire season. In its four conference games, it is holding foes to an average of 59.8 points.
• The Mountaineers are shooting .429 from the field, .377 from 3-point range and .687 from the free throw line.
• Senior guard Chris Vann is averaging a team-high 16.7 points per game. He is shooting .437 from 3-point range and has made 45 treys on the year (3.2 per contest). He has scored at least 20 points five times and has reached double figures in 12 of 14 contests. Over the last five games, he is averaging 20.2 points and 4.2 treys.
• Sophomore point guard Jeremy Goode is averaging 14.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and team highs of 6.5 assists and 2.8 steals per game. He has recorded at least seven assists in each of the last four outings, including 11 in an 81-73 loss at Oregon. The 5-9, 170-pounder has already attempted 99 free throws in his 13 games for an average of 7.6 per contest (shooting .697).
• Sophomore guard/forward Will Holland is averaging 10.6 points and 3.8 rebounds. He has made 31 3-pointers and is shooting .383 from beyond the arc.
• Vann and Holland have combined for 76 of the Mountaineers' 83 3-point makes on the season.
• Milan Brown is in his fifth season as a collegiate head coach, all at Mount St. Mary's. He owns a 48-83 (.366) record.
SERIES WITH THE MOUNTAINEERS
Saturday's game will mark the third between Oklahoma and Mount St. Mary's, with the Sooners winning the first two. OU posted a 91-67 home victory in the first meeting on Dec. 19, 1994, before winning the second matchup by a 94-41 score on Dec. 29, 1999, in Oklahoma City. OU was coached by Kelvin Sampson in both games.
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 been as good, if not better...
• OU is surrendering just 60.6 points per game (59.4 in regulation) and is allowing opponents to shoot .371 from the field and .290 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 48 years ago (.339 in 1959-60).
• Only one opponent (Arkansas scored 72) has scored more than 68 points in regulation this season, and half of OU's 14 foes have been held under 60 points.
• Second-ranked Memphis, which averaged 78.9 points last year and is averaging 82.5 points this season, was held to 63 points Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden.
• Oklahoma has forced 11 of its 14 opponents into at least as many turnovers as it has committed. Foes are averaging 15.3 turnovers per contest (OU is averaging 13.7).
• All 14 opponents have shot under .500 from the field, 13 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 Saturday.
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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 .476 mark from the field (its highest since 1988-89) and a .371 figure from 3-point range (last year OU shot .435 and .326, respectively). It has shot .500 or better from the floor in seven of 14 games, including four of the last seven. OU's five leading scorers are all shooting at least .460 from the floor, and its top three scorers are all shooting at least .486. Forward Blake Griffin owns a team-high .581 field goal mark and is followed by center Longar Longar (.552), guard Tony Crocker (.486), guard Omar Leary (.470) and guard Austin Johnson (.460). Combined, the quintet owns a .519 field goal mark.
The guard trio of Crocker, Johnson and Leary has combined to shoot .439 from 3-point range. Crocker is shooting .500 from behind the arc (28-for-56) to rank second in the Big 12, Leary is shooting .436 (17-for-39) and Johnson is shooting .377 (20-for-53). Taylor Griffin owns a .417 mark from long range but has attempted considerably fewer shots (he is 5-for-12).
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WINNING AND LOSING
The following notes compare Oklahoma's stats in its 11 wins and three losses this year...
• In its 11 wins this year, OU is outrebounding its opponents by 7.2 a game. In its three losses, it is getting outboarded by 4.3.
• Oklahoma is shooting .502 from the field, .404 from 3-point range and .691 from the free throw line in its wins. In its losses, it is shooting .378, .250 and .653, respectively.
• OU's assist-to-turnover ratio in its victories is +1.3 (186 assists and 148 turnovers). The ratio in losses is -1.6 (27 and 44).
• Tony Crocker is averaging 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting .543 in the Sooners' wins. In losses, those numbers fall to 4.0 points, 3.7 boards, 1.3 assists and .176 (3-for-17), respectively. Crocker is also shooting .574 from 3-point range in OU's victories (27-for-47), but just .111 in defeats (1-for-9).
• Blake Griffin is averaging 15.6 points and shooting .614 in OU's victories, but just 7.3 points and .409 in its losses.
FOR STARTERS
Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel has used nine different starting lineups in the team's 14 games this year. Saturday's game against Rice marked the first time he used the starting five of Tony Crocker, David Godbold, Blake Griffin, Taylor Griffin and Austin Johnson. Nine different Sooners have started this season, with Crocker and Blake Griffin getting the nod a team-high 13 times.
JOHNSON INCREASES PRODUCTION
Junior guard Austin Johnson is just two points shy over the last five contests of owning a streak of eight consecutive double-figure scoring games (he scored nine points against both Stephen F. Austin and Gonzaga). 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 on Dec. 2, 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 Dec. 5 on 3-for-3 field goal shooting (made his only 3-point attempt) and 4-for-5 free throw shooting.
• After a nine-point game against Stephen F. Austin, Johnson rebounded for a season-high 17-point effort against Arkansas Dec. 15. He made two more 3-pointers and was 5-for-6 from the free throw line.
• Gonzaga held Johnson to nine points on Dec. 20, but the junior was the defensive star in the game's final minutes by shutting down Bulldogs' point guard Jeremy Pargo. Pargo had scored 28 points prior to head coach Jeff Capel's decision to have Johnson guard him.
• Johnson scored 13 points at then-No. 23 West Virginia Dec. 29, went 3-for-5 from 3-point range and tied a career high with nine assists.
• He followed with 12 points, three rebounds, three assists and a career-high six steals Saturday against Rice.
The 6-3, 165-pounder is averaging 12.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists over the last eight games while going 16-for-38 (.421) from 3-point range. He is now averaging 9.4 points, 3.1 boards and 2.6 assists on the year while shooting .377 from deep.
GRIFFIN: A BREATH OF FROSH AIR
• Freshman forward Blake Griffin is averaging team highs of 13.9 points and 8.9 rebounds this season in 27.2 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 OU freshman to average at least 8.9 boards per game was Wayman Tisdale in 1982-83 (10.3 rpg).
• Griffin has led Oklahoma in scoring five times and has paced the squad in rebounding in nine contests (including each of the last three). He is shooting a team-high .581 from the field (ranks fourth in Big 12) and leads the team with his 1.4 steals per outing. He has also registered nine games of multiple assists (averages 1.7).
HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS
Lloyd Noble Center has been overly kind to the Sooners, as they have won 50 of the last 57 games and 105 of the last 117 in the building. OU is 417-70 (.856) 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 60 of their last 62 non-conference home games (and 68 of their last 71). Since the 1999-2000 season, only non-conference opponents Cincinnati (Dec. 22, 1999), Villanova (Dec. 6, 2006) and Stephen F. Austin (Dec. 8) have posted wins at Lloyd Noble Center.
"SOONER HOOPS WITH JEFF CAPEL" NOW AIRING
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 this year 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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