Sooners Host No. 15 Missouri for Senior Night on Wednesday

NORMAN — Oklahoma (17-12, 4-12 SEC) plays its final regular season home game when it hosts No. 15/19 Missouri (21-8, 10-6) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT inside Lloyd Noble Center. It will mark the programs' first meeting in Norman since the 2014-15 season, an 82-63 OU win.

The Sooners will conduct a pregame senior ceremony for eight players at approximately 6:45 p.m. The senior honorees will be Kobe Elvis, Sam Godwin, Brycen Goodine, Yaya Keita, Duke Miles, Jalon Moore, Jake Moser and Glenn Taylor Jr.

Wednesday's contest will be livestreamed on SECN+ with Chad McKee (play-by-play) and Bryndon Manzer (analyst) announcing. It 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 (play-by-play) and Kevin Henry (analyst) on the call.

Oklahoma vs. Missouri
Date: Wednesday, March 5
Tip Time: 7 p.m. CT
Location: Norman, Okla.
Arena: Lloyd Noble Center

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Game Notes

OPENING TIP

• Missouri marks Oklahoma's ninth AP Top 25 opponent in the last 11 games. The 15th-ranked Tigers, who went 0-18 in SEC action last season, debuted in the AP poll on Jan. 20 (No. 22) and climbed to as high as No. 14 last week. This is their seventh straight week being ranked. This is the first time in OU's history it will play nine ranked teams in an 11-game stretch.

• OU and Missouri met Feb. 12 in Columbia, with then-No. 21 MU posting an 82-58 win. The Sooners shot season lows of .310 from the field and .227 (5 for 22) from 3-point range.

• The Tigers are 3-5 in SEC road games. They have lost their last two on the road and three of the last four.

• Missouri is OU's 12th ranked opponent this season, three more than the Sooners faced all of the 2023-24 campaign.

• On the season, Oklahoma is the only team with two players who rank in the top 16 in the SEC in scoring, and both Sooners rank in the top 11. Jalon Moore ranks 10th (16.6 ppg) and freshman guard Jeremiah Fears ranks 11th (15.9 ppg).

• Over the last four games, Fears is averaging 20.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists. Over the previous six contests, he averaged 10.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

• Super senior forward Sam Godwin is 15 for 16 from the field (.937) over the last three games and is averaging 12.0 points and 6.3 rebounds during the stretch. He has made his last 14 field goal attempts.

• OU guard Brycen Goodine, who is shooting 50.0% from 3-point range in SEC play (38 for 76), would lead the league in the category if he had enough makes to qualify (he is two conversions shy). Among the 278 active players nationally who have made at least 100 3-pointers over the last two seasons, Goodine's .461 mark from behind the arc during the period is second best.

• After going 3 for 18 (.167) from 3-point range over an eight-game stretch starting Jan. 25, super senior guard Kobe Elvis is 7 for 12 (.583) from deep over the last three contests (averaging 8.7 points). Elvis started the season's first 16 games but has come off the bench the last 13.

• OU leads the SEC and ranks seventh nationally with its .791 season free throw percentage, which would smash the single-season school record of .767 set by the 2001-02 Final Four team. Missouri ranks ninth in the SEC with its .729 season free throw mark.

FORSYTHE EMERGING

• Freshman guard Dayton Forsythe has emerged as a key player off the bench the last month. The 6-2, 187-pounder from Dale, Okla., averaged 7.5 minutes over OU's first six SEC games (he did not play in two of them) and totaled five points. He has averaged 18.4 minutes per game over the last 10 outings.

• Forsythe, who had his high school jersey retired two weeks ago, was the catalyst in OU's comeback at Ole Miss on Saturday, scoring 23 of his career-high 25 points in the second half. His 25 points came on just nine field goal tries. After halftime, Forsythe, whose previous career high was 14 points, was 6 for 7 from the field (4 for 4 from long distance) and 7 for 7 at the foul line.

• Over the last nine contests, Forsythe is the team's third-leading scorer with his 9.0 points per game. During that stretch, he is shooting 50.0% from the field, 50.0% from 3-point range (10 for 20) and 93.5% from the free throw line (29 for 31).

