OU Back in Norman to Host Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts (4-4)

15/15 Oklahoma (6-2)

December 16 | 6 p.m. | Lloyd Noble Center | Norman

QUICK PREVIEW
Oklahoma (6-2) plays just its fourth home game of the season when it hosts Oral Roberts (3-4) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. Winners of two straight and ranked No. 16 and 15 in last week's AP and USA Today Coaches Polls, the Sooners are coming off their second-highest offensive output of the year in Saturday's 87-68 win at Tulsa. Oral Roberts posted an 86-83 home win over New Mexico State on Saturday and hosts Missouri State on Monday (the game was originally supposed to be played Dec. 7 but was rescheduled due to a major power outage in 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; Sirius 93; XM 199) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck calling the action. The game will be televised by ESPNU with Dave Armstrong and Bryndon Manzer announcing.

TICKETS
• Tickets for Friday's game are available for $10, $20 and $30 online at SoonerSports.com. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

• OU student tickets cost $10.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES
• Tuesday's game will mark the 15th between Oklahoma and Oral Roberts, with the Sooners owning a 12-2 series advantage and winning each of the last 12 meetings. Ten of OU's 12 wins in the series have come by double digits. ORU's two victories against the Sooners came in the 1975-76 (64-58 in Norman) and 1976-77 (68-50 in Tulsa) seasons. OU is 8-1 against ORU in Norman.

• Oklahoma sophomore guard Jordan Woodard and Oral Roberts sophomore guard Aaron Young were teammates at Edmond Memorial High School and won 6A state championships together as sophomores and seniors in 2011 and 2013. Memorial was state runner-up when Woodard and Young were juniors. ORU redshirt-junior Obi Emegano was a senior on Memorial's 2011 state championship team.

• In its three home games, Oklahoma is shooting .468 from 3-point range and is averaging 9.7 makes (opponents are shooting .284 and are averaging 6.3 conversions). The junior trio of Buddy Hield (11 for 18), Isaiah Cousins (8 for 11) and Ryan Spangler (3 for 3) is shooting a combined .688 from behind the arc (22 for 32) at home.

In its three home games, Oklahoma is shooting .468 from 3-point range and is averaging 9.7 makes (opponents are shooting .284 and are averaging 6.3 conversions).

• The Sooners have outrebounded seven of their eight opponents. OU boasts the Big 12's second- and third-leading rebounders among guards. Each standing 6-foot-4, Cousins is averaging 6.5 boards per game and Hield is averaging 5.9 (6-foot-6 Iowa State guard Bryce Dejean-Jones is averaging 6.8). Jordan Woodard is the Big 12's top rebounder among point guards with his 4.3 caroms a contest.

• Oklahoma's defense has been stout all season, holding opponents to 62.1 points per game on .367 field goal and .279 3-point shooting. OU has held seven of its eight opponents to lower point totals than what they were averaging entering the day of competition versus the Sooners. In the Battle 4 Atlantis, OU held UCLA to 65 points (30 below its season average), Butler to 46 points (35 below its average) and Wisconsin to 69 points (six below its average). No team has scored more than 69 points against the Sooners.

PREVIEWING ORAL ROBERTS
• Oral Roberts heads into its Monday game against Missouri State with a 3-4 record. The Golden Eagles, who returned four starters from last year's 17-16 team that finished fifth in the Summit League with a 10-8 record, are 0-3 in true road games this season with losses at Missouri (74-68), Oregon State (55-42) and Weber State (62-61). They are averaging 64.4 points on .384 field goal, .286 3-point and .702 free throw shooting. Opponents are averaging 69.7 points on .459 field goal and .385 3-point shooting.

• Guard Obi Emegano is averaging a team-high 17.6 points per game and ranks second with his 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists an outing. Emegano has already attempted 71 free throws (10.1 a game) and is shooting .803 from the charity stripe. Fellow redshirt-junior guard Korey Billbury averages 15.1 points and team highs of 6.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.9 steals. Sophomore guard Bobby Word contributes 7.7 points a contest and leads the squad with his 10 3-pointers (shooting .370 from behind the arc).

• Head coach Scott Sutton is 290-197 (.595) in his 16th year as a collegiate head coach, all at ORU. He is the school's career wins leader. Assistant coach Wade Mason was a graduate manager on Oklahoma's staff during the 2011-12 season.

LAST TIME VS. ORU
Two years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma snapped Oral Roberts' 24-game regular-season home court winning streak with a 63-62 victory. Trailing 54-44, the Sooners outscored ORU 19-8 in the game's final nine minutes. OU won despite being held to .397 field goal and .200 (2-for-10) 3-point field goal marks. Buddy Hield, then a freshman, came off the bench to supply 11 points for the Sooners, all in the game's final 13:28. OU's bench outscored ORU's 26-0.

Ryan Spangler

SOONER TIP-INS
• The Sooners have held each of their eight opponents to sub-44-percent field goal shooting (six opponents have shot 40 percent or below). OU has held seven of eight foes to 33-percent-or-less 3-point shooting.

• OU is holding opponents to 62.1 points a game and limiting them to .367 field goal and .279 3-point shooting (ranks 23rd and 29th nationally). Through eight games last year, opponents averaged 76.4 points on .428 field goal and .315 3-point shooting.

• Oklahoma led the Big 12 in free throw shooting each of the last two years (.749 last season and .756 in 2012-13) and is shooting .750 this year to rank second in the league. Each of OU's top seven scorers are shooting at least .700 from the line.

• The Sooners have outrebounded seven of their eight opponents. UCLA is the only team to outboard Oklahoma this year (OU won by 10).

• Ryan Spangler has led OU in rebounding in 28 of his 41 games since becoming a Sooner, including six of eight contests this season.

• Spangler is 6 for 10 from 3-point range this season after going 3 for 11 all of last year. In addition to his .600 3-point field goal mark, Spangler is shooting .644 from the field. He has shot .500 or better from the floor in 33 of his 41 games at OU.

UP NEXT
OU heads west to Las Vegas to take on No. 17/17 Washington on Saturday at 8 p.m. CT in the MGM Grand Showcase. The game, which will be followed by Utah vs. UNLV, will be played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and will be televised by ESPNU.