Mizzou Returns for SEC/Big 12 Challenge Game

Missouri (4-3)

22/20 Oklahoma (4-2)

December 5 | 8:30 p.m. | Lloyd Noble Center | Norman

QUICK PREVIEW
Oklahoma (4-2) plays its first home game in 12 days when its hosts former conference rival Missouri (4-3) on Friday at 8:30 p.m. CT in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge game at Lloyd Noble Center. The No. 22/20 Sooners are coming off a second-place finish at last week's eight-team Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. Missouri has won its last two games (most recently a 65-61 home win over Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday) after a 2-3 start.

ON THE AIR
Friday's contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM "The Franchise" in Oklahoma City; KAKC 1300 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 Miles Simon 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 Friday at 7 p.m.

• OU student tickets cost $10.

LNC SHUTTLE SERVICE FOR MISSOURI GAME
Due to the anticipated crowd for Friday's game vs. Missouri and the large number of RVs parked in Lloyd Noble Center's east lot for Saturday's Bedlam football game, the OU Athletics Department will be offering a complimentary shuttle service for Friday's basketball game (see map here).

The free shuttle service will be available from 7 to 9 p.m. and will run for an hour after the game concludes. Shuttle stops will be at the turnaround in front of the Stephenson Research Center (east side of Jenkins Ave.) and at the east entrance of Lloyd Noble Center. Fans can access the overflow parking lots off of David L. Boren Blvd. (next to Stephenson Research Center) and all parking in those lots will be free. OU Athletics officials also plan on making the grass lot to the south of the LNC parking lot available, weather permitting.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES
• Facing each other for the first time since Missouri left the Big 12 following the 2011-12 season, the Sooners and Tigers have a storied history that dates back to the 1915-16 season. OU leads the all-time series 112-97 and holds a 64-22 advantage in games played in Norman. When both teams were in the Big 12, Oklahoma posted a 13-11 record against MU. Included were a 2002 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight win (81-75) and a 2003 Big 12 Championship victory (49-47).

• Friday's game will mark just the third Oklahoma-Missouri meeting played outside of conference regular season or tournament action. The Sooners won a 1940 NCAA Playoff game (52-41) in Wichita, Kan., and the aforementioned 2002 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight contest in San Jose, Calif.

• The second annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge is taking place this week over a four-day span (Wednesday-Saturday). Last season, the Big 12 won the Challenge by capturing wins in seven of the 10 meetings (OU beat Texas A&M 64-52 in Houston). The Big 12 has posted a 36-23 (.610) record in the last two challenge series it has played (vs. Pac-10, SEC) dating back to 2007. Since the start of the 2012-13 campaign, Big 12 teams are 19-9 (.679) against SEC foes (through Wednesday).

Oklahoma's defense has been stout all season, holding opponents to 61.0 points per game on .352 field goal and .241 3-point shooting.

• Oklahoma's defense has been stout all season, holding opponents to 61.0 points per game on .352 field goal and .241 3-point shooting. The defensive effort was particularly strong in the Battle 4 Atlantis, as OU held UCLA to 65 points (30 below its season average entering the game), Butler to 46 points (35 below its average) and Wisconsin to 69 points (six below its average).

• Through Wednesday, four of Oklahoma's six opponents have been ranked in the AP Top 25 at least once this season, the most such foes in the Big 12. Kansas has played two teams that have been ranked in the Top 25 this year while the other eight league teams have played one or no such opponents.

BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS RECAP
• Oklahoma acquitted itself nicely in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament last week in the Bahamas, finishing as runner-up in a field that also included Wisconsin (champion), Butler, Florida, Georgetown, North Carolina, UAB and UCLA. Butler, Florida, North Carolina, UCLA and Wisconsin all are or have been ranked in the AP Top 25 this season.

• In a back-and-forth first-round game that featured substantial scoring runs by each team, Oklahoma outscored UCLA 26-8 down the stretch to post a 75-65 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.

