TUESDAY’S GAME BASICS
After playing its first home game in 19 days on Friday, Oklahoma goes back on the road for a 6 p.m. CT Tuesday contest at Arkansas inside Bud Walton Arena.
The Sooners, who are tied with Kansas and Kansas State for the best record in the Big 12 (6-1), are coming off a 69-65 win over Northwestern State that marked Lon Kruger’s 500th career collegiate victory. The Razorbacks are coming off a 91-82 home loss to Syracuse on Friday that dropped them to 3-3 (they started the season 3-0).
Tuesday’s contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck announcing. The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Mark Jones and Jimmy Dykes calling the action.
PREVIEWING ARKANSAS
Picked fifth out of 14 teams in the preseason SEC media poll, Arkansas enters Tuesday’s game with a 3-3 record. The Razorbacks have lost three straight contests (83-68 vs. Arizona State in Las Vegas, 77-70 vs. Wisconsin in Las Vegas and 91-82 at home to No. 6 Syracuse on Friday). Their wins came at home against Sam Houston State (73-68), Longwood (112-63) and Florida A&M (89-60).
Arkansas ranks 16th nationally with its 82.3 points per game despite .429 field goal and .262 3-point field goal marks. Opponents are shooting .443 from the field and .360 from behind the 3-point line, but have also committed 8.0 more turnovers per contest (the Razorbacks’ +8.0 turnover margin ranks fifth in the country). UA is getting outrebounded by 3.3 per contest.
Sophomore guard B.J. Young ranks 15th nationally with his 21.4 points per game. The first-team preseason All-SEC selection is shooting .467 from the field, .158 (3-for-19) from 3-point range and .667 (20-for-30) from the free throw line in his five contests (missed the season opener against Sam Houston State). He also averages 4.0 rebounds and a team-high 2.8 assists per outing. Young scored a season-high 29 points vs. Arizona State and netted 25 against Syracuse.
Junior forward Marshawn Powell averages 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 21.8 minutes per game. Powell, a second-team preseason all-conference pick, is shooting .467 from the field and is coming off a 19-point, 7-rebound effort against Syracuse.
Mike Anderson is 221-115 (.658) in his 11th year as a collegiate head coach and second season at Arkansas (21-17). The head coach at Missouri the previous five seasons, he was an Arkansas assistant coach from 1986 to 2002 and won a national title with the Razorbacks in 1994.
OU-ARKANSAS SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday’s game will mark the 27th between Oklahoma and Arkansas, and the 12th meeting in Fayetteville. Despite winning seven of the last nine overall meetings against the Razorbacks, OU trails the all-time series by a 14-12 count. The Razorbacks lead 8-3 in games played in Fayetteville. OU swept a four-game home-and-home series between the 1998-99 and 2001-02 seasons and has posted wins in three of the last five years.
LAST YEAR AGAINST THE RAZORBACKS
Oklahoma fell behind 4-0 then went on a 22-3 run to go up by 15 eight minutes into the game in an eventual 78-63 home win over Arkansas on Dec. 10, 2011. OU’s 37-25 halftime lead was whittled to six points (41-35) with 15:21 left but the Sooners answered with a 7-0 spurt to go back up by 13. The Razorbacks got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Junior guard Steven Pledger led OU in scoring with 22 points (19 after halftime). He was 9-for-12 from the field and 3-for-5 from 3-point range (8-for-8 and 2-for-2 in the second half).
Sophomore forward Tyler Neal subbed for fellow sophomore Cameron Clark (two fouls in first 1:25) and went on to post career highs of 18 points, 4 3-pointers (on eight attempts) and 4 assists in a career-high-tying 28 minutes. He was 5-for-9 from the field and also pulled down 5 rebounds. Neal also drained all four of his free throw attempts.
Celebrating his 21st birthday, junior forward Andrew Fitzgerald scored a season-high 17 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds in just 23 minutes. He scored all of his points and grabbed all but one of his rebounds in the first half (battled foul trouble after halftime). Fitzgerald made his first six field goal attempts and finished 7-for-11.
Oklahoma committed 17 turnovers to Arkansas’ 13, but OU posted a 19-10 advantage in points off turnovers. The Sooners also outrebounded the Razorbacks by 12 (38-26).
