Sooners Take on No. 21 Mississippi State on Saturday in Norman

NORMAN — The Oklahoma men's basketball team (16-10, 3-10 SEC) hosts No. 21/23 Mississippi State (19-7, 7-6) on Saturday at noon CT inside Lloyd Noble Center. It will mark the fifth all-time meeting between the programs.

Saturday's contest will be televised by SEC Network with Richard Cross (play-by-play) and Joe Kleine (analyst) announcing. It will air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Toby Rowland (play-by-play) and Kevin Henry (analyst) on the call.

Oklahoma vs. Mississippi State
Date: Saturday, Feb. 22
Tip Time: Noon CT
Location: Norman, Okla.
Arena: Lloyd Noble Center

SEC Network
Live Stats
Listen
Game Notes

PROMOTIONS

• OU's three remaining home men's basketball games against No. 21 Mississippi State, No. 17 Kentucky and No. 15 Missouri will feature $2 beers, sodas and popcorn.

• Fans can purchase a ticket to any two of OU's remaining home games for a total of just $25.

OPENING TIP

• Mississippi State represents the seventh AP-ranked Oklahoma opponent in eight games. This marks just the second time in OU history the Sooners will play seven ranked teams in an eight-game stretch. The other time it happened was two seasons ago (at No. 14 Baylor [lost], vs. No. 9 Kansas [lost], vs. No. 12 Kansas State [won], at No. 6 Texas [lost in OT], vs. unranked Texas Tech [lost], at No. 23 Iowa State [won], at No. 11 Kansas State [lost] and vs. No. 22 TCU [won]). OU has never played eight ranked opponents in a nine-game span. The Sooners' next opponent is No. 17 Kentucky, which beat Vanderbilt on Wednesday.

• An Oklahoma win over No. 21 Mississippi State would mark the best victory this season for the Sooners in terms of opponent AP rank. All three of OU's victories against ranked opponents came against teams that were No. 24 at the time of competition (82-77 vs. Arizona in the Bahamas on Nov. 28, 87-86 over Michigan in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 18 and 97-67 over Vanderbilt in Norman on Feb. 1).

• Mississippi State has a better SEC road record (4-2) than home record (3-4) and has won its last three road contests. The Bulldogs, who are 6-2 on the road overall this season, won at Vanderbilt (76-64), South Carolina (65-60), Georgia (76-75) and Ole Miss (81-71) in league play, and lost at Auburn (88-66) and Tennessee (68-56).

• On the season, Oklahoma is the only team with two players who rank in the top 14 in the SEC in scoring. Jalon Moore ranks ninth (17.0 ppg) and freshman guard Jeremiah Fears ranks 13th (15.5 ppg).

• Oklahoma leads the SEC and ranks eighth nationally with its .794 season free throw percentage, which would smash the single-season school record of .767 set by the 2001-02 Final Four team. Mississippi State ranks 15th in the SEC with its .685 season free throw mark

• OU senior guard Duke Miles, who three games ago scored 18 points at No. 21 Missouri and the next outing netted 12 points against LSU, has racked up 10 steals over the last three games while committing just one turnover. Miles is shooting .520 from the field this season (no other OU guard is shooting better than .438), .438 from 3-point range and a team-high .875 from the free throw line (he has made 43 of his last 47 attempts).

• OU's Brycen Goodine is shooting .500 from 3-point range in SEC play (30 for 60) and would lead the league in the category if he had enough makes to qualify. The first-year Sooner is in his sixth year overall after playing at Syracuse, Providence and Fairfield, and owns a .418 career 3-point field goal percentage. Among the 243 active players nationally who have made at least 100 3-pointers over the last two seasons, Goodine's .459 mark from behind the arc during the period is second best. He shot .467 last year at Fairfield (77 for 165) and is shooting .447 this season (46 for 103).

• Fears leads SEC freshmen in free throws made (119; next most is 85) and free throws attempted (141; next most is 97) and ranks second in scoring (15.5 ppg), assists (3.7 apg), steals (1.7 spg) and free throw percentage (.844) and fourth in rebounds (3.9 rpg).

• Oklahoma, Missouri and San Jose State are the only teams nationally with four players to each score at least 29 points in at least one game this season. The four Sooners to do it are Fears vs. Michigan (30), Miles vs. Central Arkansas (29), Goodine vs. Texas A&M (34) and Moore vs. Texas (29).

• Last year, the Sooners played nine games against AP-ranked teams. Mississippi State will mark OU's 11th ranked opponent this season.

MOSER, JANS REUNION

• Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans served as an assistant coach for three seasons (2004-05 through 2006-07) under Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser when Moser was head coach at Illinois State.

• Jans is one of nine former Moser assistant coaches who have gone on to serve as a Division I head coach. He will become just the second one that Moser will face in a game. Over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, Moser's Loyola Chicago teams went 5-0 against Southern Illinois, which was coached by former Loyola assistant Bryan Mullins.

OU-MISSISSIPPI STATE HISTORY

• Oklahoma is 1-3 all-time against Mississippi State, with its lone win coming in the last matchup, a 63-62 squeaker held at Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena in the 2019-20 season as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. In a game between unranked teams, Lon Kruger's Sooners led almost the entire second half but had to sweat out a last-second MSU jumpshot that was off the mark. Brady Manek scored 18 points and Alondes Williams 13 for OU. The Bulldogs were coached by Ben Howland.

• The only previous meeting at Lloyd Noble Center was the first time the programs faced each other. That was in the 1995-96 season when Richard Williams' Bulldogs posted a 76-71 win against Kelvin Sampson's Sooners. Both teams were unranked.

• Mississippi State won meetings played in 1997-98 in Starkville (67-65 in overtime; both teams unranked) and in New Orleans in 2002-03 (54-45; OU was ranked No. 5 and MSU No. 16).

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

• Oklahoma, which is 10-4 at Lloyd Noble Center this season, has shot extremely well in the building with its .493 field goal, .362 3-point and .813 free throw marks.

• The Sooners have shot over 50% from the field in four of their six SEC home games (.543 vs. No. 10 Texas A&M, .510 vs. Texas, .560 vs. South Carolina and .632 vs. No. 24 Vanderbilt), combining for a .495 figure in the six contests. They have also shot .398 from 3-point range in their six SEC home outings.