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 vs. Louisville 2nd Round Preview
March 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
| Oklahoma (23-11) vs. Louisville (25-8) | |
| Date & Tip Time | Sunday, March 23 at 4 p.m. CT |
| Event | NCAA Tournament Second Round |
| Location | Birmingham, Ala. | BJCC Arena |
| TV | CBS |
| Radio | Sooner Radio Network KOKC AM-1520 in Oklahoma City KTBZ AM-1430 in Tulsa |
| Webcast | ncaasports.com |
| Live Stats | SoonerSports.com / GameTracker |
| Game Info | Gameday Central | Game Notes (PDF) |
GAME INFORMATION
Picking up his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach on Friday, Jeff Capel will lead No. 6 seed Oklahoma (23-11 overall) into a second-round matchup against No. 3 seed Louisville (25-8) on Sunday at approximately 4 p.m. CDT. The contest, which will be played at BJCC Arena in Birmingham, Ala., will start 30 minutes following the completion of the 1:30 p.m. Tennessee-Butler contest.
OU is coming off a 72-64 win over No. 11 seed Saint Joseph's while Louisville, ranked 13th in both major polls, knocked off No. 14 seed Boise State by a 79-61 score.
All of OU's NCAA Tournament games will air live on the Sooner Basketball Radio Network (flagship KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Bob Barry, Sr. (play-by-play) and Mike Houck (analyst) calling the action. Sunday's game will be televised regionally by CBS (KWTV Channel 9 in OKC and KOTV Channel 6 in Tulsa) with Verne Lundquist (play-by-play) and Bill Raftery (analyst) announcing.
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OKLAHOMA VS. LOUISVILLE HISTORY
• The Sooners own a 3-0 all-time record against Louisville.
• The teams first met in the first round of the 1970 postseason NIT (March 15) in New York with OU winning 74-73 in overtime.
• They met again on Dec. 25, 1984, in the Chaminade Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. No. 17 Oklahoma won 90-72 over No. 20 U of L.
• In the 1988 NCAA Southeast Regional semifinals in Birmingham (March 24), No. 1 seed OU received a 34-point, seven-rebound effort from Harvey Grant and a 24-point, 14-rebound performance from Stacey King in a 108-98 win over the fifth-seeded Cardinals. Pervis Ellison led Louisville with 23 points and 14 boards.
THE LAST TIME IN BIRMINGHAM
The last time Oklahoma played in Birmingham was during the 1988 NCAA Tournament. The top-seeded Sooners downed No. 5 seed Louisville in the Southeast Regional semifinals by a 108-98 score before posting a 78-59 win over No. 6 seed Villanova to advance to the Final Four. OU wound up making it to the national championship game where it lost to No. 6 seed Kansas (83-79).
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FRIDAY'S SAINT JOSEPH'S RECAP
• Oklahoma posted a 72-64 win over No. 11 seed Saint Joseph's behind a .571 field goal effort (the fourth-best in OU's NCAA Tournament history). The Sooners led 34-22 at halftime (finished the half on a 14-2 run) and by as many as 19 points after intermission.
• OU's field goal figure marked its second best of the season. It was the first time in 18 games the team shot better than .500 from the floor.
• Senior guard David Godbold scored a career-high 25 points with the help of 5-for-8 3-point and 6-for-6 free throw shooting. He had scored in double figures once in the previous 11 games entering the NCAA Tournament.
• Godbold made a 3-pointer to start each half (in fact, he made three treys in the first 2:41 of the second period). He scored OU's first 11 points of the second half.
• Godbold was also the primary defender on Pat Calathes, Saint Joseph's leading scorer on the year. Calathes entered the game averaging 17.8 points per contest but was held to a season-low-tying six on 2-for-11 shooting on Friday. He had scored in double digits in all but two games on the season.
• Longar Longar's 14 points tied as his most in the past 14 games (also 14 March 1 against Texas A&M).
