Sooners at South Carolina on Tuesday

NORMAN — The Oklahoma men's basketball team (11-7, 1-4 SEC) heads to the East Coast looking to halt a four-game losing streak when it takes on South Carolina (10-8, 1-4) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.

Tuesday's game will be televised by SEC Network with Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Daymeon Fishback (analyst) announcing. It will air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry on the call.

Oklahoma is 3-5 away from home and 1-3 in true road games (0-2 in SEC play), while South Carolina is 9-3 at home (0-2 in SEC action).

OU junior guard Xzayvier Brown has scored over 20 points in six of the last nine games, including three times in five SEC outings (23 vs. Ole Miss, 24 vs. No. 19 Florida and 21 vs. No. 18 Alabama). Since Dec. 13, Brown ranks sixth in the SEC with his 18.9 points per game and fourth with his .504 field goal percentage.

The Sooners' 83.9 scoring average is their highest through a season's first 18 games since 2017-18 and fifth highest in the last 32 years. Similarly, OU's 9.8 3-pointers per game are its third most through 18 contests in the 40-year 3-point era.

Oklahoma at South Carolina
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 20
Tip Time: 6 p.m. (CT)
Location: Columbia, S.C.
Arena: Colonial Life Arena

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SCENE SETTERS

• Tuesday's game will feature a pair of teams each with a 1-4 SEC record. Oklahoma's win came at home against Ole Miss (86-70) in the league opener, while South Carolina's came at LSU (78-68) in its second conference contest.

• In SEC play, Oklahoma (.295) and South Carolina (.296) rank second and third in 3-point field goal percentage defense.

• South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris is 59-57 in his fourth season with the Gamecocks. In 2023-24, USC won a school-record 25 regular season games and finished with a 26-8 record and a 13-5 SEC mark (tied for second place). Paris was named SEC Coach of the Year.

• OU is the only SEC team and one of just nine out of 361 nationally to start the same lineup every game this season. Its starters have been guards Xzayvier Brown and Nijel Pack, forwards Tae Davis and Derrion Reid and center Mohamed Wague. South Carolina has started seven different lineups.

SERIES HISTORY

• Oklahoma holds a 5-1 series lead against South Carolina and has won the last four matchups.

• OU is 2-1 against the Gamecocks in Columbia and won the last two meetings there. Its wins came in 1977-78 (65-48 in the Carolina Tournament title game) and in 1991-92 (61-60). South Carolina's lone series victory was an 80-59 outcome in Columbia in the 1975-76 campaign.

• The Sooners are 3-0 vs. South Carolina in Norman, winning 90-84 in the first-ever meeting in 1974-75 at the OU Field House and 92-76 in 1992-93 and 82-62 last season at Lloyd Noble Center.

LAST YEAR VS. THE GAMECOCKS

• Oklahoma rode a 23-8 run over the game's final 7:11 to upend South Carolina 82-62 and pick up its first-ever SEC win last year on Jan. 18. The Sooners, who committed 11 turnovers in the first half but just one in the second, outscored the Gamecocks 19-3 off turnovers.

• Senior forward Jalon Moore logged his team-leading 10th 20-point game of the season, finishing with a game-high 22 points on 6-of-10 field goal and 10-of-11 free throw shooting. The 10 free throw makes tied a career high. Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears registered 16 points and career highs of nine rebounds and eight assists, becoming just the second Sooner in the last 29 years and fifth SEC player over the last eight seasons with at least 16/9/8 in a game. Senior guard Kobe Elvis came off the bench to go 4 for 6 from 3-point range and finished with 12 points.

• OU shot 56.0% from the field for its second-best performance of the season. It also shot 47.1% from 3-point range (8 for 17) and 85.7% from the free throw line (18 for 21).

OU NOTES AND NUGGETS

• Oklahoma has scored at least 85 points in 10 of its 18 games (56%), already its most 85-point efforts in a season since 2017-18. For comparison, OU's last four teams scored 85-plus a combined 21 times in 133 games (16%; nine times last year, six in 2023-24, two in 2022-23 and four in 2021-22).

• The Sooners have committed single-digit turnovers 10 times, already their most such outings for an entire season in six years (11 times in 2019-20). They rank third in the SEC by averaging just 9.9 turnovers per contest.

• OU's top four scorers are all transfers in their first year in the program. Xzayvier Brown averages a team-high 16.0 points per game, while Nijel Pack (15.5), Tae Davis (12.8) and Derrion Reid (11.7) also average double figures. Mohamed Wague rounds out the starting five with his 7.0 per contest.