• In the semifinals, Oklahoma held Butler to .237 field goal shooting, the lowest mark by an OU opponent in 11 seasons, en route to a 59-46 victory. The Bulldogs came into the game shooting .483 from the field on the year. After Butler outrebounded No. 5 North Carolina by 17 and grabbed 29 offensive rebounds the day before, OU outboarded the Bulldogs by a 41-32 count and limited them to only 13 offensive caroms.

• Down just one (34-33) to No. 2 Wisconsin at halftime in Friday's championship game, the Sooners were outscored 16-2 to start the second half in an eventual 69-56 loss. OU committed a season-high 21 turnovers and was outscored 27-9 off those mistakes. It posted a 35-32 rebounding advantage (was up 21-10 in the category at halftime) over a Badgers team that entered the day outboarding its opponents by 10.1 a contest.

OU-MISSOURI SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma owns a 112-97 all-time lead against Missouri and is 64-22 versus the Tigers in Norman. In 16 years of Big 12 play together, OU posted a 13-11 head-to-head record. The Sooners won nine of the first 11 meetings but MU won nine of the last 13, including each of the last three. In the most recent meeting on Feb. 6, 2012, Steven Pledger's potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out in a 71-68 victory for fourth-ranked Mizzou (Lon Kruger's first year as OU head coach).

PREVIEWING MISSOURI
• Coming off a 65-61 home win over Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday, Missouri enters Friday's game with a 4-3 record. The Tigers, who lost their three leading scorers from last year's 23-12 team in Jabari Brown (19.9 ppg), Jordan Clarkson (17.5) and Earnest Ross (14.0), are averaging 64.0 points a game on .423 field goal, .369 3-point and .649 free throw shooting. They are giving up 64.1 points a contest and holding opponents to .405 field goal and .315 3-point shooting percentages.

• Missouri's leading scorer at 13.9 points per game, freshman guard Montaque Gill-Caesar was a consensus top 50 recruit in the class of 2015 before reclassifying to 2014. The 6-6 Vaughan, Ontario, product has made a team-high 13 3-pointers (shooting .382 from deep) and also averages 4.3 rebounds a game. Sophomore forward Johnathan Williams is averaging 10.4 points and a team-high 5.3 boards a contest, and is coming off an 18-point, 11-rebound outing against Southeast Missouri State. Sophomore guard Wes Clark contributes 9.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team-high 3.7 assists an outing.

• Kim Anderson is in his first season as Missouri's head coach. He spent the last 12 seasons at NCAA Division II Central Missouri, posting a 274-95 (.743) record there and advancing to three Final Fours. Last year he guided the Mules to a 30-5 record and a national title. As a Missouri assistant coach under Norm Stewart from the 1982-83 through 1984-85 and 1991-92 through 1998-99 seasons, Anderson's MU teams posted a 10-14 record against OU.

Dinjiyl Walker

SOONER TIP-INS
• The Sooners have held each of their six opponents to sub-44-percent field goal shooting (five opponents have shot below 38 percent) and sub-33-percent 3-point shooting.

• OU is holding opponents to 61.0 points a game and limiting them to .352 field goal and .241 3-point shooting (the 3-point defense is second best in the Big 12). Through six games last year, opponents averaged 78.8 points on .433 field goal and .325 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 a league-best .758 this season. OU's .895 (17-for-19) effort last game against Wisconsin is the best by a Big 12 team on the year.

• 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 has led OU in rebounding in 27 of his 39 games since becoming a Sooner, including five of six contests this season.

• Spangler is 4 for 7 from 3-point range this season after going 3 for 11 all of last year. In addition to his .571 3-point field goal mark, Spangler is shooting .594 from the field. He has shot .500 or better from the floor in 31 of his 39 games at OU.

• 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 is picked third in this year's poll.

UP NEXT
OU is off for final exams next week and won't play again until Saturday, Dec. 13, when it travels to face Tulsa at 1:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network.