• Blake Griffin contributed 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. It was his 11th game of at least three assists on the year.
• The starting frontcourt duo of Griffin (6-for-7) and Longar (6-for-8) combined to go 12-for-15 from the field (.800).
• Austin Johnson finished with 10 points and five assists. He has 15 assists over the past two games.
• Taylor Griffin did not score (two field goal attempts) but grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
• Oklahoma's nine turnovers were its fewest in 12 games.
OU AGAINST THE NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD
• The Sooners have played 16 games against 2008 NCAA Tournament teams and are now 8-8. The wins came against Arkansas, Baylor (twice), Gonzaga, Mount St. Mary's, Saint Joseph's, Texas A&M and West Virginia. The losses came to Kansas, Kansas State, Memphis, Texas (three times), Texas A&M and Southern California.
• OU is 3-7 this year against teams that advanced to the second round.
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CAPEL AND THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• This is the second NCAA Tournament for Jeff Capel as a head coach. In 2004 (his second year at VCU), Capel guided the Rams to a No. 13 seed and a near upset of No. 4 seed Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons, who featured point guard Chris Paul, held on for a 79-78 win in Raleigh, N.C.
• Capel participated in three NCAA Tournaments as a player at Duke, including his freshman year in 1994 when the second-seeded Blue Devils advanced to the national title game. Capel, who started the contest, finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists in a 76-72 loss to No. 1 seed Arkansas in Charlotte, N.C.
• Capel's 1996 Duke squad (No. 8 seed) lost in the first round to No. 9 seed Eastern Michigan (75-60 in Indianapolis) while his 1997 team (No. 2 seed) beat No. 15 seed Murray State (71-68 in Charlotte) before falling in the second round to No. 10 seed Providence (98-87).
BIG 12 BULLIES
• Big 12 Conference teams went 5-1 in NCAA Tournament first-round play. Only the Big East Conference (7-1) posted more victories. Baylor, a No. 11 seed, was the lone Big 12 team eliminated in the first round. Winners were OU, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas and Texas A&M.
• Only two of Thursday's 16 first-round games resulted in an upset (according to seeds) and both upset winners hail from the Big 12. No. 11 seed Kansas State beat No. 6 seed USC and No. 9 seed Texas A&M defeated No. 8 seed BYU.
A SECOND-ROUND OKLAHOMA WIN WOULD...
• Give the Sooners their fourth Sweet 16 appearance in their last eight NCAA Tournaments (over the last 10 years).
• Result in OU's eighth Sweet 16 appearance since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
• Improve OU's NCAA Tourney record to 10-4 since the start of the 2002 event.
• Improve the Sooners' NCAA Tournament record as a No. 6 seed to 4-2.
• Up OU's all-time record against Louisville to 4-0 (2-0 in the NCAA Tournament and 3-0 in the postseason).
GRIFFIN NAMED FIRST-TEAM ALL-BIG 12
Freshman forward Blake Griffin was named a first-team All-Big 12 selection by the league's head coaches and by the Associated Press. Joining Griffin on the coaches' squad were Baylor's Curtis Jerrells, Kansas' Darrell Arthur and Brandon Rush, Kansas State's Michael Beasley and Texas' D.J. Augustin. The AP team consisted of Griffin, Augustin, Beasley, Jerrells and Nebraska's Aleks Maric. Griffin became OU's first freshman to earn first-team all-conference acclaim since Wayman Tisdale was crowned Big Eight Player of the Year in 1983.
• On the season, Griffin is averaging 14.9 points (ranks ninth in Big 12), 9.2 rebounds (ranks fourth) and 1.9 assists while shooting .566 from the field (ranks third).
• In his 13 full Big 12 games (he missed two due to injury and only played five minutes at Kansas on Jan. 14), Griffin averaged 16.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
• Griffin has scored in double figures in 21 of his last 24 games (not including the Kansas contest).
