NORMAN — Blake Griffin spent the biggest night of his Oklahoma basketball team's season last year stuck in a dorm room.

"I was just It was It was awful," he remembered Sunday.

It was the night the Sooners stormed Stillwater and wrecked Oklahoma State's Senior Night, 68-56.

"I don't think anyone had us winning that game," said Tony Crocker, who dumped in a career-high 25 points, "because Blake was injured."

Griffin, OU's leading scorer and rebounder then as he is now, was three days removed from arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee. Doctors ordered him not just off the court, but off the team bus.

"I watched it with a couple of my friends just up in the dorm room," he said. "It was so nerve-racking."

When it was over, coach Jeff Capel sent him a text reading: "We did that for you, man. Can't wait to get you back for the next game."

That lifted Griffin's spirits. What will ultimately make him feel better, though, is finally stepping onto the floor at Gallagher-Iba Arena. It will happen tonight at 8 p.m.

"It's going to be interesting," Griffin said.

Averaging 22 points and an NCAA-high 14 rebounds, Griffin should be a force against the undersized Cowboys.

"He's