University of Oklahoma Athletics

No Rest for OU as Oral Roberts Visits Saturday at 2 p.m.

December 10, 2010 | Men's Basketball

 
  Andrew Fitzgerald is averaging 18.7 points over the last three games
 Oklahoma (4-5) vs. Oral Roberts (4-4) 
 Date & Tip Time  Saturday, Dec. 11 at 2:07 p.m. CT
 Location  Norman, Okla. | Lloyd Noble Center | Seating Views
 Tickets  $10, $15 and $30
 OU Athletics Ticket Office
 TV

 Sooner Sports Network 
 KAUT Ch. 43 in Oklahoma City
 KQCW Ch. 19 in Tulsa
 FS Oklahoma Plus (blacked out in Oklahoma City and Tulsa)
 ESPN Full Court

 Radio  Sooner Radio Network 
 KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City
 KTBZ AM 1430 in Tulsa
 Webcast  SoonerSports.com
 Live Stats  SoonerSports.com GameTracker
 Game Info  Game Notes (PDF)

SATURDAY'S GAME BASICS
Oklahoma (4-5) plays its second game in three days when its hosts Oral Roberts (4-4) Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center.  The contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City; KTBZ AM 1430 in Tulsa) with Bob Barry Sr. and Mike Houck announcing.  The game will be televised by the Sooner Sports Network (KAUT Ch. 43 in OKC;  KQCW Ch. 19 in Tulsa; FS Oklahoma Plus [blacked out in OKC and Tulsa]; ESPN Full Court) with Bob Carpenter and former OU head coach Billy Tubbs calling the action.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are available for $10, $15 and $30 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office and online at SoonerSports.com.  Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open at noon on Saturday.

NOTEWORTHY
• Oklahoma is 9-2 all-time against Oral Roberts and has won the last nine meetings.  This marks the first time OU has faced ORU under head coach Jeff Capel.
• OU has won 23 straight non-conference home games and 81 of its last 83.
• The Sooners are 4-0 at home this year and 0-5 away from Norman.
• The only game this season in which Oklahoma has failed to shoot at least 44 percent from the field was against North Carolina Central on Nov. 15 (OU shot .328).  Excluding that contest, OU owns a .487 field goal mark on the year.  For perspective, the Sooners have shot better than .487 for a season just once in the last 21 years (.492 in 2008-09).
• Sophomore guard Steven Pledger is averaging a team-high 17.5 points in OU's wins, but has been held to a 6.4 average in its losses.
• Oklahoma has outscored opponents 72-55 in points off turnovers in its four wins, but has been outscored 97-50 in the category in its five losses.
• In their four wins, the Sooners are shooting .407 from 3-point range (35-for-86) and .810 from the free throw line (68-for-84).  In five defeats, they're shooting .322 from behind the arc (29-for-90) and .634 from the foul line (45-for-71).

 
 Sooner to Watch 

 Steven Pledger | So. | Guard
 • Coming off a 20-point game against Gardner-Webb in which he hit four 3-pointers 
 • Averaging 17.5 points in OU's four home games (all wins)
 • Has scored in double figures in all four home games (13, 14, 23 and 20 points)
 • One of three Sooners averaging double figures in scoring on the year (11.3 ppg) 

   

SOONER UPDATE
• Oklahoma snapped a five-game losing streak Thursday with a 71-58 home win over Gardner-Webb.  Each of the Sooners' five losses have come away from home.  They went 0-3 in the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational Nov. 22-24 (lost to Kentucky, Virginia and Chaminade) and lost road games at Arkansas and Arizona last week.
• Sophomore forward Andrew Fitzgerald has shot .500 or better from the field in eight of nine games and owns a .564 season percentage to rank fourth in the Big 12.  He leads the team with his 15.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. 
• Over the last three games, Fitzgerald is averaging 18.7 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting .568 from the field and .778 from the free throw line (14-for-18).  He registered his first career double-double (18 points and a career-high 13 rebounds) at Arkansas Dec. 1 and followed with a career-high-tying 22 points and five boards at Arizona on Sunday and 16 points and five rebounds against Gardner-Webb on Thursday. 
• Guard Cade Davis is averaging 16.6 points over the last seven outings on .483 field goal and .471 (24-for-51) 3-point shooting.  Included were games of 21 points against Texas Southern, 23 points versus No. 8 Kentucky and a season-high 24 points against Chaminade.  On the year, OU's lone senior averages 14.8 points (ranks 12th in the Big 12).  Davis needs one 3-pointer (currently has 143) to tie Austin Johnson for ninth place on OU's all-time list, and needs 26 to move into the top five.
• Davis ranks third in the Big 12 with his 2.9 treys per game and fourth with his .433 percentage.  Going back to last year, he has made 57 3-pointers over his last 21 games.
• Junior forward Nick Thompson has scored more points in his last two games (28) than he scored in his first six (24).  He came off the bench to supply 13 points in 25 minutes at Arkansas and followed with 15 points in a starting role in 28 minutes at Arizona.  Thompson is now averaging 6.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.  The junior college transfer recorded 14 assists in OU's first two games (seven in each) but has totaled just four handouts over the last six outings.  
• In four home games (all wins), sophomore guard Steven Pledger has scored no fewer than 13 points and is shooting .364 from 3-point range (12-for-33) and .889 from the free throw line (16-for-18).  In five games away from home (all losses), Pledger has been held to single digits four times and is shooting .222 from deep (4-for-18) and .500 from the foul line (2-for-4).  

