Sooners Open Big 12 Play at Home vs. Baylor

22/22 Baylor (11-1)

18/21 Oklahoma (9-3)

January 3 | 3 p.m. CT | Lloyd Noble Center | Norman

QUICK PREVIEW
No. 18/21 Oklahoma (9-3) opens the 19th year of Big 12 play when it hosts No. 22/22 Baylor (11-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners, who are 6-0 at home with an average scoring margin of +25.0, are coming off a 61-43 win over George Mason on Wednesday in which they held the Patriots to a .295 field goal mark. Baylor, which has won six straight games, is 2-0 in true road contests with victories over South Carolina (69-65) and Vanderbilt (66-63).

ON THE AIR
Saturday's game will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM "The Franchise" in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Sirius 84; XM 84) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck calling the action. The contest will be televised by ESPNU with Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla announcing.

TICKETS
• Tickets for Saturday's game are available for $10, $20 and $30 online here. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

• OU student tickets cost $10. Student season ticket holders may bring up to three fellow OU students to the game for free.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES
• Oklahoma owns a 41-11 series lead against Baylor and has won 36 of the last 41 meetings (includes a streak of 30 straight wins that was snapped five years ago). The Sooners possess a 20-4 series advantage in games played in Norman. OU is 32-6 against the Bears since the inception of the Big 12 Conference (16-2 at Lloyd Noble Center; average scoring margin in those 18 games is +18.4).

OU has dominated its six home games, winning by an average of 25.0 points and outshooting its opponents .492 to .335 from the field and .402 to .266 from 3-point range.

• Saturday's game will feature the Big 12's top two defenses against the 3-point shot. Baylor leads the league and ranks eighth nationally out of 351 Division I teams by allowing opponents to shoot just .268 from behind the arc. Oklahoma ranks second in the Big 12 and 17th nationally by holding foes to a .276 3-point mark. The Sooners also rank 13th nationally by limiting foes to a .359 field goal mark (last year OU ranked 179th in the country with its .437 field goal percentage defense).

• OU has dominated its six home games, winning by an average of 25.0 points and outshooting its opponents .492 to .335 from the field and .402 to .266 from 3-point range. The Sooners' starting five is shooting .549 (145 for 264) from the field. The junior trio of Buddy Hield (19 for 35; .543), Isaiah Cousins (12 for 22; .545) and Ryan Spangler (4 for 7; .571) is shooting a combined .547 (35 for 64) from behind the arc at Lloyd Noble Center. Spangler is shooting .727 from the field at home (32 for 44).

• The Sooners have outscored their opponents by 7.1 points per game off turnovers on the year (16.9-9.8). At Lloyd Noble Center, that average figure jumps to 12.5 points per game (22.0-9.5). The last three home games, OU has outscored Oral Roberts (30-3), Weber State (35-7) and George Mason (14-8) by a 79-18 count off turnovers.

• OU has displayed a balanced scoring attack this season with four starters averaging between 10.0 and 15.7 points per game, and another averaging 8.3. Six different players (Cousins, Hield, Spangler, TaShawn Thomas, Dinjiyl Walker and Jordan Woodard) have led or co-led the team in scoring in the last seven outings. Each of OU's five starters has scored at least 20 points three or more times in their careers.

PREVIEWING BAYLOR
• No. 22/22 Baylor enters Big 12 play with an 11-1 record and has won six straight contests. Its only loss came on Nov. 28 to Illinois (62-54) in the Las Vegas Invitational championship game. The Bears lead the Big 12 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.268) and rank second in the league in scoring defense (54.7 ppg) and rebounding margin (+11.8 per game). They are averaging 70.6 points a contest (eighth in Big 12) on .446 field goal shooting (seventh), .376 3-point shooting (fourth) and .632 free throw shooting (ninth).

• Junior forward Taurean Prince leads three Bears who average double figures in scoring. The 6-7, 215-pounder has started five of his 11 contests and is averaging 11.5 points with the help of a Big 12-best .548 (17 for 31) 3-point shooting (next best percentage in the league is .452). Prince has been held to four or fewer points in two of the last three outings (scored 13 in Tuesday's win over Norfolk State). Senior forward Royce O'Neal is averaging 10.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting .500 from the field and .442 from deep (team-high 19 3-pointers). Junior forward Rico Gathers averages 10.1 points and leads the Big 12 in rebounding (10.5 rpg) and double-doubles (six).

• Scott Drew is in his 12th year as Baylor's head coach and owns a 215-151 (.587) record at the school.

Isaiah Cousins

SOONER TIP-INS
• Oklahoma set an NCAA record (against a Division I opponent) two games ago when it went on a 39-0 run against Weber State in an 85-51 home win. The former NCAA record of a 37-0 run was set by Utah State against Idaho on Feb. 15, 2006.

• OU is 10-8 in Big 12 openers and 11-7 in its first Big 12 home game of a season.

• The Sooners have held nine of their 12 opponents to 40-percent-or-lower field goal shooting. They have held three foes (each of the last two) to field goal marks under 30 percent.

• OU is holding opponents to 59.4 points a game and limiting them to .359 field goal and .276 3-point shooting (ranks 13th and 17th nationally). Through 12 games last year, opponents averaged 75.8 points on .413 field goal and .313 3-point shooting.

• The Sooners averaged 15.1 turnovers per game through the season's first eight contests. Over the last four games, however, they are averaging just 9.3 turnovers.

• 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. Those five players have started every game this season.

• Spangler (.613) and Thomas (.596) rank first and second in the Big 12 in field goal percentage, while Cousins ranks ninth (.480).

• Spangler is 7 for 15 from 3-point range this season after going 3 for 11 all of last year. He has shot 50 percent or better from the floor in 36 of his 45 games at OU.

• Woodard posted a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio in OU's first seven games (29 assists and 23 turnovers), but over the last five outings owns a 4.8 ratio (29 assists and six turnovers).

• Cousins (6.17) and Hield (5.00), who both stand 6-foot-4, rank second and third among Big 12 guards in rebounds per game. Iowa State guard Bryce DeJean-Jones (6-foot-6), averages 6.20 boards per contest. Woodard ranks second among Big 12 point guards with his 4.25 rebounds an outing.

UP NEXT
OU hits the road to take on No. 11/10 Texas in an ESPN Big Monday contest at 8 p.m. CT. The Sooners swept the Longhorns last year (won 88-85 in Austin).