Top-25 Matchup Saturday in Las Vegas

16/16 Washington (9-0)

15/15 Oklahoma (7-2)

December 20 | 8 p.m. CT | MGM Grand Garden Arena | Las Vegas, Nev.

QUICK PREVIEW
No. 15/15 Oklahoma (7-2) faces its third ranked opponent of the season when it takes on No. 16/16 Washington (9-0) on Saturday at 8 p.m. CT in Las Vegas. The game, part of the MGM Grand Showcase, will be played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and will precede No. 14 Utah vs. UNLV. The Sooners have won three straight games, each by at least 19 points, and have achieved their highest national ranking since the 2008-09 season. Washington, coming off an 86-38 home win over Grambling State on Wednesday, owns its highest ranking since the 2010-11 campaign.

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 91; XM 91) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck calling the action. The game will be televised by ESPNU with Dave Pasch and Sean Farnham announcing.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES
• Lon Kruger is making his first trek to Las Vegas with the Sooners since leaving UNLV to become OU's head coach in the spring of 2011. Kruger spent seven seasons at UNLV and compiled an impressive 161-71 (.694) record there. He coached the Runnin' Rebels to the NCAA Tournament in four of his last five seasons after they appeared in only two of the previous 15 tournaments. He also helped them achieve their first national ranking since 1992-93. Over his final five seasons in Las Vegas, Kruger's teams posted a .743 winning percentage (127-44) and averaged 25.4 victories. His 2006-07 squad went 30-7 and advanced to the Sweet 16.

• A longtime member of the 28-person Coaches vs. Cancer Council, Kruger, who still owns a home in Las Vegas, annually hosts the Coaches vs. Cancer Las Vegas Golf Classic. The first-class event, which has raised almost $2 million in its first seven years, is headquartered at the MGM Grand with two days of golf taking place at the famed Shadow Creek and Southern Highlands Golf Clubs. Last year's event netted $427,000. Some of the participating coaches included Oregon's Dana Altman, Michigan's John Beilein, Colorado's Tad Boyle, Colorado State's Larry Eustachy, Utah's Larry Krystkowiak, South Carolina's Frank Martin, Creighton's Greg McDermott, Nebraska's Tim Miles, UNLV's Dave Rice, Texas Tech's Tubby Smith, Kansas State's Bruce Weber and North Carolina's Roy Williams.

OU has displayed a balanced scoring attack this season with four starters averaging between 10.0 and 16.0 points per game, and another averaging 7.9.

• Saturday's game will be Oklahoma's first in Las Vegas since a classic matchup against UNLV on Jan. 28, 1989 (the year after OU played in the national title game). Senior center Stacey King, playing with three screws and 11 stitches in the index finger on his shooting hand, and wearing a protective plastic splint that he and OU trainer Alex Brown called "The Corndog," scored 48 points the day before his 22nd birthday to lead the fourth-ranked Sooners to a 90-88 win over the 13th-ranked Runnin' Rebels in front of more than 19,000 fans and 32 pro scouts at the Thomas and Mack Center. OU was coached by Billy Tubbs and UNLV by Jerry Tarkanian. The Sooners are 3-4 all-time in Las Vegas.

• Oklahoma and Washington have been two of the country's better defensive teams to start the year. OU, which has already played four teams who have been ranked in the AP Top 25 at least one week this season, is holding opponents to 61.1 points per game on .363 field goal and .288 3-point shooting. The Sooners have held eight of their nine opponents to lower point totals than what they were averaging entering the day of competition. No team has scored more than 69 points against OU. Washington has been even stingier, limiting opponents to 57.6 points a game on .328 field goal and .263 3-point shooting.

• OU has displayed a balanced scoring attack this season with four starters averaging between 10.0 and 16.0 points per game, and another averaging 7.9. Five different players (Isaiah Cousins, Buddy Hield, Ryan Spangler, TaShawn Thomas and Dinjiyl Walker) have led the team in scoring in the last six outings. Each of OU's five starters have scored at least 20 points three or more times in their careers.

