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Feb. 3, 2013

	Freshman guard Buddy Hield

QUICK PREVIEW
Tied with three other teams for third place in the Big 12, Oklahoma (14-6, 5-3) plays its fourth road game in six contests when it travels to Iowa State (15-6, 5-3) for a Monday matchup at 6 p.m. CT. The Sooners, coming off a 52-50 home loss to No. 18/21 Kansas State on Saturday, are 2-2 in conference road games. Their three league losses have each come against ranked teams (at Kansas and two to Kansas State). Iowa State is 12-0 at home on the season and has won nine of its last 12 games overall. The Cyclones posted a 79-71 home win over Baylor on Saturday.

ON THE AIR
Monday'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 nationally on ESPNU with Bram Weinstein and Stephen Bardo calling the action.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• Oklahoma owns a 110-79 all-time record against Iowa State and has won 12 of the last 18 meetings. However, the Cyclones swept the season series last year, winning 77-70 in Norman and 80-69 in Ames to snap a six-game losing streak to the Sooners.
• OU has already won more games away from home this year (7-4 record) than it did over the last two seasons combined (6-25 record). Its seven wins away from home are tied with Kansas for the most by a Big 12 team. The Sooners have at least six more opportunities for wins away from Lloyd Noble Center this year (including Monday's game in Ames).
• Oklahoma ranks ninth out of 10 Big 12 teams in 3-point makes per conference game (3.9) while Iowa State ranks first (9.0). The Sooners are getting outscored by 9.4 points per league contest from behind the arc while the Cyclones are outscoring Big 12 opponents from long distance by an average of 10.5 points in their eight conference games. In two head-to-head meetings last year, Iowa State outscored OU by a combined 54 points from 3-point range (26 makes to eight).
• Senior forward Romero Osby has shot 50 percent or better in 11 of the last 13 games and during the 13-game stretch is averaging 15.8 points on .546 shooting. In Big 12 play, Osby ranks fifth in the league with his 16.5 scoring average and ranks fourth with his .511 field goal mark. He has led OU in scoring in seven of its eight Big 12 games.
• A win Monday would be Oklahoma's 15th of the season, matching last year's total (finished 15-16) and surpassing the 2009-10 (13) and 2010-11 (14) win totals. A victory would also mark OU's sixth in Big 12 play this season, more than any of the previous three years.

	Sooner to Watch   Romero Osby | Sr. | Forward  • Leads OU in scoring (14.2 ppg), rebounding (6.6 rpg) and field goal percentage (.508)  • Averaging 16.5 points per game in league play, the fifth highest in the Big 12  • Has shot 50 percent or better from the field in 11 of the last 13 games  • Averaged 14.5 points in two games against the Cyclones last season

PREVIEWING IOWA STATE
• Iowa State enters the week with a 15-6 overall record and a 5-3 league mark (tied for third place). The Cyclones are a perfect 12-0 at home on the year and have won their four league home games by an average of 9.0 points (over Texas, West Virginia, Kansas State and Baylor). Two of their three Big 12 losses have come by a total of seven points while the other came in overtime at Kansas. They are coming off a 79-71 home win over Baylor on Saturday in which they went 25-for-30 from the free throw line.
• In Big 12 action, Iowa State leads the league in scoring offense (72.8 ppg) and 3-pointers per contest (9.0). It ranks second in 3-point field goal percentage (.362), assists (15.3 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3). On the year, they are outscoring opponents by 9.9 points per game from 3-point range.
• Senior guard Will Clyburn, coming off a 28-point effort against Baylor, is averaging a team-high 15.0 points per game on the year and ranks second on the squad with 7.6 rebounds per contest and third with 2.3 assists. The Utah transfer has attempted a team-high 108 free throw attempts (5.1 per game) and is shooting .769 from the foul line. Clyburn has scored in double figures in nine straight outings and is averaging 22.0 over the last three games.
• Fellow senior guard Tyrus McGee, from Stringtown, Okla., averages 12.3 points in just 23.1 minutes per game, mostly in a reserve role. He has made a team-high 55 3-pointers (2.6 per-game average leads the Big 12) and is shooting a team-best .444 from behind the arc (ranks second in the league).
• Forwards Georges Niang and Melvin Ejim average 11.6 and 10.1 points per game, respectively. Niang, a freshman, is shooting a team-best .535 from the field and contributes 5.0 rebounds an outing. Ejim, a junior, leads the Big 12 with his 9.4 boards per game.
• Fred Hoiberg is in his third year as a collegiate head coach and owns a 54-33 record. He was a 1995 third-team All-American at Iowa State and is the school's third-leading all-time scorer (1,993 points). The Ames native played 10 years in the NBA.

