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1978–79 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball
1978–79 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball
Big 8 Conference Regular Season Champions; Big 8 Conference Tournament Champions
NCAA Division I Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Big 8 Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 16
Record	21–10 (10–4 Big 8)
Head coach	Dave Bliss (4th season);
Assistant coaches	Les Fertig; John Underwood;
Home arena	Lloyd Noble Center (Capacity: 11,528)
	Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 Big Eight Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 16 Oklahoma †	10	–	4	.714	21	–	10	.677
Missouri	8	–	6	.571	13	–	15	.464
Kansas State	8	–	6	.571	16	–	12	.571
Kansas	8	–	6	.571	18	–	11	.621
Nebraska	7	–	7	.500	14	–	13	.519
Iowa State	6	–	8	.429	11	–	16	.407
Oklahoma State	5	–	9	.357	12	–	15	.444
Colorado	4	–	10	.286	14	–	13	.519

† 1979 Big Eight tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1978–79 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team represented the University of Oklahoma in competitive college basketball during the 1978–79 NCAA Division I season. The Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team played its home games in the Lloyd Noble Center and was a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) former Big Eight Conference at that time. The team posted a 21–10 overall record and a 10–4 conference record to finish first in the Conference for head coach Dave Bliss. This was the only Big Eight Conference Regular Season Championship for Bliss.^[2]

The team was led by Big Eight Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year John McCullough. Despite losing two of three games in the Big Eight Conference Pre-Season Tournament, the team posted a 10–4 record during the conference regular season and won all three of its games during the Big Eight Conference Post-Season Tournament. Because of the conference tournaments, the team played both Kansas and Kansas State four times. It swept the season series with Kansas State and split the season series with Kansas. The team also played Nebraska three times, only winning the home game. The team reached the sweet sixteen round of the 1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament by beating Texas before losing to Indiana State.^[3]

The Sooners' appearance in the 1979 NCAA Tournament marked their first participation in the event since 1947.

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
November 25, 1978*		Oklahoma City	L 75–81	0–1	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
November 28, 1978*		at Baylor	W 78–75	1–1	Heart O' Texas Coliseum Waco, TX
December 2, 1978*		at Arkansas	L 74–80	1–2	Barnhill Arena Fayetteville, AR
December 5, 1978*		No. 13 Texas	W 71–65	2–2	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
December 9, 1978*		Louisiana Tech	W 84–68	3–2	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
December 12, 1978*		Pepperdine	W 92–66	4–2	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
December 15, 1978*		vs. Auburn Big Sun Classic	L 70–78	4–3	Bayfront Center St. Petersburg, FL
December 16, 1978*		vs. South Florida Big Sun Classic	W 86–73	5–3	Bayfront Center St. Petersburg, FL
December 19, 1978*		Cal State Bakersfield	W 100–75	6–3	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
December 27, 1978*		vs. Kansas State Big Eight Holiday Tournament	W 62–61	7–3	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
December 29, 1978*		vs. No. 18 Kansas Big Eight Holiday Tournament	L 75–86	7–4	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
December 30, 1978*		vs. Nebraska Big Eight Holiday Tournament	L 53–69	7–5	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
January 10, 1979		No. 15 Kansas	W 68–45	8–5 (1–0)	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
January 13, 1979		at Missouri	L 67–73	8–6 (1–1)	Hearnes Center Columbia, MO
January 17, 1979		Oklahoma State Bedlam Series	W 64–59	9–6 (2–1)	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
January 20, 1979		Colorado	W 72–64	10–6 (3–1)	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
January 24, 1979		at Nebraska	L 56–74	10–7 (3–2)	Bob Devaney Sports Center Lincoln, NE
January 27, 1979		Iowa State	W 98–83	11–7 (4–2)	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
January 31, 1979		at Kansas State	W 70–62	12–7 (5–2)	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, KS
February 3, 1979		Missouri	W 80–76	13–7 (6–2)	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
February 7, 1979		at Oklahoma State Bedlam Series	W 74–67	14–7 (7–2)	Gallagher Hall Stillwater, OK
February 10, 1979		at Kansas	L 62–74	14–8 (7–3)	Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, KS
February 14, 1979		Nebraska	W 79–58	15–8 (8–3)	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
February 17, 1979		at Colorado	W 67–62	16–8 (9–3)	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, CO
February 21, 1979		at Iowa State	L 65–66	16–9 (9–4)	Hilton Coliseum Ames, IA
February 24, 1979		Kansas State	W 65–52	17–9 (10–4)	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
Big Eight tournament
February 27, 1979	(1)	(8) Colorado First Round	W 77–57	18–9	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
March 2, 1979	(1)	vs. (4) Kansas State Semifinal	W 72–68	19–9	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
March 3, 1979	(1)	vs. (3) Kansas Championship	W 80–65	20–9	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
NCAA tournament
March 11, 1979*	(5 MW)	vs. (4 MW) No. 15 Texas Second Round	W 90–76	21–9	Moody Coliseum Dallas, TX
March 15, 1979*	(5 MW)	vs. (1 MW) No. 1 Indiana State Sweet Sixteen	L 72–93	21–10	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, OH
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. (#) during NCAA Tournament is seed within region MW=Midwest.

^[4]

Honors

Big Eight POY: John McCullough^[5]

Team players drafted into the NBA

The following players were drafted in the 1979 NBA draft:^[6]^[7]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NBA club
4	85	John McCullough	Guard	Kansas City Kings

The following letter winners from this team were drafted in the NBA draft in subsequent years (all in the 1980 NBA draft): Terry Stotts (2nd, 38th, Houston Rockets), Al Beal (3rd, 63rd Milwaukee Bucks), and Aaron Curry (5th, 98th, New Jersey Nets).^[8]^[9]

Roster

References

^ sports-reference.com 1978-79 Big Eight Conference Season Summary
^ "Conference Championships". SoonerStats.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
^ "1979 Men's Basketball Season". SoonerStats.com. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
^ "1978-79 Oklahoma Sooners Men's Basketball". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
^ "Oklahoma 2009-10 Men's Basketball Guide" (PDF). CBS Interactive. p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
^ "Sooners in NBA Draft". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
^ "1979 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "Sooners in NBA Draft". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
^ "Oklahoma 2009-10 Men's Basketball Guide" (PDF). CBS Interactive. pp. 168–169. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2010.

[1] sports-reference.com 1978-79 Big Eight Conference Season Summary

[2] "Conference Championships". SoonerStats.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2010.

[3] "1979 Men's Basketball Season". SoonerStats.com. Retrieved July 7, 2010.

[4] "1978-79 Oklahoma Sooners Men's Basketball". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2023.

[5] "Oklahoma 2009-10 Men's Basketball Guide" (PDF). CBS Interactive. p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2010.

[6] "Sooners in NBA Draft". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.

[7] "1979 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[8] "Sooners in NBA Draft". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.

[9] "Oklahoma 2009-10 Men's Basketball Guide" (PDF). CBS Interactive. pp. 168–169. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2010.

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v t e Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball
Venues	Oklahoma Gymnasium (1907–1919) University of Oklahoma R.O.T.C. Armory (1919–1928) McCasland Field House (1928–1975) Lloyd Noble Center (1975–present)
Rivalries	Oklahoma State
Culture & lore	Boomer and Sooner RUF/NEKS Jumpman Invitational
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

Schedule

Honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Roster

See also

References