No. 2 OU to Host No. 3 Illinois at McCasland Saturday

THE MEET

• No. 2 Oklahoma plays host to No. 3 Illinois at McCasland Field House on Saturday night. The meet is set to begin with introductions at 5:45 p.m., and the first routine at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m.

• The meet will be televised on ESPN+ with Chad McKee and Matt Wenske calling the action. Live scoring will be available via OUStats.com.

TICKETS AND PROMOTIONS

• Saturday is Twisters Night. Tickets can be purchased for $7 ($5 for youth and seniors) through the OU Athletics Ticket Office or at the door.

• The first 100 fans through the doors can receive a free Dusty Davis-style old school OU logo cap (worn in the original "Twister" movie). The National Weather Center will have a tornado safety table, and Jeromy Carter and his News9 Storm vehicle will be stationed in front of McCasland Field House. Social media meteorologist Peyton Galyean will be a guest in Mark's Man Cave, as will Twisters movie consulting meteorologist Sean Waugh for the second half of the meet.

• Fans can also take advantage of $2 beer, soda and popcorn. Socks will be tossed for OU dismount sticks, there will be a t-shirt toss and the loudest fans can receive a coupon for free ice cream.

STICKS

• Recent meets between Oklahoma and Illinois have resulted in very close final totals. The teams met twice last season: the third-place Sooners finished ahead of the fifth-place Illini in the NCAA Finals, 412.956 to 411.659, after Illinois claimed a 407.200 to 406.650 regular-season win in Champaign. In 2023, OU defeated the Illini, 405.400 to 404.450, at McCasland Field House, and Illinois finished third ahead of fourth-place OU at the 2023 NCAA Finals, 415.590 to 414.024.

• The average final totals of the last four meetings between Oklahoma and Illinois (two wins and two losses each) is 409.758 to 409.725, in OU's favor. The average margin of final scores in those four meets is 1.091 points, and the largest margin of final scores over the last two years is just 1.566 points (in the 2023 NCAA Finals).

• Oklahoma is unbeaten against its last 73 regular season opponents, encompassing 62 consecutive regular season meets, inside McCasland Field House, dating back to the 2007 season. The streak began on March 17, 2007, with a victory over Iowa. OU's last regular-season loss in the field house was March 3, 2007, against Ohio State. Oklahoma and Stanford tied in a dual meet in McCasland Field House during the 2021 season. OU placed second to Stanford in the 2024 MPSF Championship, held at McCasland Field House.

• Oklahoma is ranked No. 2 in the national rankings this week with a 322.700 average (behind Stanford's 323.650 average) after the first two weeks of the season. The Sooners scored 318.200 against Air Force in the season opener on Jan. 12 and 327.200 at the Rocky Mountain Open last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo. OU was the top-ranked team after opening weekend; the Sooners have been ranked No. 1 at some point in every season since 2001.

• Freshman Francisco Velez Belendez, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, was named MPSF Freshman of the Week. He scored a career-high 13.800 on still rings to tie for fifth place on the event at the Rocky Mountain Open. His start value of 5.2 was the second highest on rings in the meet and the highest among the four gymnasts who scored 13.800 (the next highest start value among those tied was 4.7). He improved his rings score by nearly a point from his 12.950 on opening weekend.

• Senior Emre Dodanli and fifth-year senior Zach Nunez were selected as captains for the 2025 season as selected by their teammates and coaches.

• Following Saturday's meet, the Sooners travel to Columbus, Ohio, to take on No. 5 Ohio State at noon CT on Sunday, Feb. 2. Oklahoma returns home to McCasland Field House on Saturday, Feb. 8 to face No. 1 Stanford and No. 14 Greenville at 5:45 p.m. (first routine at 6 p.m.). Tickets for the meet are available for $7 for adults and $5 for youth and seniors. It is OU's annual Cleveland Night, featuring students and families from Norman's Cleveland Elementary School. Feb. 7-8 is also OU Gymnastics Alumni Weekend and the Sooners will honor their 2015 National Championship squad before the meet.

LAST TIME OUT

• Senior Brigham Frentheway won the floor exercise title with his 14.000 and Oklahoma posted a 327.200 to narrowly finish second behind Stanford's 328.850 in the Rocky Mountain Open last Saturday at Cadet West Gym on the Air Force Academy campus.

• The Sooners finished second among the five NCAA programs at the meet, a Winter Cup qualifying event. OU placed ahead of Nebraska (320.450), Air Force (311.550) and Simpson College (291.150).

• Oklahoma scored nine points higher than its 318.200 team total in the season opener vs. Air Force on Sunday at McCasland Field House, and notched higher team scores on all six events as compared to the meet last week. The Sooners posted a 54.750 on floor exercise, 52.450 on pommel horse, 55.750 on still rings, 56.950 on vault, 53.300 on parallel bars and 54.000 on horizontal bar. OU's scores on floor, vault and high bar led the meet.

• Five Sooners finished on the podium Saturday night. Frentheway won floor exercise, junior Ignacio Yockers placed second on pommel horse (14.250), sophomore Tas Hajdu finished second on still rings with a career high score (14.250), senior Emre Dodanli tied for third on vault (14.300) and junior Kelton Christiansen placed second on horizontal bar (13.800). Dodanli and Christiansen competed Saturday night for the first time this season after missing the opener due to injury or injury recovery, and their respective podium scores came in their first competitive events of the year.

NATIONAL RANKINGS NOTES

• Oklahoma is ranked among the top four on five of six events and is ranked No. 2 in the national team rankings after the second week of the 2025 season. A total of 10 athletes are ranked among the top 10 of the individual event rankings.

• OU leads the nation on floor exercise (54.500 average), ranks second on still rings (54.725) and vault (56.400), third on horizontal bar (52.825), fourth on parallel bars (52.700) and ninth on pommel horse (52.050).

• Sophomore Tas Hajdu is ranked third on still rings (13.925 average) and junior Kelton Christiansen is ranked third on high bar (13.800) to pace the Sooners.

• Senior Brigham Frentheway is tied for fourth on floor exercise (13.850). Senior Emre Dodanli is ranked eighth on floor (13.700). Junior Ignacio Yockers is tied for fifth on pommel horse (14.350). Senior Matt Burgoyne is tied for sixth on rings (13.800), while Frentheway ranks ninth (13.625).

• Dodanli is tied for fifth on vault (14.300) while redshirt freshman Arthur Ballon ranks seventh (14.275). Sophomore Tyler Flores' 13.450 average on parallel bars ranks 14th. Dodanli ranks seventh on high bar (13.600).