Another Top 25 Team Awaits Sooners

March 1, 2010


	Nyeshia Stevenson

Oklahoma (20-8, 10-4 Big 12) vs. Texas A&M (20-7, 8-6 Big 12)
Date & Tip Time	Tuesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. CT
Location	College Station, Texas \| Reed Arena (12,989)
TV	None
Radio	Sooner Radio Network KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City, KAKC AM 1300 in Tulsa
Webcast	AggieAthletics.com
Live Stats	SoonerSports.com GameTracker
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF)

GAME PREVIEW
No. 11 Oklahoma plays its final regular-season road game Tuesday night at Texas A&M in College Station. The Sooners and Aggies tip off at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on the Sooner Sports Network (KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City and KAKC AM 1300 in Tulsa).

The Teams
• Oklahoma is ranked No. 11 by the Associated Press and No. 10 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll.
• Texas A&M is ranked No. 12 in the AP Poll and 15th by the coaches.
• Oklahoma is 20-8 overall and 10-4 in the Big 12 after defeating then-No. 14 Texas, 75-60, Saturday, Feb. 27.
• Texas A&M is 20-7 overall and 8-6 in the Big 12 after defeating Colorado, 95-61, Saturday.

The Series
• The meeting is the 40th between Oklahoma and Texas A&M. OU leads the all-time series, 26-13, but the Aggies have the advantage in College Station, 9-7. OU won the earlier matchup in Norman, 74-65, but has not won in College Station since 2006.

The Coaches
• Sherri Coale is 306-140 (.686) in her 14th season at Oklahoma. She has been the Big 12 Coach of the Year four times.
• Gary Blair is 557-236 (.702) in his 25th season and 149-73 (.671) in his seventh year at Texas A&M.

The Program
• OU's victory over Kansas (Jan. 23) was victory No. 300 for Sherri Coale. Coale is OU's all-time wins and winning percentage leader.
• OU's all-time program record is 630-433 (.593). OU is 146-75 (.661) all-time in Big 12 regular-season play.

Texas A&M Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2009-10 Statistics
2	Damitria Buchanan	F	6-2	Sr.	3.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg
4	Sydney Carter	G	5-6	So.	7.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg
20	Tyra White	G	6-0	So.	10.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg
21	Adaora Elonu	F	6-1	So.	8.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg
22	Tanisha Smith	G	6-0	Sr.	15.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg

Oklahoma Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2009-10 Statistics
13	Danielle Robinson	G	5-9	Jr.	16.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.2 apg
1	Nyeshia Stevenson	F	5-10	Sr.	14.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg
45	Jasmine Hartman	G	5-11	So.	1.6 ppg, 1.1 rpg
21	Amanda Thompson	F	6-1	Sr.	12.4 ppg, 10.2 rpg
34	Abi Olajuwon	C	6-3	Sr.	10.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg

PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA
The Sooners were picked by the league's coaches to finish fifth in the strong Big 12 Conference this season, but remain in the hunt for a bye in the postseason tournament.

Following a season when Oklahoma notched a program record 32 wins, won its sixth Big 12 regular season title and made its second trip to the Final Four, the Sooners had to make immediate solutions to losses of the Paris twins to graduation and star sophomore Whitney Hand to an ACL injury early in the playing season.

The Sooners are 20-8 overall and 10-4 in the Big 12 with the nation's toughest strength of schedule and No. 7 RPI.

Sooner to Watch
	Nyeshia Stevenson \| Sr. \| Forward/Guard Oklahoma is on the road again, where Nyeshia Stevenson has been the Sooners' top performer. In true road games this season, Stevenson is averaging 16.7 points and shooting 39 percent from 3-point range -- both tops on Oklahoma's roster. Stevenson has averaged 26 points over OU's last two road games.

PREVIEWING TEXAS A&M
No. 12 Texas A&M is the third straight ranked team the Sooners will face as it nears the finish of the nation's toughest schedule Tuesday in College Station, Texas.

Texas A&M has won four of its last five with its only blemish being a two-point loss to Baylor on Feb. 22.

Big 12 Newcomer of the Year candidate Danielle Adams leads the Aggies in scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.1 points and 5.5 rebounds, and Tanisha Smith produces nearly identical numbers, averaging 15.1 and 5.4, respectively.

Tyra White adds 10.5 points per game.

