OU Takes on Nicholls State Saturday at 5 p.m.


	Junior Cade Davis

No. 25 Oklahoma (2-3) vs. Nicholls State (0-7)
Date & Tip Time	Saturday, Nov. 28 at 2 p.m. AST (5 p.m. CST)
Location	Anchorage, Alaska \| Sullivan Arena
Tickets	OU Athletics Ticket Office
TV	Fox College Sports MASN (DirecTV 640, Dish Network 432)
Radio	Sooner Radio Network KRXO FM 107.7 in Oklahoma City KTBZ AM 1430 in Tulsa
Webcast	GoSeawolves.com
Live Stats	GoSeawolves.com
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF)

GAME PREVIEW
Ranked No. 25 in the AP poll, Oklahoma (2-3) meets Nicholls State (0-7) in the fifth-place game of the Great Alaska Shootout Saturday at 5 p.m. CST. The contest, to be played at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO FM 107.7 in OKC; KTBZ AM 1430 in Tulsa) with Ryan Ruocco and Mike Houck announcing. The game will be televised on Fox College Sports and on MASN (DirecTV Ch. 640 and Dish Network Ch. 432).

NOTEWORTHY
• OU's three-game non-conference losing streak is its first since the 1995-96 season when it started the year 1-3.
• The Sooners are giving up 86.0 points per contest over the last three outings. Opponents are shooting .457 from the field and .392 from 3-point distance.
• Sophomore guard Willie Warren is averaging 27.5 points and 5.0 assists this week in two Great Alaska Shootout games. He is 20-for-21 (.952) from the free throw line. On the season, Warren is averaging team highs of 20.4 points and 6.0 assists. He has scored 62 points from the field and 40 from the free throw line (averaging 8.8 free throw attempts).
• Warren is 40-for-44 from the free throw line for a sparkling .909 percentage. He has made and attempted 25 more free throws than the next closest Sooner.
• Freshman forward Tiny Gallon is averaging a double-double (11.8 points and 10.2 rebounds). His 15 boards in the season opener were the most in an OU freshman debut since Alvan Adams grabbed 28 caroms in the 1972-73 opener. u Freshman guard Steven Pledger is averaging 13.6 points in 23.6 minutes a contest. He is 15-for-35 from long distance (.429). The Chesapeake, Va., product has already surpassed the 20-point mark twice this season (21 vs. Mount St. Mary's and 23 vs. Houston).
• The Sooners have made 29 more free throws than their opponents. OU is 106-for-127 (.835) from the foul line while foes are 77-for-102 (.755).
• Guards have accounted for 286 of Oklahoma's 393 points (73 percent).
• The frosh foursome of Pledger (68), Gallon (59), Tommy Mason-Griffin (43) and Andrew Fitzgerald (20) has scored 48 percent of OU's points (190 of 393).

Sooner to Watch
	Steven Pledger \| Fr. \| Guard • Coming off a career-high 23-point game in which he made five 3-pointers • Leads Sooners with his 15 treys and is shooting .429 from behind the arc • Made his first career start last game • Ranks second on team with his 13.6 points per contest (has two 20-point games) • Shooting .512 from the field

PREVIEWING NICHOLLS STATE
Southland Conference member Nicholls State enters Saturday's game with a 0-7 record. The Colonels, who finished 20-11 last year and were picked to finish second this year in the Southland's East Division by league coaches, are getting outscored by 20.7 points per contest. They're coming off a 78-69 loss to Washington State Friday, a game in which NSU led 31-29 at halftime.

Junior guard/forward Anatoly Bose, who's from Australia, leads the Colonels by averaging 16.7 points a contest. He has scored 20 or more points four times this season. Bose has made a team-high 18 treys and leads the squad with his 4.7 rebounds a contest. Sophomore guard Fred Hunter is averaging 12.4 points, 4.3 boards and 2.0 steals per contest. Last season's Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, Hunter scored 25 points Friday against Washington State. Junior guard Maurice Foster supplies 12.2 points a contest and is shooting .543 from the field. No other player averages more than 4.9 points a game.

Head coach J.P. Piper, a 1991 Southeastern Louisiana graduate, is 53-100 (.346) in his sixth year with the Colonels.

OU-NICHOLLS STATE SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma owns a 4-0 record against Nicholls State. The Sooners posted wins over the Colonels in the 1983-84 (107-51), 1994-95 (89-80), 1995-96 (87-47) and 1998-99 (64-44) seasons. All four games were played in Norman.

THURSDAY'S HOUSTON RECAP
Oklahoma got off to a blazing start against Houston Thursday in the second round of the Great Alaska Shootout and appeared as though it would snap its two-game losing streak. The Sooners built a 20-6 lead about six minutes into the contest behind five 3-pointers — three of them by Steven Pledger — and solid zone defense. The Cougars reduced their deficit to five by halftime (52-47) only to see OU go back up by 10 (63-53) with 15:46 left in the second half. Houston was relentless, though, immediately using an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the game. After the Sooners regained a two-point (69-67) advantage, the Cougars went on a 23-6 spurt to go ahead 90-75 and held off a late OU charge for the win. Kelvin Lewis (28) and Aubrey Coleman (27) combined for 55 points for a Houston team that shot .583 from the field and .600 (6-for-10) from 3-point range after halftime. Oklahoma committed 18 turnovers to Houston's seven and surrendered 17 offensive rebounds. Willie Warren led the Sooners with 25 points and seven assists while Pledger, who finished 6-for-14 from long distance in his first career start, tallied 23.

MORE FROM THURSDAY'S LOSS
• Steven Pledger scored 20 of his 23 points in the first half. He was 5-for-9 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
• Tony Crocker's 10 rebounds marked a career high. The senior guard, who has pulled down nine boards four times in his career, also had eight points, three assists and two steals.
• Juniors Orlando Allen (four rebounds, three blocks) and Cade Davis (11 points, four boards) made their first starts of the year. For Allen, it was the first start of his career.
• Freshmen Tiny Gallon and Tommy Mason-Griffin came off the bench for the first time this season. Gallon recorded 15 points (on 6-for-8 shooting) and nine rebounds in 22 minutes, while Mason-Griffin finished with 11 points and five assists in 26 minutes.
• Houston scored 76 points over the game's final 26 minutes.

OU'S GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT HISTORY
This marks OU's third appearance in the Great Alaska Shootout. The Sooners went 2-1 in both the 1983 and 2004 events, finishing in third place on each occasion. Under head coach Billy Tubbs in 1983, Oklahoma beat USC (92-91), lost to Arkansas (84-78) and beat Santa Clara (91-77). Under head coach Kelvin Sampson in 2004, OU downed High Point (93-65), lost to Washington (96-91) and defeated Minnesota (67-54). Both OU squads went on to win the regular season conference title (Big Eight in 1983-84 and Big 12 in 2004-05).This year's event marks the second for current OU head coach Jeff Capel. As a player, Capel helped Duke to the 1995 Great Alaska Shootout title his junior season. The Blue Devils beat Iowa, 88-81, in the championship game and Capel was named to the all-tourney team. Duke's first-round matchup that year was against Old Dominion, a team coached by Capel's father (also Jeff Capel). The Blue Devils won 75-55.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma returns to Norman to host Arkansas on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST. The Razorbacks, who beat the Sooners 96-88 in Fayetteville last year, enter weekend play with a 2-3 record.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

OU Takes on Nicholls State Saturday at 5 p.m.

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