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Jay C. Upchurch
1/21/2006, 12:04 PM
GAME INFORMATION
From OU Sports Info Dept.

Ranked No. 25 in this week's AP poll and No. 24 in the ESPN/USA Today
version, Oklahoma (10-4, 1-2) plays host to Texas Tech (10-8, 2-2) on
Saturday at noon CST at Lloyd Noble Center. The game will air on the
Sooner Radio Network (flagship KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Bob
Barry Sr. (play-by-play) and Mike Houck (analyst) calling the action.
The contest will be televised regionally by ABC with Dan Shulman
(play-by-play) and Steve Lavin (analyst) announcing.

TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of tickets for Saturday's game will be made available
Friday at 8 a.m. Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased online at
SoonerSports.com and from the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668
or 405-325-2424). After reserved tickets sell out, $20 restricted
admission tickets will be available Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center's
north and east windows beginning at 10:30 a.m.

PROMOTIONS
The first 5,000 fans through the Lloyd Noble Center doors Saturday will
receive OU player trading cards, courtesy of OG&E. A postgame autograph
session featuring the OU players and head coach Kelvin Sampson will be
held following the game on the southwest portion of the upper concourse.
Fans will be limited to one item per person.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS

F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 15.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.3 bpg)

F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 12.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 0.1 apg)

G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 10.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.2 apg)

G 15 David Godbold (6-5, 217, Jr., 5.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.4 apg)

G 20 Austin Johnson (6-3, 168, Fr., 3.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.5 apg)

TEXAS TECH PROJECTED STARTERS

F 30 Michael Prince (6-7, 205, Fr., 2.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.1 apg)

F 32 Jon Plefka (6-8, 245, Jr.. 5.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.0 apg)

G 44 Darryl Dora (6-9, 250, Jr., 6.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)

G 3 Martin Zeno (6-5, 202, So., 16.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.7 apg)

G 22 Jarrius Jackson (6-1, 185, Jr., 19.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.9 apg)

OU UPDATE
Following one- and two-point losses to Nebraska and Missouri to open Big
12 play, Oklahoma notched a one-point victory at Texas A&M on Saturday,
45-44. Terrell Everett's 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left was the
game-winner and improved OU's all-time mark against the Aggies to 24-1.
Everett, who scored a game-high 15 points and accounted for the Sooners'
final 10 of the game, also hit an important 15-footer with 25 seconds
left that drew OU to within two points. Oklahoma trailed 22-17 at
halftime and was down by as many as seven in the second half. The
Sooners outscored the Aggies 21-13 over the game's final 16 minutes.
OU's 45 points were the fewest ever scored by a victorious team in Big
12 conference play.

Taj Gray, who had 13 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots at
Texas A&M, leads Oklahoma in all three categories for the season. The
senior forward is averaging 15.3 points, 7.9 boards and 1.3 rejections
per outing. He is shooting .610 from the field (ranks third in the Big
12) and owns a .778 season free throw percentage (ranks fifth). Fellow
senior forward Kevin Bookout ranks second on the squad in scoring and
rebounding with his 12.4 and 7.6 averages. Bookout, OU's career leader
in field goal percentage (.585), is shooting .622 from the field this
year. He has grabbed at least seven rebounds in each of the last six
and is averaging 8.7 during the stretch.

Everett ranks third on the squad in scoring with his 10.8 points per
game and also averages 4.1 rebounds and a team-high 6.2 assists. In
three league games, Everett is averaging 12.3 points, 5.7 boards, 6.0
assists and 2.0 steals. The senior guard has led OU in assists in 12 of
14 contests this season.

Junior guard Michael Neal also averages double figures in points with
10.1 per contest. He returned to action Saturday after missing two
games with a strained groin. Neal, who leads the Sooners with his 31
3-pointers (2.6 per game) and .344 mark from beyond the arc, had three
points, two assists and two steals with no turnovers in 22 minutes at
Texas A&M.

SATURDAY'S LEFTOVERS

* OU was outrebounded for just the second time this season (31-29).

* The Sooners' 45 points were their fewest in victory since a 40-39 home
win over Air Force on Jan. 31, 1959 (a span of 1,395 games).

* Terrell Everett scored OU's first two points of the game and then went
scoreless until netting 13 points in the contest's final 11:16. He
scored 10 points in the game's final 8:05 and five points in the last 26
seconds.

* Kevin Bookout's 11 rebounds were his most since grabbing 11 against
Missouri in last year's Big 12 Tournament.

* OU entered the game as the Big 12's best free throw shooting team
(.746) but was just 8-for-18 (.444) Saturday.

* OU won for the 13th straight time against Texas A&M and for the
seventh consecutive time in College Station.

ABOUT TEXAS TECH

Texas Tech comes to Norman with a 10-8 overall record and a 1-4 road
mark. The Red Raiders are 2-2 in conference play with home wins over
Baylor (79-61) and Iowa State (76-73), and losses at Texas A&M (63-55)
and Texas (80-46 on Tuesday). Tech, which leads the Big 12 in 3-point
field goal percentage (.386), is shooting .458 overall and .707 from the
free throw line. Opponents are shooting .422 from the field and .341
from beyond the arc.