• Brown has scored at least 21 points in six of the last nine games and is averaging 18.9 in those nine contests on 50% field goal, 43% (19-for-44) 3-point and 95% (37-for-39) free throw shooting. Included were a 23-point effort in a win over Ole Miss, a season-high 24-point performance against No. 19 Florida on Tuesday and a 21-point game Saturday vs. No. 18 Alabama.

• Brown ranks second in the SEC by shooting 92.4% from the free throw line (61 for 66). His streak of 27 makes ended Tuesday vs. Florida.

• The Sooners have outscored 13 of their 18 opponents after halftime. Nebraska, Kansas City, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Alabama are the only teams to outscore OU in the second half. The Sooners are +50 points in the first half this season (+2.8 average) and +116 in the second (+6.4 average).

• Reid's seven highest-scoring games of his career have come in his last 13 outings, as he tallied 16 points against Alcorn State, 15 vs. Marquette, 18 at Wake Forest, 15 vs. Kansas City, a career-high 22 against Stetson, 19 at Texas A&M (to go along with a career-high 11 rebounds) and 16 Saturday vs. No. 18 Alabama (with nine boards).

• Wague (3.3) and Davis (2.9) rank third and fifth in the SEC in offensive rebounds per game. Wague has been even better in SEC play, averaging a league-high 4.2 offensive caroms per contest. Davis had 11 offensive boards against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, OU's most in a contest since at least the 1995-96 season. He surpassed 1,000 career points and 500 rebounds this season (has 1,113 and 548).

• Wague's three highest career point totals have come this season (16 in the opener vs. Saint Francis, 20 vs. Oral Roberts and 15 vs. Stetson), as have his two highest rebound totals (14 at Wake Forest and 15 vs. Ole Miss in the SEC opener). He is shooting 60% from the floor.

• Redshirt freshman forward Kuol Atak ranks third on the team with his 26 3-point makes (shooting .400) despite averaging just 12.8 minutes over his 16 games. He is 19 for 39 (.487) from long distance in home games, including 10 for 19 (.526) over the last three outings at Lloyd Noble Center. He did not play Saturday vs. Alabama.

• Long Beach State transfer Jadon Jones, who is in his second year with OU and first season playing, ranks seventh on the team with his 6.4 points per game off the bench in an average of 21.2 minutes over his 14 outings. Jones missed all of last season due to injury, as well as the first four games this year. The 2021-22 Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Year blocked a career-high four shots Saturday vs. Alabama and logged four steals, one shy of his career high. Jones has also drawn nine fouls this season while attempting a 3-pointer.

• Nine of the 15 players on OU's roster are new in 2025-26, and three more were on last year's team but redshirted.

PACK MENTALITY

• First-year Sooner guard Nijel Pack surpassed the 2,000-point mark Jan. 11 at Texas A&M and now has 2,024 for his career. For perspective, only six OU players who spent their whole career in Norman reached 2,000 points (Wayman Tisdale, 2,661; Buddy Hield, 2,291; Jeff Webster, 2,281; Tim McCalister, 2,275; Darryl "Choo" Kennedy, 2,097; and Stacey King, 2008).

• Pack ranks fourth in the SEC and 27th nationally with his 3.2 3-point field goals per game and fourth in the league and 20th in the country with his .432 3-point field goal percentage.

• Pack has made at least one 3-pointer in 17 of 18 games, at least three in 11 contests and at least four in eight outings. He buried at least three treys in six consecutive games between Nov. 11 and Dec. 2, the first Sooner to accomplish the feat since consensus national player of the year Buddy Hield during OU's 2015-16 Final Four campaign.

• Through Sunday, Pack ranks second nationally in 3-pointers among active career players (370; High Point's Chase Johnston has 392), third in points (2,024) and 29th in assists (419).

ELATONTSEV CATCHES FIRE VS. FLORIDA

• OU announced Dec. 28 the signing of 23-year-old Kirill Elatontsev (pronounced kee-REEL EE-el-uh-tahn-suv), a center from Russia who is averaging 5.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in his 13.7 minutes per contest over his first six games.

• On Tuesday vs. No. 19 Florida, Elatontsev scored 17 points on 4-for-4 field goal shooting (all 3-pointers) and 5-for-6 free throw shooting. He had totaled two points over OU's first three league games and attempted just one 3-pointer in his first four overall outings. He followed with five points (1 for 2 on 3-pointers), four boards, two assists, two steals and a block in 20 minutes vs. No. 18 Alabama.

• From Krasnoyarsk, Russia, the 6-11, 240-pound Elatontsev has one semester of eligibility remaining. He most recently played for Lokomotiv Kuban in the VTB United League, which is regarded as the top tier of Russian professional club basketball. In February 2024 he was called up to the Russian National Team.