LAST YEAR VS. THE CYCLONES
• Iowa State swept the regular season series last year, snapping a streak of six straight losses to the Sooners. The Cyclones won 77-70 in Norman on Feb. 4 and 80-69 in Ames two weeks later. ISU outscored OU by 54 points from 3-point range over the two contests (26 treys to eight). OU actually made one more field goal over the two outings despite being outscored by a combined 18 points.
• In the first meeting, Iowa State hit an Oklahoma-opponent-record 15 3-pointers on 30 attempts and held on for a 77-70 road win, snapping the Sooners' seven-game home winning streak in the series. Six Cyclones made at least one 3-pointer and five made at least two. Chris Babb, who was 5-for-28 from long distance over the previous six games, went 4-for-7. After trailing by 10 (50-40), the Sooners rallied to tie the game at 56 with 7:49 remaining but were outscored 21-14 the rest of the way. Forwards Andrew Fitzgerald and Romero Osby teamed to score 44 of OU's 70 points on 17-for-28 (.607) shooting. Fitzgerald was 11-for-19 from the field and finished with a career-high 27 points. Osby was 6-for-9 from the floor and tallied 17 points. Guard Cameron Clark's 11 rebounds tied a career high and were his most since the first game of his collegiate career. ISU's Melvin Ejim posted team highs of 21 points and nine rebounds while Babb added 12 points.
• In the rematch in Ames, Iowa State shot .519 from the field and .500 (11-for-22) from 3-point range to register the 11-point win. The Cyclones won by double digits despite making just one more field goal than the Sooners (28-27). OU trailed by just five points (46-41) with 11 minutes remaining before Iowa State used a 13-0 run over a span of two minutes and 10 seconds to go up by 18 (59-41). Clark scored an OU-high 16 points for his second-highest output of the season and highest in 19 games. He was 8-for-14 from the field and added four rebounds and a career-high-tying three steals. ISU's Scott Christopherson scored a game-high 25 points with the help of 5-for-8 3-point shooting while Chris Allen added 16 points (4-for-7 from long distance).

OU-IOWA STATE SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma owns a 110-79 all-time series lead against Iowa State and is 37-46 in games played in Ames. The Sooners have won five of the last seven meetings over the Cyclones and nine of the last 13, including two of the last three in Ames and three of the last six there. OU is 12-7 against Iowa State since the start of the Big 12 Conference (4-5 at Hilton Coliseum).

OKLAHOMA TEAM UPDATE
• As of Sunday, Oklahoma is ranked 22nd out of 347 Division I teams in the CBSSports.com RPI (second best in Big 12 behind No. 7 Kansas), with a strength of schedule ranked No. 8. OU was projected by Joe Lunardi and ESPN.com as a No. 9 NCAA Tournament seed in Friday's "Bracketology" report.
• Four of the Sooners' six losses have come to teams ranked in this week's AP top-25 (No. 2 Kansas, No. 7 Gonzaga and No. 18 Kansas State [twice] own a combined 57-8 record). The other two came by a combined four points. OU lost by three at Arkansas (led with 15 seconds remaining) and by one to Stephen F. Austin (the Lumberjacks are 18-2 on the year and lead the nation in scoring defense).
• The Sooners have played 11 games away from home and just nine in Norman. The nine home games are tied for the fewest among the 75 teams in the six "power" conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC).
• Oklahoma is 7-3 this year in games decided by seven points or fewer. Last year the Sooners finished 4-5 under the circumstance.
• In Big 12 play, Oklahoma leads the league in free throw percentage (.738), ranks second in field goal percentage (.446) and third in rebounding (36.4 rpg), assists (13.0 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.0).
• The Sooners have outscored their Big 12 opponents by 23 points at the free throw line. In conference play, OU is shooting a league-high .738 from the charity stripe while foes have combined to shoot .661. OU owns the Big 12's top two free throw performances of the year (.947 vs. Texas A&M and .938 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) and the best in league action (.905 vs. Oklahoma State).
• In its four Big 12 home games, OU is giving up 5.5 3-pointers per game. In its four league road games, it is surrendering an average of 8.5 makes. The Sooners have been outscored 102-45 from behind the arc in their four Big 12 road contests.
• In its three Big 12 losses, OU is getting outscored by 13.0 points per game from behind the arc (22 makes for opponents to OU's nine).
• In conference wins, Romero Osby, Amath M'Baye and Buddy Hield are averaging a combined 43.8 points and shooting .550 from the field. In conference losses, they are averaging 29.7 points and are shooting .372.
• OU returned its top six scorers and 88 percent of its point production from last season, but in Big 12 play this year newcomers have accounted for 41 percent of OU's points (221 of 536). Three starters from last year (Cameron Clark, Andrew Fitzgerald and Sam Grooms are coming off the bench this season).

UP NEXT
The Sooners return home to host first-place Kansas on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by ESPN.