THURSDAY'S GAME BASICS
Oklahoma (3-1) faces Butler (4-0) in a Thanksgiving Day Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals contest at noon CT. The Sooners beat No. 22/23 UCLA by a 75-65 count Wednesday, while Butler knocked off No. 5/6 North Carolina, 74-66. Wisconsin beat UAB and Georgetown downed Florida in the other first-round matchups.
The OU-Butler contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM "The Franchise" in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck calling the action. The game will be televised by ESPN with Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Andy Katz announcing.
PREVIEWING BUTLER
Big East Conference member Butler enters Thursday's game with a 4-0 record following its 74-66 win over No. 5/6 North Carolina on Wednesday. The Bulldogs were held to .306 field goal shooting and committed 19 turnovers, but outrebounded the Tar Heels 57-40 (UNC entered the game with a +15.3 average rebounding margin) and posted a 19-13 advantage in second-chance points. Butler pulled down 29 offensive boards. The Bulldogs have been tremendous on the defensive end to start the year, holding opponents to 52.5 points per game and limiting them to .354 field goal and .260 3-point shooting (just 4.8 makes an outing). Butler was picked to finish in seventh place (tied with Marquette) in the Big East preseason coaches poll.
Preseason first-team All-Big East selection Kellen Dunham averages a team-high 17.0 points per game with the help of .440 (11-for-25) 3-point shooting. The 6-6 junior guard scored 11 points against North Carolina but did so on 3-for-17 field goal and 1-for-10 shooting from behind the arc. Freshman guard/forward Kelan Martin comes off the bench to average 13.0 points in just 16.0 minutes a contest (he netted 17 points against North Carolina with the help of 3-for-6 shooting from behind the arc), while junior forward Roosevelt Jones also averages double figures with his 11.0 points an outing. Jones leads the team with his 7.0 assists per game. Senior forward Kameron Woods contributes 8.0 points and a team-high 10.3 rebounds a game.
The Bulldogs are under the direction of Chris Holtmann, who is in his second year with the program. Holtmann, who was the head coach at Gardner-Webb for three seasons before joining the Bulldogs staff, was given the interim head coach title on Oct. 2, stepping in for Brandon Miller. Miller is on a medical leave of absence.
OU-BUTLER SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma and Butler have met four previous times with each team winning twice. The most recent meeting took place on March 28, 2003, in Albany, N.Y., with the Sooners claiming a 65-54 NCAA Sweet 16 victory. Playing with a broken bone in his left wrist, Ebi Ere paced the No. 1 seed Sooners with 25 points. Butler was a No. 12 seed. Other meetings took place during the 1965-66 season (65-63 Butler in Norman), the 1967-68 campaign (79-73 OU in Norman) and the 1997-98 season (73-63 Butler in the Big Island Invitational in Hilo, Hawaii).
