University of Oklahoma Athletics
Oklahoma Postgame Notes
January 12, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2009
• No. 6/5 Oklahoma (16-1) opened its Big 12 home slate with a 78-63 victory over No. 11/11 Texas (12-4). It was OU's first win in the series since an 82-72 victory over the No. 4 Longhorns in Norman in 2006.
• The 15-point triumph was OU's largest over Texas in Norman since a 96-78 victory in 2002 and largest in any location for the Sooners in the series since a 74-58 defeat of the Longhorns in Austin in 2005. It was also Oklahoma's largest win against a ranked opponent since beating No. 18 Texas Tech 63-48 in Norman on Feb. 11, 2004.
• Oklahoma now leads 46-27 all-time against the Longhorns and has won 28 of the last 43 (17-14 since the inception of the Big 12).
• The Sooners forced 11 first-half Texas turnovers. The Longhorns entered the contest averaging 12.4 turnovers per game.
• Oklahoma scored the first five points of the contest while and led by as many as 16 in the first half (24-8).
• OU put the game away with a 12-0 second-half run that included scores by five Sooner players (field goals by Willie Warren, Blake Griffin, Tony Crocker, Austin Johnson and a pair of made free throws by Taylor Griffin).
• The Sooners shot 27-of-53 (.509) from the field, their ninth game of .500 or better this season. OU limited Texas to just a .338 mark (23-of-68) after the Longhorns entered tonight's game shooting .443 from the field. The Sooners entered the game ranked first in the Big 12 by holding opponents to a .377 combined field goal mark.
• The Sooners have won their last 14 home contests (10-0 this year).
• With the win, OU now holds an all-time 132-52 advantage against Big 12 Conference teams from the state of Texas.
• Blake Griffin scored 20 points and added 10 rebounds for his nation-leading 14th double-double (last year he had 10). The 6-10 forward has scored at least 20 points in 12 of 17 games this season. The Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year also added three assists, two blocks and a steal.
• Blake Griffin has registered at least three assists in 20 of 50 career games (nine times already this year).
• Austin Johnson scored 15 points (his second-highest scoring output of the season) and dished out four assists while committing just two turnovers. OU is 18-1 since the start of last season when Johnson scores in double figures. Johnson entered tonight's contest leading the Big 12 (ranked in the top 10 nationally) in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.3-to-1).
• Willie Warren added 17 points (11 after intermission) and went 7-of-10 from the foul line. Warren has traveled to the charity stripe at least 10 times in two of his last three contests (was 10-for-10 from the line against Maryland Eastern Shore).
• Junior college transfer Juan Patillo saw his first action of the season, entering at the 8:08 mark of the first half. The 6-6 forward played two first-half minutes and went 0-1 from the field while committing a foul. The Las Vegas, Nev., native, who had played the last two seasons at the College of Southern Idaho, originally planned to redshirt the season.
• Tony Crocker registered 16 points and a career-high-tying nine rebounds in 38 minutes. The 6-6 guard was 5-of-10 from the field (2-of-3 from 3-point distance) and added a pair of assists and steals.
• A.J. Abrams scored a game-high 22 points (8-of-27 shooting) in 38 minutes of action to lead the Longhorns.
