Sooners in Stillwater for Round Two of Bedlam

Oklahoma State

^4/6Oklahoma

Janauary 20 | 1 p.m. | Stillwater, Okla.

SATURDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 4/6 Oklahoma (14-3, 4-2 Big 12) faces off against Oklahoma State (12-6, 2-4 Big 12) in the season's second installment of Bedlam. The Sooners won the first matchup in Norman, 109-89, and aim to capture their fourth Bedlam sweep in five years when they head to Stillwater on Saturday. The first meeting saw an offensive explosion from the Sooners as freshmen and Oklahoma natives Brady Manek and Trae Young combined for 65 points.

The Sooners enter the road contest coming off their third loss of the season on Tuesday to Kansas State. Oklahoma is 2-0 in games after losses and has won both “bounce back” games by double digits.

Saturday's contest will be the 1,000th game Lon Kruger has coached at the head of a Division I program. In his 32nd year as a head coach, Kruger owns the ninth-most wins among active head coaches with a 615-384 career record.

ON THE AIR

Saturday's matchup will tip at 1 p.m. CT and 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 nationally on ESPN with Jason Benetti and Robbie Hummel calling the action.

THREE POINTERS

• Freshman guard Trae Young leads the country in both scoring (29.5) and assists (9.8). His scoring and distributing leads the nation's second-highest-scoring offense, as Oklahoma is producing 92.2 points per game.

• Junior guard Rashard Odomes is coming off of a season-high 16 points against Kansas State. Odomes led the Sooners in scoring during last year's trip to Stillwater, where he put up a career-best 29 points against the Cowboys. After averaging 5.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in his first 12 games of the season, Odomes has since produced 10.3 and 4.8 boards in his last four outings.

• The Sooners enter Saturday's contest ranked No. 4 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. The ranking is Oklahoma's highest since being voted No. 3 in the 16th week of the 2015-16 season. At No. 4, the Sooners are ranked the highest of any Big 12 team in this week's edition of the poll. Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Oklahoma has been ranked in the top five in 12 weeks - the seventh-most of any team in that span. The Sooners' have been in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 for 22 weeks since the start of the 2015-16 campaign (eighth most in the country). The Sooners reached the top five this season thanks to a resume that includes a 5-1 record and a nation-high three victories over top-10 teams.

Postgame

The Sooners' 109 points in the season's first Bedlam meeting are the fifth-most points in a non-overtime game by a Big 12 team in the conference's history.

SERIES HISTORY VS. OKLAHOMA STATE

• Saturday's game is Oklahoma's 235th meeting with Oklahoma State, with the Sooners winning 18 of the last 27 Bedlam meetings - including eight of the last 10. OU owns a 137-97 all-time advantage in the series, with OSU holding a 63-45 lead in Stillwater. Oklahoma has won at Gallagher-Iba Arena in three of the last four seasons.

• OU is 10-4 against the Cowboys during the Lon Kruger era (3-3 in Stillwater). Saturday's meeting with OSU will be the second matchup since Mike Boynton took over as the Cowboys' head coach.

• The Sooners will be going for a season sweep of Oklahoma State, having defeated the Cowboys, 109-89, on Jan. 3 in Norman. Oklahoma has swept the Bedlam series six times since 2006 (OSU has swept just once in that span). Since 2006, OU is 6-2 in the second Bedlam game after winning that years first Bedlam matchup.

GOING LOCAL

• Oklahoma has seen strong production from a pair of freshmen already known around the Norman area. Guard Trae Young (Norman) and forward Brady Manek (Harrah) are both local products with numerous high school accolades now in their first season as Sooners. The pair is combining to average 40.8 points per game – the most by any freshman duo in the country.

• In 17 games, Young has put together 10 double-doubles, 16 20-plus-point games, six 30-plus-point games and a pair of 40-plus-point games. Young is averaging 29.5 points, 9.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting .453 from the field and .395 from 3-point range. He leads the nation in scoring and averages over 10 points more than any other Big 12 player (Kansas' Devonte' Graham is second with 18.3). Young's 9.8 assists also lead the country. No player in recorded NCAA history has finished a season leading the country in both scoring and assists.

• Just 17 games into his collegiate career, Young already owns the program record for total assists in a freshman season with 166 dimes. The previous record was held by Tommy Mason-Griffin with 154 in 31 games during the 2009-10 season. Young ranks in the top 10 among all-time OU freshmen in numerous other categories for season totals. He is tied for first in 3-point field goals (70) and is sitting at fourth in points (501), fourth in foul shots (131) and seventh in steals (34).

•Manek has also found success in his rookie campaign, earning averages of 11.3 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting .518 from the field and .430 from 3-point range.

PLAY FAST, SCORE BUCKETS

• Oklahoma is off to a 14-3 start behind the highest-scoring offense in the nation. The Sooners average 92.2 points per game and have scored at least 90 points in 11 of their 17 games - including six games in triple digits. Oklahoma, who ranked 331 (of 351 teams) in assists per game last season (10.6), is 19th in the country with 17.8 assists per contest this year. The Sooners also rank ninth in made 3-point field goals per game with 11.1 treys.

• The Sooners aren't just scoring in bunches - they're playing fast. Oklahoma is third in the nation and first among major conferences in KenPom.com's adjusted tempo rankings (possesions per 40 minutes adjusted to the opponenet) with 77.1. Oklahoma's average possession is 13.7 seconds long, the fastest among major conferences and third-fastest overall.

• Oklahoma is 7-0 when shooting above 50 percent and 7-0 when it hands out at least 20 assists.

• Oklahoma has scored 45 or more points in 18 of its 34 halves this season and has scored at least 40 points before halftime in all but three contests.

• The Sooners have scored at least 100 points in six games – their most in a season since the 1992-93 season, when Oklahoma reached the century mark in nine games. Oklahoma's six triple-digit games are the second-most in a season by an Big 12 team since the conference was formed in 1996. The 2001-02 Kansas squad (12 games) is the only team with more.

• OU scored over 80 points in its first 13 games, its longest streak of surpassing 80 points since doing so in 16 straight games in 1987-88. The 1988-89 “Billy Ball” squad scored 80 points in 20 straight games.

UP NEXT: KANSAS

• The Sooners return to Norman to host No. 10/10 Kansas for their only home contest in a four-game stretch. The sold-out “Super Tuesday” matchup will air on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. Oklahoma and Kansas have met 212 previous times - the second most contests against any opponent in Oklahoma history. The Sooners have only faced Oklahoma State (235 games) more times than the Jayhawks. Kansas leads the overall series, 146-66. The Jayhawks are the only Big 12 team to own a winning all-time record against the Sooners. KU is 50-42 when facing Oklahoma in Norman.

• The Sooners are 2-10 against Kansas during the Lon Kruger era. Oklahoma has won two of the last five home meetings against KU, earning victories over KU in 2013 and 2015. KU was ranked in the top 10 in both of OU's home wins over the Jayhawks in the Kruger era.

• Oklahoma is 5-1 when facing ranked opponents this season. Its five wins over top-25 teams are the most in the nation. Oklahoma also leads the country in wins over top-10 teams (three). The Sooners own an impressive 11-1 record during the Kruger era when playing at home and both teams are ranked. The lone loss in such a game came to Kansas in 2016.

• The Sooners will enter Tuesday's matchup riding a 12-game home winning streak. The Sooners have not lost at home since Feb. 8, 2017. The streak is the longest for the Sooners since winning 19 home contests in a row from Jan. 17, 2015 to Feb. 8, 2016. Oklahoma is 9-0 at the LNC this season and is averaging 98.8 points per home game.