Sooner Women's Basketball @ Austin for Texas - Wednesday @ 6 PM!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Women's Basketball Team is sitting in 3rd Place in the Big 12 conference race after 6/7 conference games for the teams. Oklahoma is 5-1 while Texas is 5-2 and are currently in a tie for 4th place with West Virginia. Wednesday night's game is at 6 PM and will be shown on ESPNU.

The Sooners have played well as of late but the Big 12 teams they have played are on the lower half of the Big 12 standings except for K-State. So their 5-1 record in conference might be considered a bit thin. But nonetheless, they do have a 5-1 record with their lone loss bing on the road at K-State by double digits. Texas has played four teams thought to be "top half" big 12 teams. Their losses are at home vs Baylor by 6 and against K-State on the road by 3.

I think the Sooners will have to play very well on Wednesday night for 35 minutes to give themselves a chance to win the game in the final 5 minutes. The solution for a Sooner win starts with trying to figure out how to match up against Texas. Texas starts a lineup of 5'10" Gonzales, 6'0" Holle, 6'1" Booker, 6'1" Moore and 6'4" Jones. The first four subs into the game are 6'4" Muhammad, 6'2" Gaston, 6'4" Faye and 5'9" Maul. If they play a need another big to play, they turn to 6'2" Mwenentanda who is listed as a guard.

My memory of last year's games against Texas tells me that Gonzales, the 5'10" guard, was a handful for the Sooners. Gonzales scored 31 vs OU in their two games last year. At 5'10" I just do not know who matches up well size wise and quickness wise. Keyes is probably the best starting Sooner to guard Gonzales. To make matters worse, the other guard for Texas is 6.0". Tot has to guard one of the two players when she is on the floor. I am not sure anyone on the Sooners can stay with either one of these guards except for maybe Tucker off the bench.

In the frontcourt, Texas has a very good freshman, Booker at 6'1". Maybe Williams can match up with her in a matchup of freshman. Moore another 6'1" forward would then be guarded by Verhulst with Vann trying to slow down the 6'4" Jones who rebounds well. Last year, Gaston and Jones both scored in double digits in both games against OU. From the bench, maybe Culliton, Johnson and Allen can help inside with Vann sliding over to relieve Williams or Verhulst and so on. I don't really see anyone that Joens and maybe Scott match up with except Scott on Holle. The matchups just do not work well. Because of that, I think Oklahoma runs more zone tonight. When the twin towers (Johnson and Allen) and the subs were in the game against Houston, the Sooners played their 2-3 matchup zone used last year. If OU can rebound in the gaps of the zone and not give up 8 foot shots inside, maybe that will work.

On offense, the Sooners will have to be efficient and shoot well to be in the game. The more that OU can beat the Longhorns down the floor the better as long as Oklahoma does not force passes for turnovers in the process. The Sooners will have to score from outside primarily after the Texas defense is set and get the second chance points to pay off, even if it is at the line from being fouled. It is a bit funny to say this, but the game may very well depend on how good Culliton, Johnson and Allen can play as they probably play more in this game than normal due either to the size of Texas or due to OU being in foul trouble.

About the only thing that Texas does not so well is handle the ball. In their seven Big 12 games they have turned the ball over 18 times a game. If Oklahoma can cause those type of ball handling issues for Texas tonight, their chances of a win improve, especially if OU can manage that less than 14 turnover rate per game they were on until their last game against Houston.

OU rebounds better than their height indicates they should. Tonight their ability to rebound may be tested by Texas. The only place the Sooners outshoot Texas is at the line. Can OU effectively get to the line, I hope so.

Last year, Oklahoma lost both games to Texas by 20 points and did not score over 58 points in either game. OU has to figure out a way to score at least 65-70 to have a shot at winning tonight. Something has to improve over last year to do that. Doing that on the road is a tough job to do.

I wish I could say that I see the light at the end of the tunnel for a win on Wednesday night. I see a twinkle of light, but there is no locomotive connected to that twinkle as of yet. I hope I hear a train whistle with about 5 minutes left to play. Good luck to the Sooners tomorrow night.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the upcoming Red River Rivalry game in Austin for the Women's Basketball Team.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/1/23 ... er-rivalry

If the Sooners can win that 900th game tomorrow night it would be fitting that it comes against Texas.

Good luck to the Sooners tomorrow night.

Boomer Sooner!

[BudaSooner]

Game supposed to be on ESPNU, but Florida St vs Syracuse is on instead? I have DirecTV Anyone else watching?

[OURed]

Game supposed to be on ESPNU, but Florida St vs Syracuse is on instead? I have DirecTV Anyone else watching?

The game is on Wednesday night on ESPNU

[BudaSooner]

D'oh! I woulda sworn that I saw the game was tonight.

Thnks, I'll try to tune in tomorrow night...

[SwampSooner]

Looks like turnabout is fair game.

The Sooners WON in Austin tonight 91-87.

[OUBeliever56A]

I heard the train whistle at about 5 minutes left in the game. Amazing game by the Sooners! The light on the front of the locomotive is very bright right now!

Sooner Women beat Texas in Austin 91-87! Hugh win for Oklahoma!

The Sooners didn't worry about their matchups, they just outran the slower Lonhgions on their way to victory. All five Sooner starters scored in double digits.

Great job by every player and by Coach Baranczyk and her staff.

More tomorrow morning!

BOOMER SOONER!

