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GAME PREVIEW
Oklahoma (11-6 overall, 2-1 Big 12) plays the first of two straight road games when it travels to take on Texas A&M (12-5, 1-2) Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. CST. The Sooners, who won home games against Oklahoma State and Missouri last week, are 1-2 on the year in true road contests. Texas A&M, which lost at Kansas State and Texas last week, are 9-0 at home. Tuesday’s contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Bob Barry Sr. and Mike Houck announcing. It will be televised regionally by the Big 12 Network with Doug Bell and Reid Gettys calling the action.
PREVIEWING TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M, which is 9-0 at home, owns a 12-5 overall record and a 1-2 mark in Big 12 play. It opened its league slate with a 64-53 home win over Nebraska before falling 88-65 at No. 13 Kansas State last Tuesday and 72-67 in overtime at No. 1 Texas on Saturday. A&M is shooting .436 from the field (ranks 11th in Big 12), .336 from 3-point range (ranks 11th) and .648 from the free throw line (ranks ninth). It is holding opponents to .396 field goal shooting (ranks fifth) and to a .310 mark from behind the arc (ranks fourth).
The Aggies suffered a significant blow Dec. 22 at Washington when senior guard Derrick Roland, the team’s second-leading scorer and one of the Big 12’s best perimeter defenders, sustained a season-ending leg injury. Roland was averaging 10.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 25.1 minutes per game. He was shooting .489 from the field and .793 from the free throw line. That leaves A&M with one player who currently averages double figures in scoring. Senior guard Donald Sloan, a high school teammate of Roland, averages 17.6 points per contest to rank seventh in the Big 12. Sloan, who has made 23 treys on the year and is shooting .397 from behind the arc, also contributes 3.9 boards and 2.2 assists per game. Senior forward Bryan Davis and junior guard B.J. Holmes average just under double figures in scoring, with Davis producing 9.7 points and Holmes adding 9.4 an outing. Davis also averages 7.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game (ranks fourth in Big 12), while Holmes, who has come off the bench in all 17 games, has hit a team-high 27 treys and is shooting .365 from long distance.
Mark Turgeon is in his third season at Texas A&M and owns a 61-26 (.701) record there. A former player and assistant coach at Kansas, Turgeon is in his 12th season as a collegiate head coach and possesses a 214-145 (.596) career mark.
OU-TEXAS A&M SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma owns a 28-4 series advantage against Texas A&M and is 11-3 against the Aggies in College Station (A&M has won two of the last three there, however). Since the start of the Big 12 in 1996-97, OU is 23-4 against the Aggies (10-3 in College Station). The Sooners have won the last three overall meetings.
LAST YEAR AGAINST THE AGGIES
The Sooners swept the regular season series with Texas A&M last year, winning 69-63 in College Station and 77-71 in Norman (box scores on page 13 of these notes). Austin Johnson scored 19 points and handed out seven assists to lead OU in the first meeting, while Blake Griffin tallied 16 points and six rebounds amidst foul trouble. Griffin was one of four Sooners who scored in double figures in the rematch in Norman, totaling 16 points, 14 boards and four assists. OU shot .462 from the field and .407 from 3-point range (11-for-27) over the two games, while A&M shot a combined .414 from the floor and .378 (14-for-37) from behind the arc. Josh Carter averaged 16.0 points for the Aggies, Chinemelu Elonu averaged 10.0 points and 8.5 rebounds, and Bryan Davis averaged 10.5 points and 6.0 boards.
NOTEWORTHY
• Oklahoma owns a 28-4 all-time record against Texas A&M and is 11-3 in College Station. OU has won three straight meetings, but A&M won the previous three.
• Big 12 teams are a combined 118-6 (.952) at home this year (through Sunday). Five of the six home losses occurred last week (all in league play).
• OU is shooting .369 from the field and .263 from deep in its three road games.
• Oklahoma is averaging a Big 12-high 8.5 3-point makes per game. The school record for average treys per contest in a season is also 8.5 (in 1998-99).
• OU is allowing 71.1 points per contest. The last time it gave up that many points per game for an entire season was in 1995-96 (73.1).
• In its wins, Oklahoma is giving up 62.5 points a game and is holding opponents to .386 shooting from the field. In its losses, OU is surrendering 86.8 points and allowing foes to shoot .506 from the floor.
• Oklahoma ranks second in the Big 12 with its .738 free throw mark. The Sooners have made 267 free throws while their opponents have attempted 270.
• Tommy Mason-Griffin has made at least one 3-pointer in 16 of 17 games this year, and at least two treys in 10 of the last 13 outings. The freshman ranks fourth in the league in assists (4.8 apg), sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (.425), 11th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) and 13th in 3-pointers per game (1.8).
• With 13 regular season games remaining, Mason-Griffin already ranks sixth on OU’s all-time freshman list in assists (81) and seventh in 3-point makes (31). No Oklahoma freshman has ever shot better from 3-point range for a season than Mason-Griffin’s current .425 mark.• Senior guard Tony Crocker, who has started 83 consecutive games, has recorded his only five career double-doubles over the last 11 games. He is averaging 13.5 points and 7.5 during the stretch (only played five minutes Saturday due to an ankle sprain).
• Crocker needs 28 rebounds to become just the second Sooner to ever record 1,000 points, 500 boards and 150 3-pointers in a career (Ryan Minor is the other).
• Sophomore guard Willie Warren is averaging a team-high 17.8 points (ranks sixth in Big 12) as well as 4.6 assists (ranks fifth) per game.
• Junior guard Cade Davis has started each of the last 13 games and is averaging 10.1 points during the stretch. He averaged 3.8 points off the bench in OU’s first four games. Davis’ 28 steals are 11 more than his closest teammate.
• Freshman forward Tiny Gallon ranks fifth in the Big 12 with his 9.1 rebounds per game. Gallon, who is shooting .545 from the field (.421 over the last four games, however), has six double-doubles to rank fourth in the conference.
