Sooners hoping to stop Jayhawk jinx

By Gary Bedore     Jan 13, 2001

Oklahoma has been stuck on 50 the last two times Kansas and the Sooners have met in men’s basketball.

KU, which has won five straight against Kelvin Sampson’s Sooners, beat OU, 53-50, in Allen Fieldhouse last season after winning, 60-50, two seasons ago in Noble Center.

The two teams meet again at noon today at Noble.

“This game definitely won’t be in the 50s,” OU coach Kelvin Sampson told the Daily Oklahoman. KU (12-1) averages 85 points a game. OU (11-2) averages 84.2. “Both teams are going to score points, but we’ve got to make them work for their shots.”

Sampson is 2-7 versus KU, while Roy Williams is 15-8 versus the Sooners.

“We’re a good enough team to play with Kansas. We’ve just got to play well,” Sampson said. “This is the best Kansas team we’ve played in a long time. Those freshmen (Collison, Gooden and Hinrich) who everybody beat up on the road last year, they’re not freshmen anymore.

“Our athleticism makes up for some of our lack of size against certain teams,” Sampson said. “But against Kansas, size is a big, big, big concern for us.”

OU’s tallest starter is 6-8 Aaron McGhee, a transfer from Vincennes (Ind.) University.

“Any time you’ve got a Kansas coming in, you’ve got to be ready to play or they can embarrass you,” McGhee said. “I’m ready to play and I’m going to be excited.”

Sooner a KU fan

OU senior guard Kelley Newton grew up a KU fan during his high school days at KC Wyandotte. Today the Neosho County CC transfer will be trying to beat KU for the first time in two tries.

“You’ve got two ranked teams, and these teams have a lot bigger goals than most programs,” Newton told the Tulsa World. “The level of play, the size of the audience it’s much greater in a game like this. You’ve got to protect your homecourt if you have a chance to win the conference. We want to protect, and Kansas wants to steal one. It should be a great game.”

Newton has hit 36 of 68 threes for 52.8 percent. He’s second in the league in three-point percentage to KU’s Hinrich, who has hit 21 of 36 for 58.3 percent. Newton hit a career-high eight threes in a win over Coppin State on Dec. 26 en route to a career-best 26 points.

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