Basketball is Back: Men’s Hoops Hosts Saint Francis Monday Night

NORMAN — The Oklahoma men's basketball team begins its fifth season under head coach Porter Moser when it hosts Saint Francis on Monday at 7:30 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center.

The contest will stream on SEC Network+ with Chad McKee (play-by-play) and Pooh Wiliamson (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. Saint Francis

Date: Monday, Nov. 3

Tip Time: 7:30 p.m. CT

Location: Norman, Okla.

Arena: Lloyd Noble Center SEC NETWORK+

LIVE STATS

GAME NOTES

LISTEN

OPENING TIP

• Oklahoma is coming off a 20-14 season that culminated with its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021. Head coach Porter Moser's team was led by freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears, who averaged 17.1 points. 4.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.6 steals per outing before being selected No. 7 overall in the NBA Draft by the New Orleans Pelicans.

• Saint Francis, located in the western Pennsylvania town of Loretto, went 16-18 last season and won the Northeast Conference Tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, where it lost 70-68 to Alabama State in the First Four. The Red Flash are under the direction of first-year head coach Luke McConnell, who is a 2012 SFU grad (played collegiate football but not basketball) and was an assistant coach there the last four years.

• Monday's game will mark the first meeting between the Sooners and Red Flash.

• Going back to the start of the 2003-04 season, Oklahoma has won 21 of its last 22 season openers. The lone defeat during the stretch came in 2022-23 to Sam Houston, 52-51, in Norman.

• Oklahoma has won its last 15 regular season non-conference games (it went 13-0 last season) and 28 of its last 29. Its last such loss was on Dec. 20, 2023, vs. No. 11 North Carolina (81-69) in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C.

• OU head coach Porter Moser is 45-7 (.865) in regular season non-conference play as OU's head coach. That includes a 30-2 (.938) home record. The Sooners have won their last 23 home non-conference games (last loss was to Sam Houston in the 2022-23 opener).

• This marks the 51st season of basketball at Lloyd Noble Center, which opened in December 1975. OU boasts a 622-134 (.823) record in the building.

• Saint Francis is under the direction of first-year head coach Luke McConnell, who is an SFU alum and has been part of the Red Flash program since 2013. His father, Tom McConnell, was SFU's head coach from 1992-99.

EXHIBITION RECAP

• Oklahoma shot 52% from the field and 55% from 3-point distance to register an 84-83 win over No. 24 Wisconsin in an exhibition game in Milwaukee on Oct. 24. The game was played at Fiserv Forum, home of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.

• The Sooners led 46-41 at halftime and extended their advantage to as many as nine at 60-51 and 66-57 before Wisconsin used an 11-1 run to go ahead 68-67 with 6:40 remaining. It was the Badgers' only second-half lead, though, as the Sooners countered with a 9-2 burst to go up 76-70 with 3:48 to go and got four points from senior guard Nijel Pack in the game's final 15 seconds, including the game-clinching free throws with five seconds to go.

• Junior guard Xzayvier Brown paced the Sooners with 18 points and five assists while adding four rebounds in 32 minutes. He was joined in double figures in points by Pack (15; all in the second half), sophomore forward Derrion Reid (14) and redshirt senior guard Jeff Nwankwo (10).

• Senior Mohamed Wague and redshirt freshman Kuol Atak scored nine points apiece. Wague's six rebounds and three blocks tied for team highs.

LOST PRODUCTION

• The Sooners lost their top seven scorers from last season, including freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears and senior forward Jalon Moore. Fears, drafted No. 7 overall by the New Orleans Pelicans, averaged team highs of 17.1 points, 4.1 assists and 1.6 steals per contest, and ranked third on the squad with 4.1 rebounds per game. He was one of three Power Four conference players (the only freshman and the only one in the SEC) to average at least 17.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per contest. Over OU's final nine games, he averaged 22.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists (only SEC player since at least 1996-97 to average 20.0/4.5/5.0 over a nine-game span).

