NORMAN, Okla. – McNeese State will try to bounce back from this past Tuesday's shocking loss to Louisiana College on Friday night but will go up against one of the big boys in college basketball when it takes on 8^th-ranked Oklahoma at 7 here at the Lloyd Noble Center.
 
The Cowboys (0-2) will be facing their second ranked opponent in three games to start the season. McNeese dropped an 81-70 loss to then No. 21 LSU in the season opener last Friday in Baton Rouge.
 
Oklahoma (1-0) beat Memphis 84-78 in its season opener on Tuesday.
 
The Sooners, 24-11 last season and played in the NCAA Sweet 16, is starting its fifth season under head coach Lon Krueger. OU returns 75 percent of its scoring, 69 percent of its rebounding, and 83 percent of its assists form last season's squad.
 
OU, which is picked to finish second in the Big 12, returns four starters from last year, including 2015 Big 12 Player of the Year Buddy Hield.
 
Hield scored 30 points and grabbed eight rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocked shots against Memphis. Three other Sooner players scored in double-digits – guard Jordan Woodard with 15, guard Isaiah Cousins with 13 and forward Ryan Spangler with 11.
 
The Sooners 29 of 68 from the field in the game and sank 11 three-point goals.
 
McNeese is led in scoring by junior guard Jamaya Burr (16.5 ppg) followed by junior guard Lance Potier at 9.5 per contest. Austin Lewis will join those two in the starting lineup while junior transfer Tevin Jackson (5.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg) is expected to get his first start in place of Craig McFerrin while true freshman guard Jarren Greenwood (5.5 ppg, 2.5 spg) may start in place of Shaun Johnson who is nursing a minor injury.
 
Friday's game will be the third meeting in the series with the Sooners winning the previous two – 68-63 in 1987 and 118-79 in 1984.
 
McNeese will return home next Wednesday at 2 p.m. for a pre-Thanksgiving matinee against Dillard (La.).