The Red Raiders' top two scorers are guards. Junior Jarrius Jackson
ranks second in the Big 12 with his 19.3 points per game while sophomore
Martin Zeno contributes 16.4 per contest to rank eighth in the league.
Jackson has made a team-high 36 3-pointers (2.0 per game) and is
shooting .434 from long range. He also leads the team with his 82 made
free throws, 98 attempts and .837 percentage. The left-handed Zeno is
shooting .514 from the field and also gets to the foul line frequently.
He is 69-for-88 from the charity stripe (.784). In conference play,
Jackson (21.8 ppg) and Zeno (18.5 ppg) have accounted for 63 percent of
Tech's scoring. Freshman forward Dior Lowhorn averages 8.2 points and
4.1 rebounds in 18.7 minutes a contest. He is shooting a team-high .567
from the field. Junior forward Darryl Dora adds 6.8 points and 5.0
rebounds a game while junior forward Jon Plefka averages 5.2 points and
4.4 boards.

Head coach Bob Knight is 100-52 (.658) in his fifth year at Texas Tech
and is 864-341 (.717) overall in his 40th season.

SERIES WITH THE RED RAIDERS

Oklahoma owns a 22-15 all-time record against Texas Tech and is 13-5 in
Norman. The Sooners are 13-8 against the Red Raiders under Kelvin
Sampson and own a 6-4 record in Norman. Since Sampson became OU's head coach, Texas Tech has won more games at Lloyd Noble Center (four) than any other Big 12 team (one victory came prior to the formation of the
Big 12). Last year's 88-80 Red Raiders victory in Norman snapped a
four-game series winning streak at home for OU.

LAST YEAR AGAINST TEXAS TECH
Texas Tech took two of three games against the Sooners last year,
including the meeting in Norman (88-81 on Feb. 5). OU closed out the
regular season with a 74-54 win in Lubbock on March 5 before the Red
Raiders claimed the rubber match, 69-63, one week later in the Big 12
Tournament semifinals in Kansas City. With his 13.7 points per game,
Terrell Everett led four Sooners who averaged double figures against
Tech last year. Everett also averaged 7.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He
nearly recorded a triple-double in Lubbock with 14 points, 10 rebounds
and eight assists. Taj Gray averaged a double-double with 13.3 points
and 10.3 rebounds while Kevin Bookout averaged 10.3 points and 5.7
boards. OU outrebounded Texas Tech by an average of 39.0 to 31.7.

MAKING THE GRADE
The fall semester was a productive one in the classroom for the Sooners.
The squad posted a 3.14 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, setting a
single-semester record for the 12-year Kelvin Sampson era. Eight of the
12 team members recorded a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Each student-athlete
posted at least a 2.5 GPA.
Sophomore Michael Ott earned a team-high 3.75 GPA and was followed by
freshman Taylor Griffin (3.71), freshman Austin Johnson (3.63), senior
Kevin Bookout (3.50), junior Nate Carter (3.50), sophomore Kellen
Sampson (3.40), sophomore Longar Longar (3.00) and junior Michael Neal
(3.00). OU's spring semester began Tuesday.

QUICK TIPS

* Dating back to last year, Oklahoma has outboarded 19 of its last 22
opponents.

* OU averaged 13.5 turnovers over its first 10 games but has averaged
16.3 over the last four.

* The Sooners held leads of at least seven points in all four losses (10
points at Villanova, nine vs. West Virginia, 10 at Nebraska and seven
against Missouri).

* Both Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray have shot .500 or better from the
field in 13 of 14 games this year. Bookout owns a .622 season mark
while Gray is shooting .610.

* Bookout needs 43 points to become the 34th member of the 1,000-point
club at Oklahoma.

* Gray has made 58 of his last 72 free throw attempts (.806) and owns a
.778 season mark. He shot .646 last year.

* Bookout and Gray have accounted for 307 of OU's 638 points (48
percent) over the last 10 games.

* Bookout has grabbed at least seven rebounds in each of the last six
games and has at least six boards in each of the last nine outings.

* Michael Neal ranks fourth in the Big 12 in 3-pointers made per game
(2.6) and has made at least two treys in nine of his 12 games.

* Opponents are shooting .379 from 3-point range through 14 games (OU
ranks last in the Big 12 in the category). Last year, OU set a school
record by allowing foes to shoot just .292 from beyond the arc.

* In 33 games last year, OU logged 20 or more offensive rebounds twice.
It has at least 20 offensive boards three times already in 14 games this
year, with other games of 19, 17, 17, 15 and 15.

* OU has posted double-digit offensive rebounds in all 14 games while
foes have done it just six times.

* The Sooners have won 24 of their last 26 home games and 72 of their
last 78.