PREVIEWING ORAL ROBERTS
• Saturday's game for Oral Roberts (4-4 overall, 2-0 Summit League) will be its first in a week.  The Golden Eagles, who have won two in a row and three of their last four after a 0-3 start, are coming off a 63-61 win at IUPUI last Saturday.
• ORU is shooting .480 from the field, .393 from 3-point range (5.8 makes per game) and .595 from the free throw line (13.8 makes per game).  Opponents are shooting .438 from the field and .363 from behind the arc (5.1 makes per outing).
• Junior forward Dominique Morrison leads the team with his 18.1 scoring and 2.8 assists averages and also contributes 5.5 rebounds per game.  The reigning Summit League player of the week scored a career-high 35 points (28 in the second half) in a Dec. 2 win at Western Illinois.  Morrison was 14-for-18 from the field and 6-for-7 from 3-point range in the game.
• Sophomore guard Warren Niles, who has made three starts, averages 14.0 points in 27.4 minutes a game.  Warren has made a team-high 14 treys on the year (shooting .359 from deep) and has scored at least 18 points four times.
• Freshman forward Steven Roundtree averages 12.1 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds per outing while shooting .522 from the floor.  He has scored in double figures in six of eight games.
• Sophomore center Damen Bell-Holter contributes 10.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while shooting .545 from the field.  He leads the Golden Eagles with 11 blocks in their eight outings.
• Head coach Scott Sutton is 208-143 in his 12th year as a collegiate head coach, all at Oral Roberts.

OU/ORAL ROBERTS SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game will mark the 12th between Oklahoma and Oral Roberts, and the first for OU under head coach Jeff Capel.  The Sooners own a 9-2 series advantage and have won the last nine meetings.  They are 6-1 versus the Golden Eagles in Norman.  OU won the last meeting, an 81-73 decision on Dec. 28, 2005, at Lloyd Noble Center.  ORU's two wins in the series came in the 1976-77 (64-58 in Norman) and 1976-77 (68-50 in Tulsa) seasons.  See page 85 in the Oklahoma media guide for more series information.

THURSDAY'S OU/GARDNER-WEBB RECAP
• Oklahoma shot .490 from the field, .474 from 3-point land (9-for-19) and .824 from the free throw line (14-for-17) in a 71-58 home win over Gardner-Webb on Thursday.  Four Sooners scored at least 13 points for the first time in 26 games.
• OU held Gardner-Webb to just one field goal in the game's first 10 minutes (led 12-3) and took a 34-18 lead to halftime.  It was the fewest points given up by the Sooners in a half since Dec. 10, 2008 (span of 67 games).
• The Sooners entered the day averaging 15 turnovers a game but committed just 10 on the night for its second fewest of the year.  During OU's five-game losing streak, opponents outscored the Sooners 97-50 in points off turnovers. OU outscored Gardner-Webb 18-13 in the category Thursday.
• Sophomore guard Steven Pledger registered his fourth 20-point game of his career (second this season).  He scored a game-high 20 points on 6-for-11 field goal, 4-for-8 3-point and 4-for-4 free throw shooting.
• Sophomore forward Andrew Fitzgerald finished with 16 points for his fourth straight game in double figures.
• Senior guard Cade Davis went 6-for-10 from the floor and 3-for-5 from long distance en route to a 15-point, 5-rebound, 3-assist night.
• Freshman guard Cameron Clark registered career highs of 13 points and two steals in a career-high 38 minutes.
• Sophomore guard Carl Blair came off the bench to supply six points, five rebounds and a game-high seven assists without a turnover in 23 minutes.  Blair averaged 4.0 turnovers in 10.0 minutes a game over the previous two contests.
• Freshman guard Calvin Newell made his first start and handed out three assists without a turnover in 16 minutes at the point.
• Junior forward Nick Thompson missed the game due to a death in his family.
• OU's 17 assists and 10 turnovers matched its best ratio of the year (same numbers in season-opening win against Coppin State). 

HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS
Oklahoma has dominated home non-conference games over the last decade, winning 81 of its last 83 non-league contests inside Lloyd Noble Center going back to Jan. 3, 2000 (good for a .976 winning percentage).  Included was a streak of 49 non-conference home victories that was snapped by Villanova on Dec. 6, 2006.  The current string stands at 23 games.

ALL-COLLEGE CLASSIC UP NEXT
The Sooners will play in their 35th overall All-College Classic on Saturday, Dec. 18, when they take on Cincinnati in the Oklahoma City Arena at 8 p.m. CT.  The game, part of a double-header that also features Oklahoma State against Alabama at 5:30 p.m., will be televised by ESPNU.  OU owns a 52-13 all-time record in the All-College Classic and has won 15 of its last 17 games in the event.  This marks the 75th year for the All-College Classic.

Porter Moser Postgame vs West Virginia
Sunday, April 05
MBB Highlights: OU 82, Baylor 69
Saturday, April 04
Porter Moser, Xzayvier Brown, and Tae Davis Postgame vs Baylor
Saturday, April 04
Porter Moser and Nijel Pack Postgame vs Colorado
Thursday, April 02