OU Back on the Road to Face Ole Miss on Saturday

NORMAN — After back-to-back home games, Oklahoma (17-11, 4-11 SEC) plays at Ole Miss (19-9, 8-7) on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT inside SJB Pavilion. It will mark the sixth meeting between the programs but just the second in Oxford.

As of Friday morning, the Sooners are in Joe Lunardi's NCAA Tournament field of 68.

Saturday's contest will be televised by ESPN2 with John Schriffen (play-by-play) and Richard Hendrix (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. Ole Miss
Date: Saturday, March 1
Tip Time: 1 p.m. CT
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Arena: SJB Pavilion

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Game Notes

OPENING TIP

• Ole Miss, which is second among teams receiving votes in this week's AP Top 25 Poll, marks just the second Oklahoma opponent in 10 games that is unranked. The Rebels, who had been ranked each of the previous 13 weeks, climbed to as high as No. 16 on Dec. 23 and Jan. 20. They have lost their last three games (81-71 vs. No. 21 Mississippi State, 77-72 at Vanderbilt and 106-76 at No. 1 Auburn).

• Oklahoma has played 11 ranked opponents this season, already two more than it faced all 2023-24.

• On the season, Oklahoma is the only team with two players who rank in the top 16 in the SEC in scoring, and both Sooners rank in the top 12. Jalon Moore ranks eighth (17.1 ppg) and freshman guard Jeremiah Fears ranks 12th (16.0 ppg).

• Moore, who on Feb. 5 was named a top-10 national candidate for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, enters the weekend ranked sixth in SEC play with his 16.6 points per game and fourth with his .483 field goal percentage. He scored 20 points Wednesday against Kentucky for his team-leading 12th 20-point performance of the season but his first since Jan. 28.

• Fears, who picked up his third SEC Freshman of the Week honor on Monday, leads SEC frosh in free throws made (134; next most is 93) and free throws attempted (161; next most is 105). He ranks second in scoring (16.0 ppg), assists (4.0 apg), steals (1.6 spg) and free throw percentage (.832) and third in rebounds (4.1 rpg).

• Over the last three games, Fears is averaging averaging 22.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists. A big key to his offensive resurgence has been 3-point shooting. He is 8 for 21 (.381) from behind the arc over the last four outings after going 7 for 42 (.167) over the previous 13 contests.

• OU guard Brycen Goodine, who is shooting .507 from 3-point range in SEC play (36 for 71), would lead the league in the category if he had enough makes to qualify (he is two conversions shy). The first-year Sooner is in his sixth year overall and owns a .422 career 3-point field goal percentage. Among the 268 active players nationally who have made at least 100 3-pointers over the last two seasons, Goodine's .462 mark from behind the arc during the period is second best. He shot .467 last year at Fairfield (77 for 165) and is shooting .456 this season (52 for 114).

• Sean Pedulla, Ole Miss' leading scorer, is from Edmond, Okla. The senior guard, who attended Memorial High School, is averaging 14.8 points per game to rank 16th in the SEC, as well as team highs of 3.8 assists and 1.9 steals. He has made a team-high 67 3-pointers and is shooting .396 from behind the arc and .820 at the free throw line.

• Ole Miss is 11-3 at home this season, with all three defeats coming in league play. The Rebels' losses at SJB Pavilion have come to then-No. 13 Texas A&M (63-62), No. 1 Auburn (92-82) and then-No. 22 Mississippi State (81-71).

OU-OLE MISS SERIES HISTORY

• Oklahoma owns a 3-2 all-time record against Ole Miss (1-0 in Norman, 0-1 in Oxford and 2-1 at neutral sites). The Sooners have won the last two matchups.

• OU's wins came in the 1999-00 season in Norman (81-73 under head coach Kelvin Sampson), in the 2019 NCAA Tournament first round in Columbia, S.C., (95-72 under head coach Lon Kruger) and in the 2022-23 campaign in Orlando, Fla., in the ESPN Events Invitational championship game (59-55 under head coach Porter Moser).

• Ole Miss' victories came in the 1998-99 season in the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic second round (75-72 in San Juan, P.R.) and in the 2000-01 season in Oxford (60-55). Sampson was Oklahoma's coach in both contests. The meeting in Oxford was played the same night (Dec. 2, 2000) the OU football team beat Kansas State 27-24 in the Big 12 Championship Game. Bob Stoops' Sooners went on to beat Florida State in the Orange Bowl to finish 13-0 and earn the program's seventh national title.

CHEERS FOR FEARS

• In OU's win over No. 21 Mississippi State on Saturday, freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears became just the second Sooner and just the second SEC player in the last 29 seasons to register at least 27 points, at least 10 assists and at least five rebounds in a game. The other Sooner to accomplish the feat since at least the 1996-97 season was Trae Young (27 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds against Oklahoma State in 2017-18). The other SEC player to do it was Auburn freshman point guard Sharife Cooper (28 points, 12 assists and five rebounds against Georgia during the 2020-21 season).

• Fears is just one of five players nationally this season to accomplish the feat. The only other Power Four conference player to do it was Louisville's Terrence Edwards Jr. vs. Miami (Fla.). Edwards also had 27/10/5.

FINAL FOUR HEAD COACHES

• Oklahoma's Porter Moser and Ole Miss' Chris Beard are two of the six SEC head coaches who have coached in at least one Final Four. The others are Tennessee's Rick Barnes, Arkansas' John Calipari, Alabama's Nate Oats and Auburn's Bruce Pearl. Moser coached Loyola Chicago to the 2018 national semifinals and Beard led Texas Tech to the 2019 national championship game.

UP NEXT

• Oklahoma is back home to host No. 14/16 Missouri (21-7, 10-5) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for Senior Night. Tickets are available for as low as $15.