FRIDAY’S GAME BASICS
Lon Kruger goes for career collegiate win No. 500 when Oklahoma hosts Northwestern State Friday at 7 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center.
Playing its fifth straight game away from home, OU improved to 5-1 Wednesday by winning 63-62 at Oral Roberts. The Sooners are No. 21 in the CSPSports.com RPI.
Northwestern State, owner of a 3-2 record, is one of the nation’s highest-scoring teams (88.2 ppg). The Demons are coming off a 78-65 loss at Texas A&M on Monday.
Friday’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 Sooner Sports TV (FOX College Sports Central) with Bob Carpenter and former Sooner Brent Price calling the action.
PREVIEWING NORTHWESTERN STATE
Southland Conference member Northwestern State, located in Natchitoches, La., enters Friday’s game with a 3-2 record. The Demons won their first three games by an average of 31.3 points (118-77 vs. East Texas Baptist, 71-67 at Campbell and 92-43 vs. Hannibal-LaGrange University). They have lost their last two games on the road, 102-95 at LSU on Nov. 20 and 78-65 at Texas A&M on Monday.
NSU entered the week leading the nation in scoring at 94.0 points per game (now rank fourth at 88.2). The Demons are shooting .491 from the field, .307 from 3-point range and .689 from the free throw line. They are holding opponents to a .421 mark from the field and a .304 figure from behind the arc.
A pair of newcomers lead the team in scoring in junior college transfer DeQuan Hicks and redshirt freshman point guard Jalan West. Hicks, a forward, has come off the bench every game to average team highs of 18.0 points and 6.8 rebounds in only 22.4 minutes per game. He is shooting a team-best .621 from the field and has grabbed a team-high 15 offensive rebounds (3.0 per contest). West has started every game and is averaging 15.0 points , 3.6 boards and team highs of 4.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game. He is shooting .578 from the field and .500 (13-for-26) from 3-point distance. He had 26 points and 8 rebounds in his collegiate debut vs. East Texas Baptist and scored a team-high 16 at Texas A&M on Monday.
Also averaging double figures in scoring are senior shooting guard Shamir Davis (13.6 ppg) and senior forward James Hulbin (12.8 ppg). Davis, who started at point guard the last two seasons, has attempted a team-high 25 free throws (made 20 for a .800 mark). Hulbin is shooting .545 from the floor and contributes 6.0 rebounds an outing. Each has started every game.
Head coach Mike McConathy is 203-206 in his 14th year at Northwestern State. He led the Demons to regular season Southland titles in 2005 and 2006, and to conference tournament crowns (and NCAA Tournament appearances) in 2001 and 2006.
OU-NORTHWESTERN STATE SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma owns a 3-0 series lead over Northwestern State, with home wins over the Demons during the 1984-85, 1998-99 and 2011-12 seasons. In the first meeting, Wayman Tisdale scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to pace the Sooners to a 98-62 win. With 11:29 left in the first half, Tisdale notched his fifth and sixth points of the game to pass Kansas State’s Mike Evans as the Big Eight Conference’s career scoring leader. It was just the 15th game of Tisdale’s junior season. In the second meeting, OU guard Michael Johnson scored a then-career-high 23 points and logged a career-high six steals in a 75-55 victory, while four other Sooners scored 10 points each. In a New Year’s Eve game last year, Romero Osby and Steven Pledger each scored 18 points to key the Sooners’ win.
LAST YEAR AGAINST THE DEMONS
Oklahoma shot .564 from the field, .600 (3-for-5) from 3-point range and .818 (18-for-22) from the free throw line in an 83-63 home win over Northwestern State on Dec. 31. It held the Demons to .367 field goal and .250 (6-for-24) 3-point shooting.
OU led 40-29 at halftime but Northwestern State cut the margin to two (48-46) with 12:30 remaining. The Sooners responded with a 19-3 run to regain command.
The Sooners committed a season-high 18 turnovers but outrebounded the Demons 38-30.
Junior forward Romero Osby scored a career-high 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting and added 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
Junior guard Steven Pledger also netted 18 points (3-for-5 3-point shooting) and handed out 5 assists.
Junior forward Andrew Fitzgerald scored 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting in only 17 minutes (foul trouble).
Junior point guard Sam Grooms tallied 11 points (one shy of career high) on 5-for-7 shooting and added 4 assists in 23 minutes.
