SUNDAY'S GAME BASICS
Oklahoma (4-0) meets Saint Louis (5-0) in the 76 Classic championship game on Sunday at 8 p.m. CT in Anaheim, Calif. The Sooners advanced to the title contest with wins over Washington State (74-59) and Santa Clara (85-73), while Saint Louis posted victories against Boston College (62-51) and Villanova (80-68). Sunday’s contest, the third of three over a four-day span for each team at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena, will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City; KTBZ AM 1430 in Tulsa) with Chuck Cooperstein and Mike Houck announcing. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2 with Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham calling the action.
PREVIEWING SAINT LOUIS
Atlantic 10 Conference member Saint Louis enters Sunday’s 76 Classic championship game with a 5-0 record. The Billikens, who finished 12-19 last season, posted a 62-51 first-round win over Boston College on Thursday and an 80-68 second-round victory over Villanova on Friday. They’ve also posted home wins over Tennessee State (71-37) and Washington (77-64), as well as a road victory over Southern Illinois (61-42). Picked to finish third in this year’s A-10 race by league coaches and a recipient of votes this week in both major top-25 polls, SLU leads the 76 Classic with its two-game .466 field goal percentage and by allowing just 59.5 points per contest.
The Billikens return all five starters and seven additional players from last season. Three of them are averaging double figures in points this year. Senior forward Brian Conklin averages team highs of 15.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest while shooting .587 from the field. He also leads the squad with 23 free throw makes and 29 attempts (.793). Conklin scored a career-high 25 points in the Nov. 20 win over Washington. Junior point guard Kwamain Mitchell is averaging 13.0 points and a team-high 4.6 assists per outing. The owner of a 5.8 assist-to-turnover ratio and maker of a team-high 12 3-pointers, Mitchell scored 20 points against Boston College. Junior forward Cody Ellis comes off the bench to supply 10.4 points and 4.0 rebounds in 21.0 minutes a game. He hit three 3-pointers against Villanova and finished with a season-high 14 points.
Saint Louis is under the direction of fifth-year head coach Rick Majerus, who is 74-61 (.548) at the school. The former head coach at Marquette, Ball State and Utah, Majerus is in his 25th year overall and owns a 496-208 (.705) career record. He coached Utah to the 1998 national championship game (lost to Kentucky).
OU-SAINT LOUIS SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma holds a 2-1 record against Saint Louis. The teams first met during the 1946-47 season in an NCAA District Playoff game in Kansas City, Mo. The Sooners won that contest 47-41 and eventually advanced to the national championship game under head coach Bruce Drake (lost to Holy Cross, 58-47). OU and SLU played a home-and-home series in the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons, with the Billikens winning 46-43 in St. Louis and the Sooners winning 62-54 in Norman the next year.
