Nate Carter’s senior season at the University of Oklahoma was in danger of becoming a washout.

So the 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward, who had grown distraught after averaging just 4.4 points and 13 minutes in OU’s 12 nonconference games, text-messaged Jeff Capel and requested a meeting in the first-year Sooner basketball coach’s office.

“I was frustrated because I know I can help the team. He basically told me that he had 100 percent confidence in me,” Carter said of Capel, a former Duke player and Virginia Commonwealth coach.

“Then he asked me if I had confidence in myself. He said when I figure that out, that’s when I’d be ready.”

Capel, who at 32 is one of the youngest major-college coaches in the country, did not baby Carter, a former second-team all-Big West Conference player, during the one-on-one session.

Capel told Carter he sensed the former UC Riverside standout had a form of “stage fright” to open his senior campaign.

“I tried to get him to turn games into pickup,” Capel told the Dallas Morning News. “Whatever his mentality was in a pickup game, I told him to try and have the same thing. I felt he was more concerned with performing than playing. Just go out there and play.”

Stung by the wake-up call, Carter, who played just three minutes in a 58-48 win over Tulsa on Dec. 21 in the low point of his season, has turned things around in Big 12 play.

He takes a 16.4 scoring, 7.0 rebound average in conference play into today’s ESPN’s Big Monday contest against Kansas (8 p.m., Noble Center).

Carter, who is hitting 51.0 percent of his shots and 86.7 percent of his free throws in league games, has started to resemble the player who averaged 15.3 points and 6.1 boards his sophomore season at UC Riverside.

He no longer looks like the guy who sagged to 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds a game last year under former OU coach Kelvin Sampson.

“Coach Capel did tell me that sometimes a player has got to hit rock bottom,” said Carter, who today takes part in pre-game Senior Day festivities with Michael Neal, Kellen Sampson and Chris Walker.

“It’s all about how you respond when you get the opportunity.”

His chance for minutes increased when freshman forward Keith Clark tore his right knee after 11 games, and later when center Longar Longar faced a two-game suspension for firing an elbow against Texas Tech.

Oklahoma forward Nate Carter, left, goes up for a shot against Texas forward Damion Jones. Carter has averaged 16.4 points per game in conference play, including 13 points in Saturday's 68-58 loss to Texas in Norman, Okla.

“The turning point was when ‘Moose’ (Clark) got hurt. I started to get his 12 or 13 minutes a game, so my 10 or so minutes turned into 20-some minutes a night,” said Carter, who in all games has averages of 11.0 points and 4.8 rebounds.

“I hate what happened to ‘Moose’ and then Longar, but it’s how I got my opportunity.

“Coach said some guys were going to have to step up. Whenever I had the chance I would just go as hard as I could and leave it out there. I took advantage of my opportunity, and I’ve proven that I can play as well as people were saying I could when I first got here.”

Carter, who has the knack of getting to the free-throw line, scored 24 and 18 points respectively in home victories against Texas Tech and Oklahoma.

He also tallied 22 points twice in two wins over Baylor as well as 19 and 18 in losses at Texas A&M and Texas. He had 13 points and three rebounds in Saturday’s 68-58 home loss to Texas.

“I’m having a lot of fun out there, just being able to go perform and help the team,” Carter said.

He and his Sooner teammates were shocked when former OU coach Sampson left Norman for Indiana University after last season. Sampson is expected to be at the game tonight to be introduced as a parent of senior Kellen Sampson.

“They are two different coaches,” Carter said. “They both coach hard, and they’re both really good coaches, but they do things differently.

“Guys who were here last year had to get used to a new style – running motion, moving around, doing all the cutting and all the running up and down the court that we do. Under coach Sampson, we wanted to run, but we didn’t run like we run now.

“It’s cool because after coach Capel was hired, he would tell us to come up to his office and just visit and hang out. We never did that with coach Sampson. Adapting was hard in the beginning, but then everyone started to figure out and understand what coach Capel wants from us. I think the program is definitely going in the right direction.”

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing.

The Sooners, who at were 6-4 in the league after 10 games, have dropped consecutive games to Iowa State, Texas A&M, Missouri and Texas and have fallen to 15-12, 6-8.

“Every game is like a stepping stone for us toward being really good,” Carter said. “I think it’s about time for us to make a run. We want to show people how good we can be. Things are coming to an end,” he conceded. “I still have a lot to prove to my teammates, to the coaches, to the program, to myself.”

¢Capel’s history: OU coach Capel compiled a 79-41 record over the last four years at VCU. His squads posted a 50-22 (.694) record in Colonial Athletic Association play and a 47-11 home record for a .811 winning percentage.

Capel was a four-year starter at Duke, averaging 12.4 points and 3.4 assists in 129 career games, 106 starts. He played in the 1994 national title game as a freshman, Duke’s 76-72 loss to Arkansas.

“My time at Duke influenced me as a man, not just as a coach,” Capel said. “Obviously as a coach you have to have a certain way to play. You must adapt to personnel. We have some new pieces. Things I learned at Duke go beyond what I learned on the basketball court.”

Of today’s game against KU, Capel said: “We have to be ready. It will be really tough here on Monday. It will be an emotional night – it’s Senior Night. But we’ll be prepared for it.”

¢Top OU players: Oklahoma on Saturday announced its All-Century team, honoring its best players from its first 100 years of basketball.

Wayman Tisdale was top vote getter on a team selected by the fans. Mookie Blaylock and Stacey King, who fell to KU in the 1988 NCAA title game, were second and third followed by Hollis Price and Alvan Adams. Other members of the 15-player team: Harvey Grant, Gar Heard, Darryl Kennedy, Joe King, David Little, Tim McCallister, Aaron McGhee, Ryan Minor, Eduardo Najera and Brent Price.

¢Heated exchange: Texas and Oklahoma players exchanged words while walking up the Noble Center tunnel to their locker rooms after OU’s 68-58 loss to the Longhorns Saturday. The Daily Oklahoman reported some pushing and shoving occurred.

OU players Tony Crocker and Bobby Maze were seen arguing with UT’s Justin Mason.

“I’m not really sure all that happened,” Capel said. “I’ve heard some things. I was already back up (the tunnel). Obviously, no game needs any incident to happen.”

¢Angry fan: Upset at a foul called on David Godbold on Saturday, an OU fan fired a cell phone onto the floor over the players’ heads. It landed near midcourt. The Oklahoman did not indicate whether OU officials were able to uncover the fan’s identity and press charges.