Huskers Set for Rematch with Sooners

With a 71-64 win over Missouri on Thursday, Nebraska advanced to the second day of the Big 12 Championship where it will match up with the sixth-seeded and No. 22/19 Oklahoma Sooners on Friday, March 10, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

The Huskers and Sooners will tip off at approximately 8:20 p.m., or 30 minutes after the first contest of the night session is complete. The game will be carried nationally on ESPNU and regionally as part of the Big 12 syndicated package and can be seen locally in Nebraska on: KLKN Channel 8 in Lincoln and southeast Nebraska; Cox2 in Omaha; and KIIT in North Platte. Dave Armstrong (play by play) and Paul Splittorff (color) will call the action.

All Nebraska men's basketball games can also be heard on the radio through the Pinnacle Sports Network. The 26-station network can be heard all around Nebraska and in parts of western Iowa, and is available worldwide on the Internet at Huskers.com. Randy Lee will handle play-by-play duties while Matt Davison serves as color analyst.

Huskers Ready to Face Sooners at League Tourney
The Huskers got back into the win column and helped their postseason chances with a 71-64 victory over Missouri on Thursday in the first round of the Big 12 Championship in Dallas. The win snapped a three-game losing streak by the Huskers, which matched their season high set in January. NU also stopped the first three-game slide with a win over the Tigers.

The victory gave Nebraska 18 wins, tying for its most wins in a season since posting 20 victories in the 1998-99 campaign. It is the second time in three seasons the Huskers have won 18 games, and one more victory would give NU its most single-season wins under Coach Barry Collier.

With the win last night, Nebraska did more than earn its first victory since a 16-point win over Colorado on Feb. 22. The Huskers also broke out of a funk in the Big 12 Championship, where they had lost seven straight contests. NU's last win in league tournament play before beating the Tigers came with a 69-50 victory over Texas Tech in the 1999 Big 12 tourney.

The Huskers held command of the contest until a late run pulled the Tigers even at 64-all on a pair of Thomas Gardner free throws with 1:51 to play. From that point, the Huskers outscored Missouri 7-0 down the stretch as Jamel White hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock about to expire, Jason Dourisseau added a traditional three-point play and Aleks Maric added a free throw. Missouri got off three shots in the final two minutes, but came up short on a pair of long-range attempts and a layup.

Dourisseau led the way from start to finish as he posted a season-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor, including hitting his first four attempts. It was only the third 20-point contest of his career. Maric also showed considerable prowess in the paint as he scored 19 points and added eight rebounds with four assists (no turnovers). The 6-11, 265-pounder hit 7-of-10 attempts from the field and 5-of-8 from the line.

Point guard Charles Richardson Jr. continued his heady play as he added six assists and six rebounds with two steals. Richardson helped the Huskers run an efficient offensive attack, as Nebraska posted 21 assists on 25 baskets and had just nine miscues ? equalling its fewest turnovers against a Big 12 team this season.

Nebraska at the Big 12 Conference Championship
Nebraska, the No. 6 seed in the field, enters Friday's late contest looking to win consecutive games at the Big 12 Championship for the first time since the formation of the league 10 years ago.

With the win over the Tigers, Nebraska snapped a streak of seven straight losses in the tourney, and improved to 3-9 in Big 12 tournament play with single wins in 1998, 1999 and now 2006. Overall, Nebraska is 13-29 all-time in conference tournament play since 1977, including a 1-2 mark in Dallas. The Huskers are 4-5 against league teams away from Lincoln this season and are 4-7 overall outside the Devaney Center.

The Huskers and Sooners are meeting for just the second time in tournament play since the formation of the league before the 1996-97 season. It will also be the second time in three seasons, as OU knocked off the Huskers in the first round of the 2004 tourney, the last time the field met in Dallas.