[SoonerGirl1201]

Great win by the girls and wow - did Lexy Keys come up big at "key" points in the game. Really thankful she transferred from osu!!!!

[SoonerGirl1201]

[EMan]

If you had told me the OU men and women would split their games with Texas* this week, I'd have bet big money it was the men that would've won. Shows you how much I know. As they say, "That's why they play the games!" Neveah made it a little more interesting than I wanted it to be only hitting one of two FTs in 3 consecutive trips to the line (man, I miss Taylor "Automatic" Robertson at the line in late-game situations) but she ultimately put it away with her last one. Outstanding road win for the Sooners!

[waddy's ghost]

Great win

[OUBeliever56A]

I want to make sure that credit is given where credit is due. The Oklahoma Sooners won last night against the #10 and the NET #2 Texas Longhorns 91 - 87 in Austin to completely change the 'look' of the Sooners after their mid-season swoon. Yes, the Sooners shot well. Yes, played fast. Yes, they had ONLY 9 turnovers.

But to me, what they DID, was simply OUT-Work, OUT-EFFORT, and OUT-Hustle the Longhorns. They did not do that for 10 minutes, or 20 minutes, the Sooners did that for 40 minutes. Neveah Tot and Payton Verhulst played the most minutes they had played this season. Sahara Williams and Skylar Vann played the second most minutes they had played this season. Lexi Keys played a minute more than she averages per as well. The seven Sooners bench players usually play 75+ minutes a game on average, last night against Texas, the bench played 47 minutes. The 5 starters played 142 minutes instead of the 105 minutes they normally play. The Sooners shortened the bench and the shortened their minutes also. And even with all the extra minutes and effort, the shooting and the effort stood up.

All five Sooners scored in double figures. Two Sooners had double-doubles. Vann scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Vann had the most rebounds in the game when there were usually three taller Longhorns on the floor. Tot had 14 points and 10 assists for her double-double AND she had zero, yes 0, turnovers. Verhulst added 18 points, Keys 15 points and Williams had 13 and 8 rebounds against all those taller Longhorns which equalled the 8 by Moore of Texas.

The Sooners shot 48.6% from the floor and 37.0% from three-point land. Keys had 4 three's, Tot had 3, Verhulst had 2 and Vann had 1. Keys and Verhulst had big three's late in the game. Oklahoma shot 50% or better the final three quarters. In the second quarter, Oklahoma outscored Texas 28-16 and then followed that with a 3rd quarter where OU outscored Texas 26-22.

Somehow, the Sooners scored 46 points in the paint to the 50 that Texas scored. Many of those 46 points were on 'fast breaks' or after hustling down the floor before Texas arrived to score on layups or inside. OU opened up the floor often and the Sooners scored on back cuts or going to the bucket off the dribble.

Oklahoma won this game despite Texas shooting 10 more free throws and making 9 more than the Sooners. Yes, I might ask Neveah Tot to shoot few extra free shots the next couple of days to improve on her 3 for 6 shooting late in the game. But she did make those three! The seven (7) more buckets from beyond the arc were key in the game as well as the 3 more made buckets that OU had over Texas.

If the Sooners can play better, I am not sure how. Texas did win the rebound battle 39-36, but by staying within 3, the Sooners might have won that as well.

As I noted before the game. There was a way (a dim light coming at me in the tunnel) that the Sooners could win this game. The Sooner coaches and players turned that dim light into a spotlight on the front of a locomotive that just never ran out of coal to fuel the effort. Great job in every way by the Sooners.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the game.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/1/24 ... -in-austin

Two key notes from the article.

"We're gonna enjoy this one," OU coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "We've had some lows in our season (a 79-70 loss to Southern at home). We've had a roller coaster season. So if we've learned anything, we've learned that we need to just stay in the process."

The win marked OU's eighth over a ranked opponent under third-year head coach Jennie Baranczyk, and the first over a top-10 foe since it dispatched then-No. 9 Baylor on Feb. 2, 2022. With the victory, Oklahoma became the 45th Division I program to eclipse 900 victories and the Sooners notched just their second top-10 road win when OU is unranked in program history, joining a 2004 upset over then-No. 7 Texas Tech.

In closing, I will note that Madison Booker is a force for Texas. If she had some help besides Shay Holle, Texas might have still won this game. The two Longhorns scored 51 points. I am very glad it was not four more points!

The Sooners have a short turnaround now as they return to Norman and have to get ready to play an up-and-down Kansas squad. Kansas won last night also as they defeated Iowa State in Lawrence 60-58. Kansas made two free throws with 10 seconds left to lead by 5 to ensure their win.

Recover quickly from the max effort by the Sooners. A win over Kansas is one more mark in the win column after making a very wide mark added after defeating Texas on the road.

Boomer Sooner!

[TN Sooner]

What a great win! Nice to see how well they can play when a few shots fall early. I think hitting those 3’s was a key, because that requires the opposing team actually guard against it, which opens things up and gives the (usually) shorter Sooner guards a chance to dribble drive and be effective in the paint.

And yes - the effort and heart these ladies showed last night was awesome. Sahara seems to be growing up. Verhulst is finding her footing as a former 5 star recruit. Vann is back on form. I wish the sophomores (Reina and KJ) were more effective and taking more time away from our starters. And I don’t remember seeing Landry at all last night? Did she play?

Good win - I did not expect to be wildly entertained last night for a full 2 hours, but I was. If you didn’t get to watch and have access to ESPN+, I highly recommend you find the on-demand and give it a watch.