Sooner Women's Basketball Set for 1st Round NCAA matchup - FGCU

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Women's Basketball Team will take it Big 12 Regular Season Championship with them to Bloomington, IN to play at Assembly Hall perhaps to remind themselves of how well they played the first 11 games of the Big 12 season. The Sooners will face the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in the 3 PM game on ESPNEWS and Radio: KOKC 1520 AM locally

Here is the Sooner staff wrtiers article about the OU-FGCU game.

https://soonersports.com/sports/womens- ... ath=wbball

If the Sooners defeat FGCU, the Sooners would face the winner of No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 13 Fairfield. Times for the Monday's second round will be announced following the conclusion of first-round games.

Here are my thoughts about the game with a rundown on the FGCU Eagles.

The Eagles are currently on a 22-game winning streak where all by 1 game is at least an 11-point win. The Sooners are coming off a 4-3 finish to a surprising 1st Place Regular Season Championship.

FGCU starts a lineup that includes a 6’1” and a 6’0” set of forwards and three guards that are 5’6” or 5”8”. They rely on Jefferson, a 5’6” guard and a 6’0” forward, Ezeudu, to score 16.1 and 13.5 points a game. The other three starters score between 7 and 9 points a game. They play three players regularly off the bench that are 5’8”, 5’10” and 6’0” who score 13 points a game. The Eagles pull down 36 rebounds a game.

The primary 3-point marksmen are two starters and one sub. Cairns, a 5’6” guard has made 60 threes’ w 35% shooting. The sub, Bartram, a 5’8” guard has also made 60 threes’ on 37.5% shooting. Ezeudu has added 44 threes’ on 29% shooting. Two other starters have made 35 threes’. The Eagles shot 30 three’s a game.

FGCU shoots the ball well. They average 75 points a game by shooting 58% from inside the arc and 31% from 3-point territory for a combined 44.2% overall. They shot 71.1% from the free throw line.

The Eagles swipe the ball 10 times a game, turn the ball over 13 times and provide 15 assists per game to their teammates.

Without knowing the speed and quickness of the Eagles, the Sooners look to be able to match up well with the Eagles and may even have a size advantage inside when Culliton, Johnson or Allen are in the game. That is not something the Sooners have been able to say most of the year. I think that Vann and Williams should match up well with the two forwards for FGCU and Tot, Keyes and Verhulst can perhaps add to the size advantage for the Sooners, especially Verhulst. Off the bench, Tucker can match up as a defensive player with any Eagle. Scott, Joens and will be good matchups also.

The Eagles attempted 59 shots per game. Oklahoma attempted 67 shots per game. Oklahoma attempted 25 threes’ a game.

Oklahoma shoots 49.3 % from inside the arc, 9% less than FGCU. Both teams shot 31% from 3-point territory. OU shot 70.4% from the charity stripe. Oklahoma’s 20 assists, 16 turnovers and 9 steals a game match up fairly well with FGCU.

As always, the keys for OU are 1) Handle the ball well as they push the tempo, 2) Shot well inside and outside the 3-point line, 3) stay out of foul trouble. This game may be a game where Sahara Williams can shine inside on offense and on the boards. For the Sooners, the quicker they help Skylar Vann to be able to score on demand, the better. If Keyes or Verhulst start out hot from distance and then Joens help out as a sub, the Sooners will be even better. It would be nice to see the trio of bigs for OU to play well inside also.

Good luck to the Sooners on Saturday.

Boomer Sooner!

[AustinTXSooner]

Tot, Keyes and Verhulst can perhaps add to the size advantage for the Sooners, especially Verhulst.

Tot is going to print this out and frame it.

[TN Sooner]

In the other side of our bracket, Indiana leads Fairfield 38-34 at halftime. Fairfield led much of the second quarter, but Indiana closed on a big run.

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball Team opened slowly against the hot shooting Florida Gulf Coast Eagles and trailed after the first ten minutes 25-15. OU trailed by as many as 14 points before closing in the last minute and a half to trail by just 10 points. FGCU shot very well from the floor in the 1Q as they shot 47% from the field with 44% from 3-point territory.

After the first quarter, the Sooners righted their ship and outplayed FGCU in the 2nd and 3rd quarters 38 to 25. The Sooners shot better than the Eagles in the two quarters but in a key area drew enough fouls to make 12 free shots more than FGCU to give themselves the 53-50 led going into the final quarter. Both teams played well in the fourth quarter and scored 20 points piece with OU continually showing resiliency to keep the lead throughout the quarter. But the game was very close as FGCU had a final shot from 3-point land to tie the score at the buzzer. But the Sooners survived to win and move on in the NCAA Tourney. The Sooners will palay Indiana on their home court as the Hoosiers won 89-56 over Fairfield on Saturday. The Sooners will play Indiana at 5:30 PM on Monday.

Skylar Vann's led Oklahoma with 24 points and 3 rebounds. Sahara Williams scored 14 points in 15 minutes of play as she made 8 of 10 free throws. Payton Verhulst scored 11 with 3 rebounds. Verhulst 2 from the lane gave the Sooners the lead for good inside a minute to play. Off the bench, Reyna Scott scored 9 points as she played 10 minutes in the second half. Aubrey Joens added 5 off the bench with an important 3-pointer late in the game. Williams' 14 points in her NCAA Championship debut were the most for an Oklahoma freshman since Shaina Pellington's 17 in 2017.

Oklahoma will need to cleanup their turnovers as they committed 19 on Saturday and allowed 24 points off those miscues.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the 3rd straight win in the first round of the NCAA Tourney under Coach Jennie Baranczyk.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/3/23 ... tournament

Good luck to the Sooners as they prepare to play Indiana on Monday. Indiana features two players. The first player is Holmes, a 6'3" Forward who scored 19.7 PPG and 7 Rebounds per game. The second player is Scalia, a 5'10" Guard who scores 16.5 PPG and has made 100 three's this season.

Boomer Sooner!