CHEERS FOR FEARS

• OU's Jeremiah Fears and Duke's Cooper Flagg are the nation's only freshmen to average at least 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Fears is the only SEC player, regardless of class, to average those minimums.

• Fears, a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week honoree, leads the league's frosh in free throws made (139; next most is 98) and free throws attempted (166; next most is 111). He ranks second in scoring (15.9 ppg), assists (4.1 apg), steals (1.6 spg) and free throw percentage (.837) and third in rebounds (4.1 rpg).

SHOOTING LIGHTS OUT AT LNC

• Oklahoma has shot extremely well in its 16 home games with its .497 field goal, .368 3-point and .797 free throw marks.

• The Sooners have shot over 50% from the field in six of their eight SEC home games (.543 vs. No. 10 Texas A&M, .510 vs. Texas, .560 vs. South Carolina, .632 vs. No. 24 Vanderbilt, .527 vs. No. 21 Mississippi State and .520 vs. No. 17 Kentucky), combining for a .504 figure in the eight contests. They have also shot .402 from 3-point range and .762 from the free throw line in their eight SEC home outings.

THERE'S ONLY ONE

• Oklahoma is the only team in the nation that has had six players each score at least 25 points in a game this season (Kobe Elvis, Jeremiah Fears, Dayton Forsythe, Brycen Goodine, Duke Miles and Jalon Moore). Entering the week, no other Power Four team had more than four players score at least 25 in a game on the year.

RIVALRY RENEWED

• Oklahoma and Missouri were members of the same conferences for 93 years, from 1919-20 through 2011-12. Shared league membership started with the Missouri Valley Conference in 1919-20 and continued in the Big Six Conference in 1928-29, the Big Seven Conference in 1947-48, the Big Eight Conference in 1957-58 and the Big 12 Conference in 1996-97. Missouri left the Big 12 in July 2012, and Oklahoma joined the SEC on July 1, 2024.

• The Sooners hold a 115-98 series advantage and have won 16 of the last 26 meetings. That includes a nine-game winning streak from 1998-2002. OU is 65-22 against MU in Norman and has won eight of the last 11 meetings at Lloyd Noble Center.

• Wednesday's game will mark the 214th in the series, making Missouri the fourth-most-played opponent in OU history, trailing Oklahoma State (250 games), Kansas (227) and Kansas State (218).

• OU and Missouri have met in some significant matchups, including 14 times in Big Eight/Big 12 Tournament play and twice in the NCAA Tournament. The programs each won four meetings in Big Eight Tournament action, with Mizzou winning title-game contests in 1982 (68-63) and 1989 (98-86) in Kansas City, Mo. The Sooners posted a 5-1 head-to-head record in the Big 12 Tournament, which included a 49-47 win in the 2003 championship game in Dallas.

• In 2002, OU and Missouri met in an Elite Eight game in San Jose, Calif. Kelvin Sampson's second-seeded Sooners pulled out an 81-75 win over Quin Snyder's 12th-seeded Tigers for OU's first Final Four appearance since 1988. Hollis Price scored 18 points while Ebi Ere added 17 and Aaron McGhee 15.

• Prior to this season, the programs last met in the 2021 NCAA Tournament first round, another tight contest that went to the Sooners, 72-68, in Indianapolis. Lon Kruger's No. 8-seeded OU squad got 23 points from Austin Reaves and 19 from Brady Manek to down Cuonzo Martin's ninth-seeded Tigers.

OH, BROTHER

• Second-year Oklahoma assistant coach Armon Gates and third-year Missouri head coach Dennis Gates are brothers. The Chicago natives are three years apart, as Dennis is 45 and Armon 42.

• Armon Gates played collegiately at Kent State from 2002-03 through 2006-07 while Dennis played at California from 1998-99 through 2001-02.

• Wednesday's game will mark the fourth time the Gates brothers have coached against each other collegiately, including the Feb. 12 matchup in Columbia. In 2008-09, when both were assistant coaches, Armon's Kent State team went 2-0 against Dennis' Northern Illinois squad, winning 86-83 on the road in double-overtime and 64-61 in the MAC Tournament.