• A Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year top-10 candidate and the Battle 4 Atlantis MVP, Moore started all 34 games last season and averaged 15.9 points (ranked 12th in SEC) and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per outing. He scored in double figures a team-high 31 times and registered at least 20 points on a team-high-tying 12 occasions.

FOUR FROM THE PORTAL

• Four of OU's nine newcomers are transfers, and each is highly regarded.

• According to 247Sports, three of OU's incoming transfers rank among the SEC's top 11 (guard Xzayvier Brown [Saint Joseph's] at No. 8, forward Derrion Reid [Alabama] at No. 9 and guard Nijel Pack [Miami, Fla.] at No. 11). The fourth (forward Tae Davis [Notre Dame]) ranks No. 19.

• Brown earned first-team All-Atlantic 10 honors last year as a sophomore, averaging team highs of 17.6 points, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals per outing while ranking second with his 5.2 rebounds. The point guard was one of just five players nationally to average at least 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per contest. He shot .420 from the field, .350 from 3-point range (63 for 180) and .897 from the free throw line (148 for 165; ranked second in the league and set a program record for percentage). Brown, whose stepfather is first-year OU assistant coach Justin Scott, scored in double figures in all 32 games to pace the Atlantic 10.

• Reid was a consensus five-star prospect and McDonald's All-American as a high school senior before averaging 6.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 14.0 minutes a game as a sophomore last year for Alabama's 28-9 Elite Eight squad. He started three of his 24 contests and scored in double figures on six occasions.

• Pack is a highly accomplished sixth-year combo guard who spent his first two seasons at Kansas State (first-team All-Big 12 as a sophomore when he averaged 17.4 points and made 95 3-pointers [led the league by shooting .436]) and the last three at Miami, Fla. (helped Hurricanes to their first Final Four his junior season and was named the Midwest Region Most Outstanding Player). He has started 121 or his 122 career games and owns a 14.3 career scoring average (enters 2025-26 with 1,745 points).

• Davis came to OU after spending the last two years at Notre Dame and the 2022-23 season at Seton Hall. The forward started 64 of 65 games over the last two seasons, including all 33 in 2024-25 when he averaged 15.1 points and 5.3 rebounds to rank second on the team in both categories. He ranked sixth in the ACC with his .476 field goal percentage and logged eight outings of at least 20 points. OU head coach Porter Moser lauded Davis' defensive ability at SEC Media Days in October.

PLENTY OF SCORING OPTIONS

• The Sooners boast five players who have scored at least 25 points in at least one collegiate game. They are super senior guard Nijel Pack (career-high 35 points with Kansas State against Kansas in 2022), junior guard Xzayvier Brown (career-high 29 points with Saint Joseph's vs. Loyola Chicago in 2024), senior forward Tae Davis (career-high 27 twice with Notre Dame), redshirt senior guard Jadon Jones (career-high 27 with Long Beach State vs. UCLA in 2022) and sophomore guard Dayton Forsythe (career-high 25 vs. Ole Miss last season).

SEC STACKED AGAIN

• One year after producing 14 NCAA Tournament teams (breaking the previous single-conference record of 11 teams by the Big East in 2011), the SEC boats six teams ranked in the top 20 of the 2025-26 preseason AP poll, while six more teams (including Oklahoma) received votes.

• In addition to making up 21% of last year's NCAA Tournament field (14 of 68 teams), the SEC produced seven Sweet 16 teams (44%), four Elite Eight teams (50%), two Final Four squads (50%) and the national champion (Florida).

LOADED HOME SEC SLATE

• All nine SEC teams that play in Norman this season made last year's NCAA Tournament, including national champion Florida, Final Four participant Auburn, Elite Eight participant Alabama and Sweet 16 teams Arkansas and Ole Miss.

• OU's other league foes that will visit Lloyd Noble Center are Geogia, Missouri, Texas and Texas A&M.

UP NEXT

• The Sooners play their first road game of the season when they take on No. 21/20 Gonzaga on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CT in Spokane, Wash. The game, which is part of the Bad Boy Mowers Series, will be played at the off-campus Spokane Arena and will be televised by ESPN2.

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