Oklahoma earned a 63-59 win in that contest. It was a tale of two halves, as NU held the Sooners to 25.0 percent shooting while on its way to a 35-22 halftime lead before OU came roaring back and limited the Huskers to 22.0 percent shooting in the second period. Oklahoma hit 16-of-29 attempts (55.2 percent) in the second frame while outscoring NU 41-24 after the break. It was the second win for OU over Nebraska that season, by a combined six points.

Four current Huskers ? Jason Dourisseau, Wes Wilkinson, Charles Richardson Jr. and Tony Wilbrand ? each saw action in that contest, with all four coming off the bench. Only Richardson scored in the game, as he had seven points on 3-of-4 shooting while adding four boards and an assist in 17 minutes.

After losing to the Sooners, Nebraska went on to win NIT contests against Creighton and Niagara before bowing out to Hawaii. NU finished the 2004 season with an 18-13 record.

Nebraska and Oklahoma have met a total of six times in the postseason league tournament, with each team earning three wins. NU's last victory over OU in postseason play came in 1994 when the Huskers took a 105-88 victory in the first round of the Big Eight Tournament.

The Huskers and Sooners have alternated victories in the league tournament. Nebraska won in 1980, 1991 and 1994, while OU won in 1990, 1992 and most recently in 2004.

The Matchup
Nebraska and Oklahoma are meeting for the 182nd time in the series with the Sooners holding a solid 102-79 advantage. The Huskers won the last matchup with a 59-58 thriller, the first of Oklahoma's seven league contests this season decided by a single point. Nebraska snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Sooners, which included four double-figure losses.

Jason Dourisseau and Charles Richardson Jr. helped Nebraska overcome an eight-point halftime deficit, the second-largest it has overcome in the Big 12 era. Richardson totaled a career-high 15 points while going 3-of-5 from 3-point range. His trey from the top of the key with 23.4 seconds left set the stage for Joe McCray, who drained a 3-pointer with less than six ticks left on the clock for the winning advantage.

Dourisseau scored 12 of his game-high 17 points after the intermission while helping Nebraska run the offense while limiting mistakes. NU had just two turnovers in the second period.

The contest in Dallas will have a much different dynamic than the one in Lincoln 63 days ? and 17 games ? ago. Nebraska has an improved inside presence with the play of Aleks Maric, who has posted a league-best 9.3 rebounds and seven double-doubles during Big 12-only games this season, while freshman guard Jamel White has come on to spark the Huskers with 12.8 points per game over the past 11 contests since McCray was dismissed from the team.

On OU's side, the Sooners played the first game of the conference slate without one of their top offensive threats as Michael Neal was out of the contest with a groin injury. Neal missed one more game after the NU loss, but has played in a total of 25 contests while earning the league's newcomer of the year award.

Scouting the Sooners
After getting a bye on Thursday, the No. 3-seeded Oklahoma Sooners begin play at the Big 12 Championship looking to avenge one of their five league losses on the season. OU lost the regular-season finale, 72-46, last weekend at Texas and has not lost back-to-back contests since the first two games of league play when it fell at Nebraska, 59-58, and at home against Missouri, 71-69.

The nationally ranked Sooners own a 20-7 overall record and picked up the No. 3 spot in the final regular-season standings with an 11-5 mark in league play. OU has averaged 68.8 points per game while hitting 45.1 percent from the floor including an efficient 35.3 percent from 3-point range.

The Sooners have four players averaging double figures with all-conference performer Taj Gray leading the way at 14.4 points per game. Gray, who has hit a team-best 57.2 percent from the field, has added 7.7 rebounds per game. Kevin Bookout has also been a dual threat with 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest while Michael Neal has added 13.0 points per game, including a team-best 14.8 points per contest against Big 12 teams. Neal has hit 84 3-pointers this season to rank among the league leaders while Terrell Everett has paced the league with 6.6 assists per game. Everett has added 12.3 points per contest and a team-high 47 steals.

The Sooners are guided by head coach Kelvin Sampson (Pembroke State, 1978) and owns a 455-255 record overall and 279-107 record with OU.