Men's Hoops Hosts No. 1/1 Houston on Saturday

NORMAN – RV/RV Oklahoma men's basketball hosts No. 1/1 Houston on Saturday, March 2. Tip is at 7:05 p.m. CT inside Lloyd Noble Center. 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 ESPN2 with Rich Hollenberg (PxP) and Chris Spatola (analyst) on the call.

Oklahoma vs. No.1/1 Houston
Date: Saturday, March 2
Tip Time: 7:05 p.m.
Location: Norman
Arena: Lloyd Noble Center
(Lloyd Noble Center doors open one hour prior to tip)

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FOR THE FANS

• University of Oklahoma students can attend all 2023-24 men's basketball games for free. Students need to show their ID at the lower north entrance at Lloyd Noble Center.

OPENING TIP

• Oklahoma is ranked 41st (games through 2/29) overall and eighth in the Big 12 in the NET. Ten Big 12 teams are in the top 45. Houston is first in the nation.

•  Junior Javian McCollum ranks sixth among active career leaders in free throw percentage (90.0%). In 79 career games, McCollum has made 215 free throws in 239 attempts. Senior Sam Godwin is 15th among NCAA DI active career leaders in field goal percentage, making 62.9% (256-407) of his shots.

•  McCollum needs 27 points to reach 1,000 NCAA DI career points. The Fort Myers, Fla., product scored 590 points in two seasons at Siena and tallied 383 points this season.

•   Oklahoma is 16-2 this season when scoring 70 or more points and 16-2 when holding its opponents to 70 points or less.

LAST TIME OUT

• RV/RV Oklahoma men's basketball fell to No. 8/6 Iowa State 58-45 on Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum. After a slow start by both programs, the Sooners captured their first after a 6-0 run with 7:14 left in the first. Junior Jalon Moore evened the score at 16-all and redshirt freshman Luke Northweather put the Sooners up two with a dunk. Sophomore Milos Uzan capped the run with a jumper, giving OU a four-point lead with 6:03 left in the half. Iowa State rallied over the final four minutes, scoring nine unanswered points and entering the break up 25-20.

• After Iowa State's Robert Jones opened the second frame with a layup, Oklahoma scored five points on two free throws by Moore and a 3-pointer by Uzan, cutting the deficit to two. ISU punched back with back-to-back layups, extending its lead back to five with 7:38 left. Senior Sam Godwin brought the lead down to five before ISU's Watson answered with a layup. Sophomore Otega Oweh again cut the ISU advantage to five before the Cyclones scored seven unanswered points, pushing its lead to double figures for the first time. Iowa State controlled the remainder of the contest and did not let its lead dip below 10 for the final 13:02.

OKLAHOMA vs. HOUSTON | LAST MEETING

•  Oklahoma is 7-17 against AP No. 1 at the time of competition, including a 6-3 mark at home. OU is 0-10 in road games and 1-4 in neutral site contests. The Sooners are 1-14 when not ranked in the AP Poll.

•  The Sooner's last victory against an AP No. 1 team occurred on March 10, 2002, against Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., inside Kemper Arena. Hollis Price finished with a team-high 23 points on 9-for-21 shooting and added three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Quannas White added 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Price was named tournament MVP.

•  OU is 6-3 against AP No. 1 competition at home included a four-game winning streak against AP No. 1 ranked teams from Jan. 17, 1987, to Feb. 27, 1990. During that stretch, Oklahoma beat UNLV (89-86), Arizona (82-80), Missouri (107-90) and Kansas (100-76). The Sooners' first such victory occurred on Jan. 20, 1951, against Oklahoma A&M (44-40).

AGAINST AP NO. 1

• Oklahoma ranks in the top 60 nationally in seven categories. The Sooners are 13th in three-point percentage defense (28.9%), 28th in field goal percentage defense (40.4%), 41st in scoring margin (10.1 PPG), 46th in scoring defense (66.6 PPG), 49th in rebound margin (5.0 RPG), 54th in field goal percentage (47.3%) and 56th in free throws made per game (15.8).

• Javian McCollum is fifth in NCAA DI and first in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (93.3%). Sam Godwin is 45th nationally and first in the conference in offensive rebounds per game (3.0 RPG). Milos Uzan is 70th in assists (114), 84th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4) and 85th in assists per game (4.6 APG). Otega Oweh is 100th in NCAA DI in steals (42).

WELCOME BACK

•  Houston head men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson led the Sooners from 1994 to 2006, finishing second in program history with 279 wins and first in winning percentage (.719). Sampson guided OU to the postseason in each of his 12 seasons at the helm (11 NCAA Tournaments), including the 1999 Sweet 16, 2002 Final Four and 2003 Elite Eight. Under the leadership of Sampson, OU earned a share of the 2005 Big 12 Conference regular season championship and three consecutive Big 12 Tournament titles (2001, '02 and '03). He was named AP Coach of the Year in 1995 by the Associated Press, United States Basketball Writers Association and Basketball Weekly. Under his tutelage, Hollis Price was named 2003 Big 12 Player of the Year and Ryan Minor was named Big 8 Player of the Year.

•  Fellow former Sooners Price, Quannas White and Kellen Sampson will return to the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday. As a senior, Price (1999-2003) was named to the Associated Press All-America Second Team, averaging 18.0 points, 2.8 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per contest. He led the Sooners to the 2002 Final Four as a junior and averaged 16.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals per outing. Price was named to the 2002 and 2003 All-Big 12 First Team and was an All-America Third Team honoree by Sporting News in 2003.

•  White joined the Sooners (2001-03) after two seasons at Midland Junior College and helped lead the Sooners to the Final Four and Elite Eight. He was selected to the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team as a junior, recording 7.6 points and 4.7 assists per outing. White was named to the NCAA Tournament All-West Regional Team with Price. As a senior in the Crimson & Cream, White averaged 8.6 points and 4.1 assists per contest on OU's 2003 Elite Eight squad. Following his playing career, White served as a graduate assistant with the Sooners.

•  Kellen Sampson donned the Crimson & Cream for four season (2004-07) and earned three letters. He connected on a team-best 44.0% of his shots as a senior. Sampson earned Academic All-Big 12 honors in 2007 and has two degrees from the University of Oklahoma.

CHASING RECORDS

• Junior Javian McCollum has made 94.0% (78-83) of his free throw attempts this season, ranking first ahead of Hollis Price's 92.9% set in 2003.

• After missing his first free throw attempt at Kansas State (Jan. 30) with 5:39 left in the first half, McCollum buried his next nine tries and finished 9 for 10 from the charity stripe. The Fort Myers, Fla., product rattled off 35 consecutive free throws over a seven-game stretch. McCollum is two made free throws away from tying Nate Carter (37 in 2007) for the most consecutive free throws in program history. Carter topped the previous record of 36 set by Hollis Price during the 2002-03 season. Colorado's Corey Higgins set the Big 12 record (45) during the 2008-09 campaign.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma hosts Cincinnati on Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. inside Lloyd Noble Center.