OU Opens SEC Play At Alabama In Top-10 Matchup

The No. 12/10 Oklahoma men's basketball team plays its first-ever SEC intraleague game when it travels to face No. 5/6 Alabama on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 5 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. 

The contest will be televised by SEC Network with John Schriffen (play-by-play) and Richard Hendrix (analyst) announcing.

>>>Moser Previews Sooners At Alabama In Top 10 Matchup: 'Their Transition Is So Elite'

OPENING TIP

• The Sooners are 7-3 all-time against the Crimson Tide (won the last two meetings and three of the last four) but are 0-2 in Tuscaloosa.

• At 13-0, the Sooners are one of just three undefeated teams nationally. The other two teams – Florida and Tennessee – also hail from the SEC and are also 13-0 entering league play.

• OU's 13-0 start is the fourth best in program history, behind the 1927-28 team (18-0, undefeated season), the 1985-86 squad (17-0) and the 1987-88 team that advanced to the national championship game (14-0).

• Including fellow first-year Southeastern Conference member Texas, Oklahoma is 238-192 all-time against SEC programs. OU has played all 15 other SEC programs and has winning records against nine of them. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, the Sooners are 13-2 against SEC teams at the time of competition.

• Fifth-year senior Kobe Elvis is seven points shy of 1,000 for his career. Elvis, who played one season at DePaul before playing the last three at Dayton, has started all 13 games this season and is averaging 9.4 points, the same figure he averaged last year to set a career high. He is tied for the team lead with 25 3-pointers (shooting .357).

• After going 31-6 and reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2023, Alabama posted a 25-12 record last season and advanced to the Final Four. Over the last three seasons, the Crimson Tide is 67-20 (.770) overall and 35-2 (.946) at home.

• Oklahoma's Porter Moser and Alabama's Nate Oats are two of the six SEC head coaches who have coached in at least one Final Four. The others are Tennessee's Rick Barnes, Ole Miss' Chris Beard, Arkansas' John Calipari and Auburn's Bruce Pearl.

• This is the second year in a row the Sooners have posted double-digit wins to start a season (they won their first 10 games in 2023-24). It is the only time in program history OU has started 10-0 or better in consecutive seasons.

• Saturday's game will mark Oklahoma's first true road contest this season. The Sooners are 8-0 at home and 5-0 in neutral-site outings.

THE LAST TIME OU AND ALABAMA MET

• The last meeting between Oklahoma and Alabama marked the Sooners' most impressive win of the Porter Moser era, as OU handed the second-ranked Crimson Tide a 93-69 defeat on Jan. 28, 2023, in an SEC-Big 12 Challenge matchup in Norman.

>>>Sherfield Scores 30 As Oklahoma Beats No. 2 Alabama 93-69

• The win was OU's first over an AP opponent ranked in the top two since beating No. 1 Kansas in the 2002 Big 12 Tournament championship game. The Sooners' 24-point margin of victory was its largest ever against an AP top-5 team.

• The margin of defeat for Alabama, which finished 31-6 that season and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16, was by far its biggest of the year (its second-largest defeat was 15 points vs. No. 20 Connecticut).

• OU led 50-33 at halftime after shooting 68% from the field (6 of 8 from 3-point range) and scoring on 13 of its final 14 possessions. Alabama cut the margin to 11 points in the second half, but the Sooners quickly responded behind a career-high 30 points from point guard Grant Sherfield and a career-high 26 from forward Jalen Hill. Center Tanner Groves added 14 points and 12 boards.

• The only current Sooners who played in the game are forward Sam Godwin and guard Jake Moser. Godwin was 4 of 8 from the field and finished with eight points and three rebounds in 11 minutes, while Moser played one minute.

• Guard Mark Sears, this year's preseason SEC player of the year, is the only current Crimson Tide player who saw action that day, finishing with 11 points, 2 rebounds 1 assist and 1 steal in 22 minutes.

SOONER HOMECOMING IN ALABAMA

• Seniors Jalon Moore and Duke Miles – OU's second and third-leading scorers, respectively – return to their home state Saturday for the Alabama game.

• Moore, a second-year Sooner who is averaging 17.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, hails from Birmingham and attended Gardendale High School.

• In his first year at OU, Miles is averaging 12.5 points per contest while shooting .528 from the field (tops among the team's guards), a squad-high .463 from behind the arc and a team-best .885 from the foul line. From the capital city of Montgomery, Miles attended Robert E. Lee High School and helped his teams to a 112-17 record in his four seasons.

• OU graduate forward/center Mohamed Wague is from Bronx, N.Y., but played last season on Alabama's Final Four squad. Wague played in 33 games (eight starts) for the Crimson Tide, averaging 3.1 points and 2.5 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game. He shot .627 from the field. Wague has played in 12 of 13 games for the Sooners this season and is averaging 2.7 points and 2.6 boards in 7.3 minutes per outing.

STACKED SEC

• The SEC leads the country with an impressive 10 teams ranked in this week's AP Top 25: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Auburn, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Florida, No. 10 Kentucky, No. 12 Oklahoma, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 17 Mississippi State, No. 23 Arkansas and No. 24 Ole Miss.

• OU will play 10 games (four home, six road) against the nine other ranked SEC teams, with Texas A&M the only program the Sooners will face twice.

• SEC teams have won 88.9% of their non-conference games this season (185-23 record).

PICK YOUR POISON

• Five Sooners have scored 20 or more points in at least one game this season: Jalon Moore (seven times), Jeremiah Fears (four times), Kobe Elvis (twice) and Sam Godwin and Duke Miles (once each).

FEARS ON FIRE

• Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears leads OU, ranks fifth in the SEC and ranks fourth nationally among freshmen with his 18.1 points per game. He is the first OU freshman to score in double figures in each of his first 13 games since point guard Trae Young scored 10 or more in all 32 games in 2017-18 when he was a first-team All-American and national freshman of the year.

• Fears, who has already been named SEC Freshman of the Week twice this season, is also averaging 3.5 rebounds and team highs of 4.5 assists and 2.2 steals per outing. He ranks sixth in the SEC by shooting .864 from the free throw line.