The Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team is back and hosting their first game of the season Friday in Norman. This is the first of two preseason exhibition games scheduled for the Sooners.
SoonerSports.com’s need to know facts on the game:
Oklahoma and Washburn have met four times, with the Sooners winning each occasion. Included were a 55-20 win in the 1909-10 season and an 85-59 exhibition victory last year.
OU has compiled a 45-2 exhibition record over the last 24 years. Its last exhibition loss came in 2003.
The teams’ head coaches (OU’s Lon Kruger and Washburn’s Bob Chipman) were teammates at Kansas State and led the Wildcats to Big Eight titles in 1972 and ’73.
Steven Pledger is the Big 12′s leading returning scorer (16.2 ppg), Romero Osby is the Big 12′s leading returning rebounder (7.3 rpg), Andrew Fitzgerald is the Big 12′s leading returner in field goal percentage (.469; minimum of 5.0 makes per game) and Sam Grooms led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8) and ranked second in assists (6.0 apg)..
Junior forward Amath M’Baye makes his debut in an OU uniform Friday night. The transfer, who played as a freshman and sophomore at Wyoming, is the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
The game is set to tip at 7:00 Friday night and is on tv locally.