Robinson on Everybody's Watch List
OU junior Danielle Robinson's big play has her in the national spotlight. She's in consideration for All-America honors as well as the Naismith, Wooden and Lieberman awards.

Robinson compares favorably with the past six winners of the Nancy Lieberman Award, given to the nation's top point guard.

Year	Player	G	PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	FT%
2010	Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma	27	16.7	3.0	5.2	.482	.860
2009	Renee Montgomery, UConn	39	16.5	2.1	5.1	.448	.744
2008	Kristi Toliver, Maryland	37	17.1	3.4	7.4	.444	.860
2007	Lindsey Harding, Duke	34	13.6	4.0	3.9	.444	.748
2006	Ivory Latta, North Carolina	35	18.4	2.1	5.2	.455	.852
2005	Temeka Johnson, LSU	36	10.4	3.3	7.7	.479	.723
2004	Diana Taurasi, UConn	35	16.2	4.0	4.9	.456	.795

Robinson Stepping Up Game
Danielle Robinson has been stellar in OU's offense all season -- she's scored at least nine points in every game -- and has picked up much of the slack -- increased her scoring average by four points -- when Whitney Hand torn an ACL in the fifth game of the year. Recently, she added to her bag of tricks.

Following a change in her pre-game ritual before winning at Oklahoma State, Robinson is scoring 17.6 points per game and has increased her assist-to-turnover ratio.

Against Top 10 opponents, Robinson has averaged 20.6 points, 6.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals.

Thompson on for Game Winners
The Sooners have won 10 games by less than 10 points and Amanda Thompson has shot the game-winner in half of those, beating TCU, South Carolina, Arkansas (in overtime), Creighton and Missouri with either free throws or field goals.

Three Reach 1,000 Career Points
Sooners Danielle Robinson, Amanda Thompson and Nyeshia Stevenson have reached 1,000 career points scored this season.

Robinson scored nine points to become Oklahoma's 23rd player to reach 1,000 in a career against Marist, Dec. 9. She now has 1,324 career points scored.

Thompson reached 1,000 career points with a 16-point effort versus No. 1 Connecticut on Feb. 15. Her career total now stands at 1,054.

Stevenson scored 28 points versus Texas on Feb. 27 to reach the milestone and has 1,026 in her career.

Robinson Breaks Multiple FT Records
OU junior Danielle Robinson finished the 2008-09 season as one of the nation's leading free throw shooters. And this year, she is finding many of her opportunities at the line.

Robinson is 117-of-136 (.860) from the charity stripe this season, including a 80-of-84 (.952) effort in Big 12 games.

The junior broke her own OU record (previously 30 set last season) for consecutive free throws made with a streak of 35 straight that ended with a miss on her first attempt againt Baylor, Feb. 10.

Against Oklahoma State on Feb. 6, Robinson made 16-of-16 free throws, breaking OU and Big 12 records for best single-game free throw percentage and most consecutive single-game free throws.

Stevenson Matches 3-Point Record
Nyeshia Stevenson's nine 3-pointers made versus Marist helped her establish a new career scoring high and also matched a 28-year-old Sooner record.

The only other Sooner to make as many 3-pointers in a game was Carin Stites, who did it twice -- vs. Arkansas on Nov. 27, 1990, and vs. UT-San Antonio on Jan. 21, 1991.

Thompson One of a Kind
Senior forward Amanda Thompson, a.k.a. `The Waitress', loves to serve up people. She's only the second Sooner ever -- the other being Courtney Paris -- to record 100 blocks and 100 steals in her career. She's the only one to do so and have 250 assists.

Against Oklahoma State on Feb. 6, Thompson reached her 800th rebound and 250th career assist, making her one of OU's most prolific players, statistically, on both offense and defense.

Block Party
Amanda Thompson is the only Sooner in history under 6-foot-2 to have 30 or more blocks in a season -- a feat she has achieved three times. Thompson reached 30 blocks as a senior in 27 games.

Amanda Thompson had 21 blocks as a freshman, 34 as a sophomore and 31 as a junior. She ranks third all-time on OU's career blocks charts, behind only Courtney Paris (446) and LaNae Jones (243).

NEXT UP
Oklahoma closes the regular season hosting Oklahoma State Sunday, March 7, at 4 p.m. for the final game of the Bedlam Series presented by Oklahoma Farm Bureau.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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