• Griffin holds OU's top four scoring performances this season. He netted 29 versus Baylor (Feb. 19), 27 against Kansas State (Jan. 12), 26 versus Mount St. Mary's (Jan. 7) and 25 at Colorado (Feb. 9). He also holds 10 of OU's top 11 rebounding marks.
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MORE ON BLAKE GRIFFIN
• Freshman Blake Griffin needs 24 points to reach 500 for the season. Only two freshmen in school history have reached the 500-point plateau. Wayman Tisdale scored 810 points as a true frosh in 1982-83 while Jeff Webster tallied 640 as a redshirt freshman in 1990-91.
• In his 32 games, Griffin has led the team in scoring 14 times, in rebounding 20 times and in assists on six occasions.
• The last OU true freshman to average as many points (14.9) or rebounds (9.2) as Griffin for an entire season was Tisdale (24.5 and 10.3) in 1982-83. Tisdale earned first-team All-America honors as a freshman.
• The last Sooner, regardless of class, to average as many rebounds as Griffin is averaging this year (9.2) was then-senior and current Denver Nugget Eduardo Najera in 1999-00 (also 9.2 rpg).
• A testament to his overall ability, Griffin has 60 assists and 33 steals on the year to rank third on the team in both categories. He is averaging 1.9 assists and 1.0 steal per contest. He has registered at least three assists 11 times.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN W's AND L's
The following notes compare Oklahoma's stats in its 23 wins and 11 losses this year:
• In its 23 wins, OU is outrebounding its opponents by 5.9 a game. In its 11 losses, it is getting outboarded by 3.4.
• OU is shooting .481 from the field and .399 from 3-point range in its wins. In losses, it is shooting .371 and .259, respectively.
• Tony Crocker is averaging 13.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting .521 in the Sooners' wins. In losses, those numbers fall to 7.9 points, 3.0 boards, 1.3 assists and .304, respectively. Crocker is also shooting .532 from 3-point range in OU's victories (50-for-94), but just .250 in defeats (13-for-52).
• In the team's wins, Austin Johnson is averaging 10.6 points a game while shooting .436 from the field and .373 from 3-point distance (38-for-102). In defeats, Johnson is averaging 5.1 points while shooting .309 from the floor and .262 from long range (11-for-42). Johnson is also averaging 2.9 free throw attempts when OU wins and 0.5 attempts when OU doesn't win.
SOONER MISCELLANY
• Oklahoma is back in the NCAA Tournament after seeing its nation's-longest 25-year postseason streak (20 NCAAs, five NITs) come to an end last year. The Sooners were 16-15 a season ago.
• After starting 3-5 in Big 12 Conference play, Oklahoma won six of its final eight league games and finished in a tie for fourth place at 9-7. OU won the tie-breaker with Baylor and earned a first-round bye in the Big 12 Championship.
• OU has won five of its last six games and eight of its last 11.
• The Sooners are 22-2 when scoring at least 60 points.
• Over the last six games, OU has held its opponents to an average of 58.2 points and to .403 field goal and .292 3-point shooting. It has held foes to 30 or fewer points in eight of 12 halves over those six outings (an average of 23.9 in the eight halves).
• OU is shooting .481 from the field and .399 from 3-point range in its wins but just .371 and .259, respectively, in its losses.
• Also in their wins, the Sooners have made 34 more free throws (373) than their opponents have attempted (339).
• The Sooners are 19-4 when their opponent commits more turnovers, 17-4 when outrebounding their opponent, 17-2 when ahead at the half, 11-1 when shooting at least .500 from the field and 13-4 when winning the opening tip.
• Oklahoma has already won seven more games than it did last year when it finished with a 16-15 record.
• David Godbold has scored in double figures in three of his four career NCAA Tournament games (12 against Niagara in the 2005 first round, 15 versus UW-Milwaukee in the 2006 first round and 25 against Saint Joseph's on Friday).
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