Sooners Continue Road Trip at Baylor

21/21 Baylor (14-4)

19/20 Oklahoma (12-6)

January 24 | 5 p.m. CT | Ferrell Center | Waco, Texas

QUICK PREVIEW
No. 19/20 Oklahoma (12-6, 3-3) finishes its only two-game road stand of the Big 12 season when it plays at No. 21/21 Baylor (14-4, 2-3) Saturday at 5 p.m. CT at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. The game will mark OU's nation-leading ninth against an AP Top-25 opponent. OU, which is coming off an 85-78 loss at No. 11/14 Kansas on Monday (led 69-65 with 4:45 remaining), is 2-3 in true road games. Baylor, which is 9-1 at home (only loss was to Kansas by one point), is coming off an 81-61 home win Wednesday over NAIA foe Huston-Tillotson.

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) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck calling the action. It will be televised by ESPN2 with Dave Flemming and Fran Fraschilla announcing.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES
• Oklahoma owns a 42-11 series lead against Baylor and has won 37 of the last 42 meetings (includes a streak of 30 straight wins that was snapped five years ago). The Sooners possess an 18-5 series lead in games played in Waco. OU is 33-6 against the Bears since the inception of the Big 12 Conference (15-3 at the Ferrell Center) and has won five straight regular season games in the series (including the last two in Waco).

• On Jan. 3 in Norman, No. 18 Oklahoma got 63 combined points from TaShawn Thomas (24), Buddy Hield (20) and Isaiah Cousins (19) in a 73-63 win over No. 22 Baylor. The Bears had not given up more than 66 points in a game on the season. OU held BU to .373 field goal shooting (.290 after halftime) and posted a 40-35 rebounding win over a Bears team that entered the contest ranked fourth nationally in rebounding advantage (+11.8 per game). Thomas was 11 for 17 from the field and added eight rebounds in his first Big 12 game, while Hield added 10 rebounds (second career double-double) and four assists. Cousins was 4 for 8 from 3-point range and grabbed eight rebounds.

Oklahoma has played eight AP Top-25 opponents this year (ranked at time of competition), most in the nation.

• Oklahoma has played eight AP Top-25 opponents this year (ranked at time of competition), most in the nation. Entering weekend play, only Kansas (seven), Iowa (six) and North Carolina (six) have played more than five AP Top-25 foes. OU is 4-4 against ranked opponents with wins vs. UCLA in the Bahamas, vs. Baylor, at Texas and vs. Oklahoma State. Baylor will mark the Sooners' 11th game against a team that has been ranked for at least one week. That figure also leads the nation.

• Hield has been on a tear, scoring at least 20 points in five of the team's six Big 12 games and pacing the squad with 13 in the other contest. In conference play, the junior guard is averaging league highs of 23.0 points a game (next highest average is 17.5) and 3.5 3-pointers a contest (next highest average is 2.7). He also ranks fifth in field goal percentage (.512) and free throw percentage (.853), sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (.438) and ninth in rebounding (6.7 rpg; tops among league guards). The Freeport, Bahamas, native has led OU in scoring in five straight games and in six of the last seven. He is averaging 26.3 points the last four games.

• Oklahoma is the only Big 12 team that has started the same five players in every game this season. In fact, OU was one of just seven teams nationally last year that used the same starting lineup in every game. Hield, Isaiah Cousins, Ryan Spangler and Jordan Woodard have all started the last 51 games while TaShawn Thomas has started all 114 of his career contests (96 at Houston).

PREVIEWING BAYLOR
• No. 21/21 Baylor improved to 14-4 on the year with its 81-61 win over NAIA foe Huston-Tillotson on Wednesday. The Bears, who are in eighth place in the Big 12 at 2-3, have lost two league games by a total of three points (56-55 vs. Kansas and 63-61 at Kansas State). Oklahoma beat them by 10 (73-63 on Jan. 3 in Norman). In Big 12 play, Baylor averages 63.8 points a contest to rank sixth in the league on .367 field goal shooting (ninth), .351 3-point shooting (fourth) and .707 free throw shooting (fifth). It ranks third in rebounding margin (+5.4 per game), is tied for first in offensive rebounds (17.0 per game) and ranks first in offensive rebounding percentage (.425).

• Junior forward Taurean Prince leads three Bears who average double figures in scoring. The 6-7, 215-pounder has started six of his 17 contests (none in Big 12 play) and is averaging 12.2 points with the help of .435 3-point shooting (ranks second in league). Since the start of the calendar year, he is shooting .323 from deep (10 for 31). Prince also averages 5.5 rebounds a game to rank third on the team. Senior guard Kenny Chery is averaging 11.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting .393 from behind the arc. Junior forward Rico Gathers averages 10.8 points and leads the Big 12 in rebounding (12.2 rpg) and double-doubles (nine). He is coming off a 25-point, 28-rebound game versus Huston-Tillotson. Redshirt-freshman forward Jonathan Motley, who scored a team-high 24 points on 9-for-12 shooting against OU three weeks ago, is averaging 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds on the season.

• Scott Drew is in his 12th year as Baylor's head coach and owns a 218-154 (.586) record at the school.

Isaiah Cousins

SOONER TIP-INS
• Baylor will mark Oklahoma's sixth AP Top-25 opponent in seven games to start Big 12 play.

• OU set an NCAA record (against a Division I opponent) Dec. 22 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 has held 15 of 18 opponents below their season average in points (only Tulsa, West Virginia and Kansas surpassed their average). On the year, the Sooners are holding foes to 62.6 points a game and limiting them to .375 field goal shooting (ranks 16th nationally out of 351 teams) and .296 3-point shooting (31st). Last season, opponents averaged 76.0 points on .437 field goal and .342 3-point shooting.

• OU has won its 12 games by an average of 20.0 points (all by double digits). Three of its six losses have been by three points or less.

• Oklahoma has outscored its opponents off turnovers in nine of the last 11 games and in 14 of 18 contests on the year. In their nine home games, the Sooners have posted a 173-82 advantage in points off turnovers.

• The Sooners have held 12 of their 18 opponents to 40-percent-or-lower field goal shooting. They have held four foes to 30-percent-or-lower field goal marks. No opponent has shot 50 percent or better this 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.

• Each of OU's five starters has scored at least 20 points three or more times in their careers.

• OU 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 .730 this year to rank second in the league. Hield ranks fourth in the Big 12 (.828) while Woodard ranks fifth (.827).

• Cousins has shot at least 50 percent from 3-point range in nine of 18 games this year, including in eight of the last 14 contests. He leads the Big 12 with his .438 season 3-point mark and ranks fifth with his 1.9 treys per game. Cousins shot .250 from 3-point range as a freshman and .404 last year.

• Woodard posted a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio in OU's first seven games (29 assists and 23 turnovers), but over the last 11 outings owns a 3.0 ratio (51 assists and 17 turnovers).

• Cousins (5.7) and Hield (5.6), who both stand 6-foot-4, rank second and third among Big 12 guards in rebounds per game. In Big 12 play, Hield leads guards (ranks ninth among all players) with his 6.7 boards a contest.

• 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 third in the Big 12 by averaging 6.9 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 returns home to host Texas Tech on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CT (televised by ESPNEWS). OU holds a 34-21 series lead.