PREVIEWING WASHINGTON
• At 9-0, Washington is off to its best start since the 2005-06 season. The Huskies boast a +15.6 average scoring margin. In their lone matchup against a ranked opponent, they held No. 13 San Diego State to .204 (11-for-54) field goal shooting in a 49-36 home win on Dec. 7. UW is averaging 73.1 points on .447 field goal, .321 3-point and .645 free throw shooting. It is outrebounding its foes by 5.2 a game and ranks third nationally with 8.2 blocks per outing.

• Sophomore point guard Nigel Williams-Goss is averaging team highs of 14.6 points and 6.9 assists per game while also ranking third with 5.4 rebounds. A McDonald's All-American, Williams-Goss verbally committed to UNLV his sophomore year of high school at Nevada's Findlay Prep when OU head coach Lon Kruger was still coaching the Runnin' Rebels. Junior guard Andrew Andrews averages 13.6 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting .392 from 3-point range with a team-high 2.2 makes per game. Sophomore center Robert Upshaw comes off the bench to average 10.9 points, a team-high 7.1 rebounds and a nation-leading 4.8 blocks per contest in just 19.1 minutes a game. The 7-footer is shooting .651 from the field.

• Head coach Lorenzo Romar is 263-144 (.646) in his 13th year at UW. He has guided the Huskies to six NCAA Tournaments. Romar owns a 356-232 (.605) career record as a head coach. He also had three-year stints at Pepperdine (1997-99) and Saint Louis (2000-02).

OU-WASHINGTON SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game will mark just the fourth between Oklahoma and Washington and the first since the 2004-05 season. In the most recent meeting on Nov. 26, 2004, Kelvin Sampson's Sooners shot .550 from the field but dropped a 96-91 contest to the No. 22 Huskies in the Great Alaska shootout semifinals. The Sooners won their first two meetings against UW, both in Kansas City, Mo. They posted an 87-77 win during the 1953-54 season in the Big Seven Holiday Tournament and were victorious in the 1943 NCAA Tournament Western Regional third-place game, 48-43. Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer Bruce Drake was OU's head coach in the first two matchups.

Khadeem Lattin

SOONER TIP-INS
• Oklahoma has held each of its nine opponents to sub-44-percent field goal shooting (seven opponents have shot 40 percent or less).

• OU is holding opponents to 61.1 points a game and limiting them to .363 field goal and .288 3-point shooting (ranks 19th and 45th nationally). Through nine games last year, opponents averaged 75.2 points on .413 field goal and .306 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 70 percent from the line.

• Four of Oklahoma's nine opponents (Creighton, UCLA, Butler and Wisconsin) have been ranked in the AP Top 25 at least once this season. Kansas leads the Big 12 with five opponents who have been ranked at least once this year, while Iowa State and Texas have played two such teams. The other six league teams have played one or no such opponents.

• OU returned 68 percent of its scoring, 70 percent of its rebounding and 73 percent of its assists from last season's 23-10 squad that finished in sole possession of second place in the Big 12 (12-6). The Sooners welcomed back four starters (each started all 33 games) in juniors Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins and Ryan Spangler, and sophomore Jordan Woodard. Senior TaShawn Thomas started all 33 games last year at the University of Houston.

• 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.

• OU returned 71 percent of its 3-point production from last season's team that averaged a school-record 8.6 treys per game. This year's Sooners rank second in the Big 12 by averaging 7.8 3-pointers a contest.

• Each of head coach Lon Kruger's first three Oklahoma teams finished higher than where they were picked in the Big 12 preseason poll. Last year the Sooners were picked tied for fifth and finished second. In 2012-13 OU was slotted seventh and finished tied for fourth. In 2011-12 OU was picked ninth and wound up eighth. Kruger's squad was picked third in this year's poll.

UP NEXT
OU has a quick turnaround as it will play host to Weber State on Monday at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by Sooner Sports TV (FS Southwest Plus). Weber State was an NCAA Tournament team last season.