OU Welcomes SWOSU to McCasland

Southwestern Oklahoma State

19/19 Oklahoma

November 11 | 7 p.m. | Norman

QUICK PREVIEW
The No. 19/19 Sooners play their second of two preseason exhibition games when they host NCAA Division II member Southwestern Oklahoma State on Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT. Part of OU's Field House Series, the game will be played at McCasland Field House in the middle of campus. OU, which went 23-10 last season (12-6 Big 12; second place) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, is coming off a 73-48 win over Washburn on Friday. The Bulldogs went 17-10 last season and are 1-1 in exhibition play so far this year (beat Mid-American Christian 93-73 and lost 74-50 at Tulsa).

ON THE AIR
Tuesday's contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM "The Franchise" in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck announcing. The game will be televised by Sooner Sports TV (FOX College Sports Central) with Bob Carpenter, Billy Tubbs and Jessica Coody calling the action.

TICKETS
• Tickets to Tuesday's game are $5 and can be purchased at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and online here. McCasland Field House ticket windows will open at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

• OU students will be admitted free with a valid school I.D. (use west side Field House entrance).

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• Oklahoma and Southwestern Oklahoma State will meet for the first time since the 1916-17 season. OU holds a 9-0 all-time series record. All previous contests were played when Bennie Owen was the Sooners' coach (OU's football field is named after him).

• OU played two games as part of the inaugural Field House Series two years ago and another last season. The Sooners beat Central Oklahoma 94-66 on Nov. 7, 2012, in an exhibition contest before downing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 72-42 on Dec. 31 later that year in regular-season play. Last season, OU downed Oklahoma Christian 88-76 behind 29 points and five assists from Buddy Hield. OU is 320-153 (.677) all-time in regular-season action in the building. McCasland Field House, which now seats 3,300, served as the Sooners' home from 1928 through 1975.

OU is ranked No. 19 in the AP and USA Today Coaches top-25 preseason polls, the first time it has been ranked to start a season in five years.

• After averaging 70.6 points per game in 2012-13, last year's Sooners averaged 81.9 points to rank seventh nationally out of 351 teams. It was OU's highest scoring average in 20 years. The Sooners scored at least 80 points 18 times last year after doing it 17 times the previous three seasons combined.

• Oklahoma returns 71 percent of its 3-point production from last season's team that averaged a school-record 8.6 treys per game. The Sooners welcome back their top three 3-point producers: Buddy Hield (90 makes), Frank Booker (42) and Isaiah Cousins (38).

• OU is ranked No. 19 in the AP and USA Today Coaches top-25 preseason polls, the first time it has been ranked to start a season in five years. The Sooners finished last year at No. 21 in the AP poll and at No. 20 in the last regular season USA Today poll.

PREVIEWING SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
• Located in Weatherford, NCAA Division II member Southwestern Oklahoma State is a school of 5,014 students that competes in the Great American Conference. SWOSU finished 17-10 overall last year and placed second in league play with a 14-6 record (it was picked ninth in the GAC preseason coaches poll). The Bulldogs are picked third out of 11 teams in this year's preseason poll.

• SWOSU returns two starters from last season in senior guards Kenyan Borders and Trent Washington. Through two exhibition games against Mid-American Christian (won 93-73) and at Tulsa (lost 74-50), junior college transfer Martell Collins leads the Bulldogs with his 13.5 scoring average while also grabbing 4.5 rebounds a contest. The guard had 15 points and six boards against Tulsa. Ayo Ojo, another juco transfer, ranks second on the squad with his 10.0 points per game. A forward, Ojo also averages 5.0 rebounds an outing. Borders and Washington each average 9.5 points per game.

• Head coach Bob Battisti is in his second season at SWOSU. He arrived in Weatherford after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond. Before that, Battisti spent 25 years at Northwestern Oklahoma State, coaching the men's basketball team for 21 seasons before taking over as the school's athletic director for four years.

OU-SWOSU HISTORY
Tuesday's game will mark the 10th between Oklahoma and Southwestern Oklahoma State, and the first as an exhibition. The first nine meetings, all OU wins, came between the 1913-14 and 1916-17 seasons when Bennie Owen was the Sooners' coach.

Field House 1928

First game in the OU Field House, a 45-19 Sooners win over Kansas on Jan. 13, 1928.

McCASLAND FIELD HOUSE'S HOOPS HISTORY
Opened in 1928, the OU Field House served as the Sooners' home until Lloyd Noble Center opened in December 1975. Under head coach Hugh McDermott, Oklahoma won the first game in the Field House — a 45-19 drubbing of Phog Allen's Kansas squad on Jan. 13, 1928, in front of more than 5,200 fans. OU finished 18-0 that year, and Allen suffered only one worse defeat in his 38-year KU coaching career.

Oklahoma's all-time record in the OU Field House stands at 320-153 (.677). The Sooners won eight conference championships while playing in the facility (one Missouri Valley, six Big Six and one Big Seven). Head coaches who directed OU teams that played in the Field House were McDermott (11 seasons in the building), Bruce Drake (17), Doyle Parrack (7), Bob Stevens (5), John MacLeod (6) and Joe Ramsey (2). Drake's 1938-39 and 1946-47 squads advanced to the NCAA semifinals and final, respectively. McCasland Field House is named after Howard McCasland, who was a standout center for the Sooners from 1914-16.

KRUGER AT McCASLAND FIELD HOUSE
OU head coach Lon Kruger played in two games inside McCasland Field House as a Kansas State guard in the 1970s. In 1972, he led K-State to an 80-71 win by recording a team-high 18 points and nine rebounds, and went on to be named Big Eight Sophomore of the Year. Two years later in Norman, Kruger contributed 12 points and six boards, but the Sooners pulled out a 65-63 win. Kruger, who was the 1973 and '74 Big Eight Player of the Year, missed the 1973 contest inside the Field House due to injury (OU won 81-69).

EXHIBITING SUCCESS
Oklahoma has compiled a 50-2 exhibition record over the last 26 years. The last time OU lost an exhibition game was November 2003 (89-82 to Athletes First).

UP NEXT
The Sooners will open their 109th season of varsity play when they host Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. The game will be televised on Sooner Sports TV (FS Southwest Plus and FOX College Sports Central).