Thumbnail sketch of Oral Roberts

[PonyPride]

• SMU is hosting its third postseason game ever; the first two were played in 1957 (the Ponies obviously have played in several postseason games as the visiting team and at neutral sites).

• ORU is 19-15 in 2010-11 and 13-5 in Summit League Games.

• Junior forward Dominique Morrison (6-6, 210) earned first-team all-conference honors for the second year in a row after a season in which he led the team in scoring with 582 points, for an average of 19.4 points per game. Playing a team-high 34.8 minutes per game, Morrison shot .512 from the floor, hitting 199-of-389 field goal attempts, including 39-of-97 from three-point range (.402). He also hit 145-of-184 free throws (.788). He finished second on the team with 65 assists, and finished third with an average of 4.9 rebounds per game. Morrison started 93 of 94 career games in which he played.

• Forward Steven Roundtree (6-8, 190) was named Summitt League Freshman of the year. He was fourth on the team in scoring (12.3 points per game), but led the team in shooting, connecting on .562 of his shots from the floor (158-of-281). His 6.5 rebounds per game are the second-highest average on the team, but he also can get into foul trouble: he committed 125 fouls in his freshman season — 30 more than anyone else on his team — and fouled out 11 times, nearly four times as often as anyone else on the team (five other players fouled out three times).

• Two other Golden Eagles earned honorable mention All-Summit League honors: sophomore forward/center Damen Bell-Holter (6-9, 245) and sophomore guard Warren Niles (6-4, 175).

• Morrison is the Golden Eagles' top scorer, but not their most willing shooter. That honor goes to Niles, who jacked up 408 shots from the floor (compared to 389 for Morrison), including 198 (14 more than Robert Nyakundi launched) from three-point range, hitting 73 (.369).

• Niles is the last guy to foul in crucial situations, as he led ORU in free throws, connecting on .814 of his shots (92-of-113). Morrison was next among starters/regulars, hitting .788 (145-of-184), and Bell-Holter was third, shooting .725 (129-of-178).

• Bell-Holter's 49 blocked shots were more than three times the total put up by any other ORU player (Morrison had 15; Roundtree had 14).

• ORU is fairly even in a lot of statistical categories:
-- The Golden Eagles have outscored their opponents by an average of 75.2-72.9 this season
-- ORU shot .477 from the floor; opponents shot .460
-- Opponents shot .735 from the foul line; ORU shot .717
-- The Golden Eagles out-rebounded their opponents by about boards per game (34.4-31.4)
-- ORU had the statistical rarity of an assist-to-turnover ration of exactly 1:1 ... The Golden Eagles had 435 assists (compared to 402 by opponents), and425 turnovers (compared to 427 by opponents)
-- Opponents enjoyed a slight edge in steals (194-190) and blocked shots (114-97)
-- ORU's worst stretches of the season were a pair of four-game losing streaks, but the Golden Eagles also enjoyed a four-game winning streak in January and reeled off a 10-game winning streak before getting knocked off by Oakland, 90-76, in the final of the Summit League Tournament

• ORU's tallest player is senior backup center Javier Nasarre (6-10, 225), but he hasn't started in any of the 22 games in which he has played, and averages under 6 minutes per game when he does play. Three players — center Damen Bell-Holter, center Tim Morton and forward Chris Angsomwine — stand 6-foot-9, but Morton and Angsomewine don't appear on the team's statistics report. At 245 pounds, Bell-Holter is the Golden Eagles' heaviest player.

• Head coach Scott Sutton is in his 12th season at ORU, where he has compiled a record of 223-154. He is the brother of former Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton (who serves as his brother's "executive advisor") and the son of former Oklahoma State and Kentucky head coach Eddie Sutton.

[Casey]

Good stuff, PP.
We'll be there Wednesday for the game.
Go Ponies!

[GrapevineMustang]

Thanks, Pride

Go Mustangs

[SMUguy]

I hope there are a bunch of students there tomorrow to get all over Roundtree. Maybe the crowd bait him into fouling out again.

[PonyKai]

Well seeing as how it's Spring Break this week, I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Monkeystang]

I don't think the students will be there with spring break but I am hoping for a good turnout. Anyone heard any rumors? I know that seats have been selling.

[03Mustang]

I went to the ticket office at lunchtime today and bought two tickets at center court on the front row.

Attendance won't be pretty.

[Hoss]

Then it's the obligation of those in attendance to make it loud.

I've got some co-workers who went to Oral Roberts. I'm driving down for the game (and back after the game), just so I can rub it in their faces Thursday!

Go Ponies!