No. 17 Sooners Head to Kansas State

Kansas State (12-13)

17/17 Oklahoma (17-7)

February 14 | 7 p.m. CT | Bramlage Coliseum | Manhattan, Kan.

QUICK PREVIEW
No. 17/17 Oklahoma (17-7, 8-4) tries for its sixth straight win when it plays at Kansas State (12-13, 5-7) on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan. The Sooners, who have won their last five games by an average of 19.0 points, are in sole possession of second place in the Big 12. They are 6-6 away from home (4-4 in true road games; 3-3 in Big 12 road games). The Wildcats, who have lost five straight, are 10-4 at home (4-2 in Big 12 home games).

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 Mark Neely and Stephen Howard announcing.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES
• Oklahoma owns a 105-95 all-time record against Kansas State and has won 12 of the last 20 meetings. The Sooners are 36-57 in the series in Manhattan and have lost two straight there. In this year's Jan. 10 meeting in Norman, OU led by four with 40 seconds left in regulation but dropped its lone home contest, 66-63, in overtime. Buddy Hield scored a career-high 31 points for the Sooners and TaShawn Thomas finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Kansas State's Stephen Hurt recorded still-season highs of 15 points and 8 rebounds while Marcus Foster scored 14 points. Foster hit the game-tying shot in the waning seconds of regulation and the game-winning 3-pointer in overtime.

Oklahoma has held 20 of 24 opponents below their season average in points (at the time of competition). In fact, OU has held its 24 opponents to an average of 10.7 points below their season average.

• OU head coach Lon Kruger was the 1973 and '74 Big Eight Player of the Year as a Kansas State Wildcat and coached at the school for four years, compiling an 81-46 record from 1986-87 through 1989-90. He is 5-6 against his alma mater (3-4 at OU). Sooners assistant coach Steve Henson played for Kruger at K-State each of those four seasons and still holds school career records for assists (582), assists per game (4.58), free throw percentage (.900), minutes per game (35.2), starts (118), consecutive games played (127) and consecutive starts (118). Both are members of K-State's Athletics Hall of Fame.

• Oklahoma has held 20 of 24 opponents below their season average in points (at the time of competition). In fact, OU has held its 24 opponents to an average of 10.7 points below their season average. On the year, the Sooners are holding foes to 61.6 points a game and limiting them to .375 field goal shooting (ranks ninth nationally out of 351 teams) and .304 3-point shooting (ranks 37th). By comparison, opponents averaged 76.0 points on .437 field goal and .342 3-point shooting last season.

• Oklahoma has played a nation-leading 11 games against AP Top-25 opponents (at the time of competition) this season. Entering the weekend, only OU (11), Oklahoma State (10) and Kansas (nine) have played more than eight AP Top-25 foes. OU has also played a nation-high 15 games against teams that have been ranked for at least one week this season. The Sooners are No. 12 in the NCAA RPI.

• Hield has been on a tear, scoring at least 20 points in six of the team's 12 Big 12 games and averaging 14.7 in the other six (he has scored in double figures in all 12). In conference play, the junior guard is averaging league highs of 19.5 points a game (next highest average is 16.9) and 2.8 3-pointers a contest. He also ranks fourth in field goal percentage (.488), fourth in steals (1.7 spg), ninth in rebounding (5.9 rpg; first among guards), ninth in 3-point field goal percentage (.402) and ninth in free throw percentage (.780). The Freeport, Bahamas, native has scored at least 15 points in 24 of 30 Big 12 outings the last two years.

PREVIEWING KANSAS STATE
• Picked by Big 12 coaches to finish fourth in the league, Kansas State is 12-13 overall and 5-7 in conference action (eighth place). The Wildcats started 5-2 in Big 12 play but have lost five in a row since. They are 4-2 in league home games with wins over TCU (58-53), Texas Tech (58-51), Baylor (63-61) and Oklahoma State (63-53), and losses to West Virginia (65-59) and Texas (61-57) in their last two games at Bramlage Coliseum. In Big 12 play, K-State averages 59.8 points a game (ranks eighth in league) on .423 field goal shooting (fourth), .338 3-point shooting (fifth) and .691 free throw shooting (fifth). It ranks second in scoring defense (62.8 ppg), eighth in field goal percentage defense (.433) and fourth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.327).

• Sophomore guard Marcus Foster, a preseason All-Big 12 pick, leads three Wildcats who average double figures in scoring. Foster, who has missed the last three games due to a violation of team rules, ranks sixth in the Big 12 with his 14.0 points per game on the season and sixth with his .397 3-point mark. He has scored in double figures in his last eight Big 12 games and finished with 19 points and 6 rebounds in his most recent outing (at Kansas). Senior forward Nino Williams averages 11.5 points and a team-high 4.9 rebounds a game, while shooting .508 from the floor. Senior forward Thomas Gipson averages 11.1 points on .540 field goal shooting and grabs 4.8 boards a contest.

• Kansas State is under the direction of head coach Bruce Weber, who is in his third season with the Wildcats (59-34 record). The 2013 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Weber is in his 16th season as a head coach (also coached at Southern Illinois and Illinois).

Coach Kruger addresses the Sooners during a timeout

SOONER TIP-INS
• During its five-game winning streak, the Sooners are shooting 50.0 percent from the field while holding their opponents to a 35.1-percent mark. They have outscored their foes 115-47 off turnovers during the stretch (23-9 per game).

• OU is holdings its opponents to .375 field goal shooting on the year. Only once in the last 53 years (.398 in 2008-09) have the Sooners held their opponents to a season field goal mark under .400. The last opponent season field goal mark under .375 was .339 in 1959-60.

• Five games ago, the Sooners set a Big 12 record for fewest points allowed in a conference game in their 81-36 win over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders' .212 field goal mark was the lowest by an OU opponent in any game in 11 years. The 45-point win was the team's second largest in the 19-year history of the Big 12 and tied for the eighth largest in the league.

• 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.

• Oklahoma is the only Big 12 team that has started the same five players in every game this season. Interestingly, OU was one of just seven teams nationally that used the same starting lineup in every game last year. Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins, Ryan Spangler and Jordan Woodard have all started the last 57 games while TaShawn Thomas has started all 120 of his career contests (96 at Houston).

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

• OU has won its 17 games by an average of 19.7 points (all but one by double digits). Three of its losses have been by three points or less.

• Oklahoma has outscored its opponents off turnovers in 14 of the last 17 games and in 19 of 24 contests on the year. In their 12 home games, the Sooners have posted a 248-105 advantage in points off turnovers (21 to 9 per outing).

• The Sooners have held 16 of their 24 opponents to 40-percent-or-lower field goal shooting. They have held five foes to 30-percent-or-lower field goal marks. Only one opponent (Baylor 50.0 percent on Jan. 24) has shot 50 percent or better this year.

• 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 .724 this year to rank second in the league. Woodard ranks third in the Big 12 (.837) while Hield ranks seventh (.788).

• Cousins has shot at least 50 percent from behind the arc in 13 of the 22 games this year in which he's attempted a 3-pointer, including in 12 of the last 18 such contests. He leads the Big 12 with his .468 season 3-point mark and ranks sixth with his 1.8 treys per game. Cousins shot .250 from 3-point range as a freshman and .404 last year.

• Hield (5.5) and Cousins (5.1), who both stand 6-foot-4, rank second and third among Big 12 guards in rebounds per game. In league play, Hield paces all guards with his 5.9 boards per 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 (is in second).

UP NEXT
OU returns home to host Texas on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center. The game will be televised by ESPN2.