OU Returns to the Court in Home Exhibition

WASHBURN

Oklahoma

November 8 | 7 p.m. | Norman

TUESDAY'S GAME BASICS

For the first time since appearing in the 2016 Final Four, the Oklahoma Sooners will return to the Lloyd Noble Center floor on Tuesday. The Sooners play their lone exhibition game in advance of the 2016-17 season when they host Washburn on Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT.

OU, which went 29-8 last season (12-6 Big 12; third place) and made the school's fifth Final Four, is starting its sixth season under head coach Lon Kruger. Washburn, a Division II program coached by Kruger's former Kansas State teammate Bob Chipman, went 15-13 last season.

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) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing. The game will be televised by Sooner Sports TV (Fox Sports Oklahoma) with Bob Carpenter, Bryndon Manzer and Jessica Coody calling the action. The matchup will also air live on Fox College Sports Pacific.

TICKETS

Tickets are available starting at $10 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and online here. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open at 5:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday. OU students will be admitted free with a valid school I.D. The first 500 students will receive a free "Vote Kruger" t-shirt.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

• Oklahoma has hosted Washburn for a preseason tune-up in each of the last six seasons. Sooner head coach Lon Kruger and Washburn head coach Bob Chipman played together for two seasons at Kansas State. Chipman enters his 38th year with the Ichabods and final season before retirement. He come into the season with the second most coaching victories among active coaches in NCAA Division II.

• Tuesday's exhibition will include the debut of Kruger's latest class. Oklahoma welcomes in seven newcomers to the Sooner basketball program, including junior college transfer Darrion Strong from Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. He'll be joined by the incoming class of freshmen Kristian Doolittle, Kameron McGusty and Jordan Shepherd. Freshman Matt Freeman joined the Sooners midway through the 2015-16 season as a redshirt after finishing high school in his home country of New Zealand, and will be elligble to play in 2016-17. Walk on freshmen Richard Anderson, Grant Quinn and Marshall Thorpe round out the group of newcomers. Media outlets such as ESPN, USA Today and 247 Sports have regarded OU's incoming freshman class as a top-30 recruting class nationally.

• For the first time since 2013, the Sooners will start the season unranked in both the AP and Coaches Preseason Polls. Oklahoma was also voted sixth in the Big 12 Conference's Preseason Poll – it's lowest preseason projection since 2012. Despite the preseason rankings, OU looks to continue an upward trend of surpassing expectations under Kruger. Oklahoma has finished as well or better than predicted in four of the five seasons under Kruger. In the only exception (2015-16), the Sooners were picked to finish second in the Big 12. While OU ended the 2015-16 regular season with the third best record in the Big 12, the Sooners advanced to the 2016 Final Four – the farthest NCAA Tournament run by a Big 12 team that season.

KRUGER KEEPS BUILDING

• In the two seasons before his hiring, the Sooners went 27-36 (.429) – capped by a 10th-place finish in the Big 12 in 2010-11. Since being brought on in 2011, Kruger has led the program to a 111-57 (.661) record, including a 96-41 (.701) mark in the past four seasons.

• Kruger's OU teams keep improving and have surpassed their win total from each subsequent season, with the 2015-16 squad finishing with a 29-8 record and making a trip to the 2016 Final Four. The Sooners had previously not been to the postseason since 2009 when they advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.

•In five seasons at Oklahoma, Kruger has produced four NCAA Tournament appearances, three top-three finishes in the Big 12, a national player of the year in Buddy Hield and a trip to the 2016 Final Four. Oklahoma was ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 poll for every week of the 2015-16 season and made its first appearance as the poll's No. 1 team for the first time in over 25 years.

• With 111 wins in his first five seasons at OU, Kruger owns the second most victories in the first five seasons of coaching the Sooners. Only Billy Tubbs accumulated more wins (115) in his first five years at OU. Kruger is the first coach in OU history to win six NCAA tournament games within his first five seasons.

Lon Kruger enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.

NEW LOOK, NEW ROLES

• Oklahoma enters the 2016-17 season with a roster that features 11 underclassmen - the most of any roster in Kruger's six seasons at OU. With a younger group, the Sooners will be looking for older leadership from returning starters Khadeem Lattin and Jordan Woodard along with key underclassmen returners.

• Lattin has already proven himself as one of the top shot blockers in Oklahoma program history. After just two seasons at OU, Lattin ranks sixth in the OU record book in career blocks with 108. This offseason, he worked on developing more of a role on offense. Kruger has tabbed him as the "biggest surprise for the fans this season."

• Woodard enters tonight's game with 105 consecutive collegiate starts. A 2015-16 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, Woodard was the team's second-leading scorer last season with averages of 13.0 points (10th in Big 12), 3.4 assists (9th), 3.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals (5th) in 29.8 minutes. The Big 12 Coaches voted Woodard a Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection ahead of the 2016-17 season.

• Christian James will look to continue the upward trend he saw in the 2016 postseason. James averaged 2.9 points and 1.7 rebounds in 9.4 minutes on the season while shooting .426 (29-68) from the floor and .500 (17-34) from beyond the arc. In five NCAA Tournament games, James averaged 4.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 17.0 minutes, highlighted by a career-high 10 rebounds in the NCAA West Regional Final vs. Oregon on March 26.

• Sophomore Rashard Odomes is another player the Sooners expect to see step up in a new role this season. The guard appeared in 18 total games last season (all off the bench) and averaged 1.9 points and 0.8 rebounds in 6.1 minutes per contest. On the season, he shot .458 (11-24) from the floor. Odomes showed potential early in the season, scoring 15 points against McNeese State (Nov. 20) - the most points by a Sooner coming off the bench all season. He saw diminished minutes in conference play due to the experienced upperclassmen at his position, but is expected to see a bigger role in 2016-17.

• Frontcourt returners include Dante Buford and Jamuni McNeace. Buford appeared in 36 total games for the Sooners off the bench. He averaged 3.5 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per contest. McNeace saw action in 27 total games as a redshirt freshman and averaged 1.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per contest while shooting.545 (12-22) from the floor.

SERIES HISTORY

• Last year, Oklahoma defeated Washburn by the largest margin of victory in series history, 112-62, on Nov. 6 in Norman. The Sooners are 5-0 against the Ichabods in exhibition play and have also won regular season games over WU in 1909-10 (55-20), 1930-31 (30-27) and 1972-73 (79-55).

• Lon Kruger has faced Washburn 13 times as a head coach. Chipman's Ichabods have faced Kruger at UNLV and OU for the past 12 consecutive seasons. The Kruger-led UNLV Rebels faced Washburn each season from 2005 to 2010 and the Sooners have faced WU each season since 2011. Additionally, Kruger coached against Washburn in 1983 while in his second season as the head coach of Texas-Pan American. Kruger is 11-0 in exhibition games against Washburn and 2-0 in regular season contests.

UP NEXT

• The Sooners open the regular season at home against Northwestern State on Sunday, Nov. 13, at 4 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners are 5-0 all-time against the Demons. The two teams have met three times during the Kruger era with Oklahoma winning the three matchups by an average margin of 15.3 points.

• Oklahoma is 5-0 in season openers under Kruger. Additonally, the Sooners have won 13 consecutive season openers dating back to the 2003-04 season. OU has won 18 straight season openers played at Lloyd Noble Center. It's last loss when opening the season at home came in 1993.

• For more information on Oklahoma men's basketball, follow the Sooners on Twitter (@OU_MBBall).