OU celebrates Blake Griffin Night

The Sooner Nation welcomes back former OU star Blake Griffin to Lloyd Noble Center tonight when the Sooners host the Texas Tech Red Raiders at 7 p.m.

Griffin, this summer’s first overall pick in the NBA draft by the Clippers, will make his first appearance at Lloyd Noble Center since the season finale against Oklahoma State last year.

He is returning to celebrate “Blake Griffin Night”, presented by Academy Sports and Outdoors, at Lloyd Noble Center.

The first 4,000 fans in the door will receive a free special edition Griffin poster, courtesy of Academy Sports and Outdoors. The first 2,000 will receive a scratch card, 100 of which will include Griffin’s logo. The 100 fans receiving Griffin’s logo will be admitted, with one guest, to a private, postgame VIP meet-and-greet with Griffin.

Each fan at the VIP event will score a photo with Griffin, one of his new “WORK” New Era limited edition caps and an autograph.

“I’m very excited,” Griffin said in a teleconference. “I’m just happy to comeback and see people and coming back to the place where I had two great years and I had a lot of fun, I wouldn’t trade those years for anything.”

-Clark Foy/The Daily

Women’s Gymnastics ranked No. 1

The OU women’s gymnastics team is now ranked No. 1 in the nation after overtaking previously top-ranked Alabama in the latest Troester rankings.

The team is the first women’s sport to be ranked No. 1 during the regular season.

The Sooners are also the first squad from the Big 12 to be ranked No. 1 since Nebraska held the spot in 2005.

OU’s first competition at No. 1 is scheduled for Friday against Iowa State during the Sooners annual “Beauty and the Beast” night, during which they will compete side-by-side with the wrestling team at McCasland Fieldhouse.

-Aaron Colen/The Daily

Mason-Griffin named Big 12 Rookie of the Week

Freshman standout Tommy Mason-Griffin won his second consecutive Phillips 66 Big 12 Rookie of the Week award Monday after his stellar performance Saturday afternoon against the Longhorns.

In an 80-71 win over ninth-ranked Texas, Mason-Griffin stepped up in the place of injured sophomore Willie Warren and had a game-high 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. He was 6-12 from the field, including 5-7 from three-point range and saw 39 minutes of action.

For the season, the Houston-native is averaging 13.2 points, 3 rebounds and 4.6 assists while shooting a league-best 46.3 percent from three-point range.

Since Big 12 play has began, the rising star is averaging a team-best 18.3 points per game (most among all league newcomers), is shooting a conference-best 51.9 percent from three and ranks second with 3.4 treys per game.

Mason-Griffin also has led the Sooner in scoring four of their last five games and already ranks fourth on OU’s freshman list in 3-point makes (50) and sixth in assists (101). Mason-Griffin will be the most efficient freshman three-point shooter in history if he can maintain his current 46.3 percent from behind the arc.

-Clark Foy/The Daily