Sooner To Take on Nebraska Saturday

No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Nebraska

Jan. 21 | 6 p.m. CT | Lincoln, Neb. | Bob Devaney Sports Center

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MATCHUP AT A GLANCE
	Oklahoma	Nebraska
Ranking	No. 1	No. 7
Season High	433.200	410.600
Floor Avg.	71.400	68.800
Pommel Horse Avg.	72.300	66.900
Rings Avg.	74.750	69.250
Vault Avg.	72.700	70.950
Parallel Bars Avg.	72.400	68.950
High Bar Avg.	69.650	65.750

NOTES AND NUMBERS

THE MEET

The No. 1-ranked Oklahoma men's gymnastics team hits the road to visit the alma mater of head coach Mark Williams on Saturday. The Sooners will take on No. 7 Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb., at 6 p.m. CT. The meet will belive streamed at huskers.com.

SCORING CHANGE

A big storyline in 2017 will be changes made to the code of points used to score routines.

“The code of points has changed so there are only four special requirements on each apparatus instead of five,” Williams said. “Each special requirement is half a point. Basically they have combined some element groups and reduced the overall requirement. Typically we have said that a really good score is a 14.500 to a 15.000. We're going to see that same routine score between a 14.000 and a 14.500. A lot of good gymnasts are going to be doing routines that are in the high 13s. The team score is going to be affected and each individual score is going to be about a half a point lower.”

LET IT R3IGN

Oklahoma is chasing a third consecutive national championship in 2017 after completing back-to-back undefeated title runs in 2015 and 2016. The Sooners have repeated as national champions three times under Williams but have never won three in a row. The last program to accomplish that feat was Nebraska, which won four straight from 1980 to 1983. Williams was part of those Cornhusker teams as student-athlete and then as a graduate assistant. Three or more consecutive titles has only happened two other times in NCAA history (Penn State, 1959-1961; Illinois, 1939-1942).

BOWER POWER

Senior co-captain Allan Bower opened his season with a bang last weekend. The Chandler, Ariz., native posted a nation-leading all-around mark of 88.750 at the Rocky Mountain Open and was named the NCAA Gymnast of the Week for his efforts. Bower scored 15.000 or better on three events and won the event title on two. There were only nine total scores of 15.000 or better in all of collegiate gymnastics last weekend.

CODE BREAKERS

The Sooners had perhaps their best season-opener ever under Williams at Saturday's Rocky Mountain Open. Oklahoma's team total of 433.200 was more than 15 points higher than the next best score in the country over the weekend, and it scored the highest team event total on every event except high bar (second). Of the nine individual scores of 15.000 or better in collegiate gymnastics last weekend, Sooners accounted for six of them.

CHAMPIONS RETURN

The Sooners return a pair of individual national champions from 2016. Sophomore Yul Moldauer made history a year ago when he became just the second freshman ever (Sam Mikulak, Michigan) to win the all-around title. Moldauer is also a favorite to contend for the national title on parallel bars this year. Senior co-captain Colin Van Wicklen won the national title on floor last year. Van Wicklen, a seven-time All-American, is a serious title contender on floor and vault in 2017.

PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE

In addition to its two national champions, Williams' squad returns five All-Americans from last year's title team. Sophomore Levi Anderson (HB), senior Allan Bower (PH, PB, AA), junior Hunter Justus (SR), sophomore Yul Moldauer (FX, PB, AA) and senior Colin Van Wicklen (FX, VT, HB) all earned All-America status a year ago. The Sooners also return redshirt senior Josh Yee, who was an All-American in 2015, and senior Todd Dowdy, also a 2015 All-American.

IMPACT FRESHMEN

OU welcomes a pair of talented freshmen for 2017 in Matt Wenske and Tanner Justus. Wenske boasts a decorated junior career that includes a first place finish in his age group in the all-around competition at the 2015 Men's Junior Olympic National Championships. At the 2016 U.S. Championships he tied Sooner great and 2016 summer Olympian Jake Dalton for the event title on vault as a senior in high school. Wenske made his collegiate debut at the Rocky Mountain open where he won the event title on vault with a 14.950.

Justus finished first in his age group on vault at the 2013 and 2014 Men's Junior Olympic National Championships. He also took first on vault at the 2015 P&G Championships and finished tied for third with Wenske in the all-around competition.

SCOUTING NEBRASKA

The Cornhuskers opened their season last weekend at the West Point Open. The Huskers finished second behind Penn State with a team score of 410.600 in a meet that also included Arizona State, Army, Navy, Springfield College and Temple. The Huskers' team score was the fifth best in collegiate gymnastics last weekend.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma opens its home slate on Jan. 28 at 6:50 p.m. CT inside the McCasland Field House when it hosts No. 9 Michigan. The meet will serve as “Cleveland Night” for the Sooners. As part of their “Partners in Education” program Sooner gymnasts visit the classrooms of Norman's Cleveland Elementary School once a week to help tutor students in math, science and reading. In return students have the opportunity to participate in Cleveland Night. Dozens of lucky students will serve as junior judges, score flashers, march-in leaders, junior PA announcers and award presenters at the meet, which is typically OU's most well attended of the year. Tickets for the Michigan meet, and the entire home slate, are available for purchase online or by calling the OU Athletics Tickets Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free at (800) 456-GoOU.

QUICK HITS

• OU is ranked No. 1 in the CGA Preseason Coaches Poll. The Sooners received all 15 first place votes.
• The Sooners have been ranked preseason No. 1 in each of the last three years, and have sat in the top spot every week since the 2015 preseason poll.
• Last weekend there were just nine scores of 15.000 in collegiate gymnastics, six of which came from Sooners.
• The Sooners boast the highest event score on every event except high bar.
• Nebraska is the alma mater of head coach Mark Williams. Williams was part of the Nebraska teams that won four straight titles from 1980 to 1983, both as a gymnast and a graduate assistant coach.
• Oklahoma has won 18 consecutive Rocky Mountain Opens dating back to 2000.
• The Sooners enter 2017 fresh off their 10th NCAA championship in program history. Last year's squad also claimed the 23nd conference title in OU history and its fifth in a row.
• All four of OU's regular season matches will be televised live by Sooner Sports TV.