Men's Hoops Travels to Lawrence for Top-10 Showdown

NORMAN – No. 9/9 Oklahoma men's basketball continues its road swing at No. 3/3 Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 13. Tip is at 1:01 p.m. CT inside Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. The Big 12 conference contest will air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing and be broadcast by ESPN+ with Mark Neely (PxP) and Tim Welsh (analyst) on the call.

Oklahoma at Kansas
Date: Saturday, Jan. 13
Tip Time: 1:01 p.m.
Location: Lawrence, Kan.
Arena: Allen Fieldhouse

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Game Notes

OPENING TIP

• KU won the last AP Top-10 meeting between the two programs, earning the 76-72 victory in Norman on Feb. 13, 2016 (No. 3 OU vs. No. 6 KU).

•  Oklahoma is ranked 24th (games through 1/11) overall and sixth in the Big 12 in the NET. Ten Big 12 teams are in the top 50. Kansas is 17th and fifth in the conference.

•  Junior Javian McCollum ranks 10th among NCAA DI active career leaders in free throw percentage (88.3%). In 66 career games, McCollum has made 159 free throws in 180 attempts.

•  Oklahoma improved to 16-12 in Big 12 openers with its 71-63 victory over Iowa State on Saturday, Jan. 6. In his Big 12 debut, McCollum scored a team-high 15 points and dished out five assists.

LAST TIME OUT

• Oklahoma dropped its first Big 12 contest 80-71 to TCU on Wednesday night at Schollmaier Arena. OU entered halftime down 40-34 after a TCU layup with under five seconds left. Junior Javian McCollum responded with back-to-back 3-pointers within the first 30 seconds of the second frame. TCU scored seven unanswered points over the next minute and held a 47-40 advantage with 16:57 remaining. Junior Jalon Moore buried a pair of free throws, bringing the TCU advantage back to five. The two programs traded baskets before TCU pushed its lead to 53-44. Redshirt junior John Hugley IV scored the next six Oklahoma points, cutting the deficit to 55-50. TCU buried two threes and never let its lead dip below eight for the remainder of the contest.

• McCollum finished with a team-high 17 points and matched his career high with five made 3-pointers. He added six rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Milos Uzan recorded his second double-double of the season, finishing with 13 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Hugley IV added 14 points off the bench, and Moore tallied 10 points, six rebounds and two steals.

KANSAS CONNECTIONS

•  Former Oklahoma three-year letterman Ted Owens played for the Sooners from 1948-51 and later served as Kansas head men's basketball coach from 1964-83 and as an assistant coach from 1961-64. Owens finished with a 348-182 (.657) record with the Jayhawks and has the fourth-most wins as a head coach in program history.

•  Former Oklahoma special advisor to the head coach Doc Sadler returned to Kansas as a senior advisor for the 2023-24 season. Sadler spent one season in Norman (2022-23) and made a prior stop in Lawrence for the 2012-13 campaign, serving as the director of operations.

•  Oklahoma and Kansas faced off in the 1988 NCAA National Championship game in Kansas City, Mo. KU earned the 83-79 victory and were led by Danny Manning, who finished with 31 points. All five OU starters finished in double figures, including Dave Sieger, who scored a team-high 22 points. Stacey King added 17, Mookie Blaylock and Harvey Grant scored 14 and Ricky Grace tallied 12 points.

AP POLL APPEARANCES

• Oklahoma has appeared in the AP Poll 382 times (30.0%), ranking 22nd all-time. Since the 1984 season, the Sooners have appeared in 48.3% (362 times) of AP Polls and have an average rank of 12.1. OU has been ranked in the top 15 of the AP Poll for five consecutive weeks, marking the first time since a five-week stretch during the 2017-18 season. OU has been ranked in the AP Top 10 164 times.

RANKING SUMMARY (1/8)

• Oklahoma ranks in the top 50 nationally in eight categories. The Sooners are 13th in scoring margin (16.7 PPG), 15th in three-point percentage defense (27.9%), 17th in field goal percentage (49.5%), 19th in effective field goal percentage (56.4%), 23rd in rebound margin (7.7 RPG), 29th in field goal percentage defense (39.3%), 31st in scoring defense (64.3 PPG) and 31st in free throw percentage (76.2%).

• Sam Godwin is 20th in NCAA DI and first in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds per game (3.6 RPG). Otega Oweh is 23rd in nationally and first in the conference in field goal percentage (61.2%). Milos Uzan is 68th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5) and 80th in assists per game (4.5).

DISHING OUT DIMES

• Against Monmouth, junior Javian McCollum and sophomore Milos Uzan became the first duo to each record eight or more assists in the same game since the start of the 1996-97 season. McCollum and Uzan combined for 16 assists and three turnovers in the 72-56 regular season non-conference finale.

• Uzan dished out 10 assists against TCU and added 13 points and seven rebounds, joining Trae Young (27 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds vs. OSU | Jan. 3, 2018) as the only two Sooners since the start of the 1996-97 to reach those totals.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma returns to Lloyd Noble Center for a midweek clash against West Virginia on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.