OU Faces Butler in Thursday's Semifinals

Butler (4-0)

NR/21 Oklahoma (3-1)

November 27 | NOON CT | Imperial Arena | Nassau, Bahamas

THURSDAY'S GAME BASICS
Oklahoma (3-1) faces Butler (4-0) in a Thanksgiving Day Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals contest at noon CT. The Sooners beat No. 22/23 UCLA by a 75-65 count Wednesday, while Butler knocked off No. 5/6 North Carolina, 74-66. Wisconsin beat UAB and Georgetown downed Florida in the other first-round matchups.

The OU-Butler 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 calling the action. The game will be televised by ESPN with Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Andy Katz announcing.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES
• Oklahoma enters Thursday's game with the Big 12 Conference's individual season leaders in scoring and rebounding, and the league's No. 2 man in assists. Junior guard Buddy Hield paces the league with his 21.5 points a game, junior forward Ryan Spangler is averaging a league-high 10.3 rebounds a contest and sophomore point guard Jordan Woodard ranks second with his 5.5 assists per outing. Hield also leads the conference with his 3.8 3-pointers per game.

• Hield is 5 for 19 from 3-point range over the last two games (just .263) but is still shooting .455 from behind the arc on the year. That's because he made his first eight 3-point attempts of the season. Hield set a school record and tied the Big 12 standard by going 7 for 7 from deep against Southeastern Louisiana in OU's season opener and made his first attempt at Creighton the next game. He was a preseason third-team All-American by The Sporting News and was named to the five-man Preseason All-Big 12 Team.

The Sooners have held each of their four opponents to sub-38-percent field goal and sub-31-percent 3-point shooting.

• Spangler worked extensively in the offseason on his shooting range, and his efforts are paying off. At Creighton in the season's second game, Spangler hit his first three 3-point attempts and finished the game 3 for 4. The three makes matched his total number from all of last year on 11 attempts (.273). Spangler canned his lone trey attempt Sunday vs. Northwestern State before going 0 for 1 Wednesday against UCLA to make him 4 for 6 on the season. In addition to his .667 3-point field goal mark, Spangler is shooting .615 from the field. He has shot .500 or better from the floor in 30 of his 37 games since becoming a Sooner.

• Senior forward TaShawn Thomas found out he'd be eligible to play this season 17 hours prior to OU's season opener. A transfer from Houston who started all 96 of the Cougars' games the last three seasons and averaged 14.5 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks while shooting .571 from the field during that time, Thomas was granted a waiver by the NCAA to play this year. Through four games he is averaging 8.0 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting .483 from the floor.

• Defense was an emphasis for OU leading up to the season, and the work in practice has translated to game days. The Sooners have held each of their four opponents to sub-38-percent field goal and sub-31-percent 3-point shooting. OU's foes are shooting a combined .359 from the field and .234 from behind the arc. Opponents are averaging just 62.8 points a game.

OU-BUTLER SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma and Butler have met four previous times with each team winning twice. The most recent meeting took place on March 28, 2003, in Albany, N.Y., with the Sooners claiming a 65-54 NCAA Sweet 16 victory. Playing with a broken bone in his left wrist, Ebi Ere paced the No. 1 seed Sooners with 25 points. Butler was a No. 12 seed. Other meetings took place during the 1965-66 season (65-63 Butler in Norman), the 1967-68 campaign (79-73 OU in Norman) and the 1997-98 season (73-63 Butler in the Big Island Invitational in Hilo, Hawaii).

PREVIEWING BUTLER
• Big East Conference member Butler enters Thursday's game with a 4-0 record following its 74-66 win over No. 5/6 North Carolina on Wednesday. The Bulldogs were held to .306 field goal shooting and committed 19 turnovers, but outrebounded the Tar Heels 57-40 (UNC entered the game with a +15.3 average rebounding margin) and posted a 19-13 advantage in second-chance points. Butler pulled down 29 offensive boards. The Bulldogs have been tremendous on the defensive end to start the year, holding opponents to 52.5 points per game and limiting them to .354 field goal and .260 3-point shooting (just 4.8 makes an outing). Butler was picked to finish in seventh place (tied with Marquette) in the Big East preseason coaches poll.

• Preseason first-team All-Big East selection Kellen Dunham averages a team-high 17.0 points per game with the help of .440 (11-for-25) 3-point shooting. The 6-6 junior guard scored 11 points against North Carolina but did so on 3-for-17 field goal and 1-for-10 shooting from behind the arc. Freshman guard/forward Kelan Martin comes off the bench to average 13.0 points in just 16.0 minutes a contest (he netted 17 points against North Carolina with the help of 3-for-6 shooting from behind the arc), while junior forward Roosevelt Jones also averages double figures with his 11.0 points an outing. Jones leads the team with his 7.0 assists per game. Senior forward Kameron Woods contributes 8.0 points and a team-high 10.3 rebounds a game.

• The Bulldogs are under the direction of Chris Holtmann, who is in his second year with the program. Holtmann, who was the head coach at Gardner-Webb for three seasons before joining the Bulldogs staff, was given the interim head coach title on Oct. 2, stepping in for Brandon Miller. Miller is on a medical leave of absence.

WEDNESDAY'S UCLA RECAP
• In a back-and-forth game that featured substantial scoring runs by each team, Oklahoma outscored UCLA 26-8 down the stretch to post a 75-65 Battle 4 Atlantis quarterfinals win.

• Playing in his home country for the first time since his early high school days, Buddy Hield triggered an OU comeback after his team fell behind 57-49 midway through the second half. Hield scored 10 consecutive points to put the Sooners up two, and Jordan Woodard's 3-pointer with 5:15 remaining gave OU the lead for good.

• Hield scored 17 of his game-high 24 points after halftime. He finished 4 for 13 from 3-point range and has surpassed the 20-point mark in three of four games this year.

• Oklahoma posted the double-digit victory despite shooting just .328 from the field, a season low. OU shot only .263 from 3-point range, but outscored the Bruins by 18 from behind the arc (10 makes to four). The Sooners' 38 3-point attempts tied a school record.

• OU held the Bruins to 30 points below their season average. UCLA entered the game shooting .494 from the field and .424 from long distance, but was held to respective .377 and .235 marks, both season lows.

• One game after committing 20 turnovers against Northwestern State, OU committed just 10 Wednesday. It outscored UCLA 13-0 off turnovers (the Bruins committed 13 turnovers).

UP NEXT
OU will face Georgetown or Florida in the third round of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Friday. If the Sooners beat Butler they will play a 3:30 p.m. CT championship contest on ESPN. If they lose to Butler they will play at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN.