Sooners Return to Action Wednesday

Dec. 26, 2011


	Morgan Hook

Oklahoma (7-3) vs. TCU (6-5)
Date & Tip Time	Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 7:07 p.m. CT
Location	Norman, Okla. \| Lloyd Noble Center \| Seating Views
Tickets	$5, $8 and $15; Free to OU students with valid OU I.D. OU Athletics Ticket Office
TV	Sooner Sports Network (DirecTV 676, DISH 416) Oklahoma City: KAUT TV-43 (COX 16, 714 HD) Tulsa: FS Oklahoma Plus (COX 267) Bartlesville: FS Oklahoma Plus (Cable One 77) Bixby: FS Oklahoma Plus (BTC 52) Tahlequah: FS Oklahoma Plus (Tahlequah Cable 3)
Radio	Sooner Sports Network Oklahoma City: KOKC 1520 AM Tulsa: KAKC 1300 AM
Webcast	SoonerSports.com All-Access
Live Stats	SoonerSports.com GameTracker
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF)

THE GAME PLAN
Oklahoma returns to the Lloyd Noble Center following holiday break looking to extend its four-game winning streak against TCU. The game will be televised on the Sooner Sports Network with Chad McKee and Billy Tubbs calling the action. The radio broadcast with Brian Brinkley airs on KOKC 1520 AM in the Oklahoma City metro area and KAKC 1300 AM in Tulsa. A webcast and live audio are available on SoonerSports.com All-Access.

Tickets Available
• Season Tickets are available for as low as $114. Tickets may be purchased online at SoonerSports.com or by calling the OU Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-456-GoOU.
• Single-game tickets went on sale to the general public Nov. 1. Prices are $15 for reserved seating, $8 for general admission adults and $5 for general admission youths and senior citizens. OU students receive free admission when presenting a valid ID.

The Teams
•TCU is 6-5, having last defeated Tulsa 60-43 Tuesday, Dec. 20. The Horned Frogs are not ranked in either the Associated Press or USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Polls.
• OU leads the series 11-3 and is 7-0 in Norman. This will be the last non-conference meeting between the two teams as TCU joins the Big 12 next season.
• Oklahoma is 7-3 after sweeping the three-day, three-game Duel in the Desert at UNLV's COX Pavilion in Las Vegas. Following its first three-game losing streak since March 2008, the Sooners have won four straight leading start to finish.

The Coaches
• Sherri Coale is 343-158 (.685) in her 16th season at Oklahoma. She has been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year four times.
• TCU head coach Jeff Mittie is 266-131 (.670) in his 13th year at TCU and 417-190 (.687) in his 20th overall.

Next Game
• Oklahoma begins conference play in Norman hosting Iowa State at 7 p.m. on Jan. 4. The game will be televised on the Sooner Sports Network.

TCU Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2011-12 Statistics
2	Whitney Williams	G	5-7	RS-Jr.	7.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg
1	Antoinette Thompson	G	5-7	Sr.	9.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg
33	Briesha Wynn	F	6-0	So.	7.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg
4	Chelsea Prince	F	5-11	Fr.	7.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg
21	Latricia Lovings	C	6-2	So.	5.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg

Oklahoma Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2011-12 Statistics
10	Morgan Hook	G	5-10	So.	13.5 ppg, 4.4 apg
3	Aaryn Ellenberg	G	5-7	So.	17.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg
25	Whitney Hand	G	6-1	RS-Jr.	11.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg
53	Joanna McFarland	F	6-3	Jr.	8.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg
4	Nicole Griffin	C	6-6	So.	5.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg

PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA
The Sooners were picked by the league's coaches to finish fourth in the Big 12 Conference this season. The media voted Oklahoma 15th in the Preseason Associated Press Poll and the Preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll had Oklahoma at No. 16.

Oklahoma returns to the court following a third straight Sweet 16 appearance. OU returns nine letterwinners from that squad and introduces four freshmen.

The Sooners must replace one of its most successful senior classes after the graduation of two-time All-American point guard and eligibility exhausted for Carlee Roethlisberger and Lauren Willis. That trio claimed 54 wins inside the Lloyd Noble Center, the most by Oklahoma in a four-year span.

Redshirt junior Whitney Hand is finally back to 100 percent health after suffering an ACL tear in November 2009 and returning to action in January 2011.

Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg, the team's top returning scorer, was true to self in the team's preseason scrimmage by leading the scoring with 22 points.

Unfortunately, senior Jasmine Hartman will not play in 2011-12 after tearing her ACL in a September workout and Lyndsey Cloman doing the same in OU's first exhibition game on Nov. 2.

Captains for 2011-12
Junior Lyndsey Cloman, redshirt junior Whitney Hand and senior Jasmine Hartman are co-captains of the Sooners this season. The captains were voted by their teammates.

All Home Games Televised
All 14 of OU's regular season home games plus the two exhibition contests will be televised either locally on the Sooner Sports Network or nationally on Fox Sports Net or ESPN2.

OU's games on the Sooner Sports Network are also webcast on SoonerSports.com All-Access subscription site (exhibitions free).

An additional eight road games are scheduled to be televised on various networks, giving OU a guaranteed slate of 24 television broadcasts in 2011-12.

Sooner to Watch

Whitney Hand | Jr. | Guard
Hand regained her rhythm after battling an 8-game shooting slump that saw only 15 percent of her 3-point attempts go through the net. The Fort Worth native scored a game-high 19 points to lead OU's victory over Xavier and sweep the Duel in the Desert. Next she'll face her hometown team in TCU and memories of her return to the lineup when she had a career day against the Horned Frogs following 401 days of rehab after tearing her ACL.

PREVIEWING TCU
TCU was the preseason pick to win the Mountain West but suffered a blow when its top player, junior forward Starr Crawford, a second-team all-conference selection last season, was ruled out for the season due to injury.

The Horned Frogs are 6-5 with five wins coming in their last six games using key free-throw shooting and a stingy defense that caused an average of 19 turnovers.

Natalie Ventress, who started the first nine games but has come off the bench in the last two, and Antoinette Thompson lead TCU with both scoring 9.3 points per game.

Six-foot-two sophomore Latricia Lovings contributes 5.2 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds. Lovings has 48 blocks in just 34 career games and is already among TCU's all-time top 10 in swats.

HOOK IS MVP
Morgan Hook was named the MVP of the Basketball Travelers Duel in Desert, held at UNLV's COX Pavilion in Las Vegas Dec. 18-20.

Hook averaged 15.3 points, 5.0 assists and hit 73 percent of her shots as she guided Oklahoma to a three-game sweep of Ohio, Syracuse and Xavier by an average margin of victory of 24 points.

TWO SOONERS ON NAISMITH WATCH
Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg and redshirt-junior Whitney Hand were among the 51 women's college basketball players on the Naismith Trophy Early-Season Watch List released Nov. 29.

Ellenberg has averaged 21.3 points through Oklahoma's six games this season and has been the team's leading scorer in each. Against Liberty, the 5-7 guard set an OU record by making a 3-pointer in a 23rd consecutive game.

Hand has totaled 10.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game as she recently crossed 700 career points.

700 Club
Redshirt-junior Whitney Hand crossed the 750-career-points milestone in her 70th game as a Sooner. Hand has scored 769 career points in 71 games (70 starts). At her career average of 10.8 points and at least 21 games remaining for the Sooners in 2011-12, Hand is on pace to near 1,000 points by the end of her junior year.

Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg reached 100 points this season by OU's fifth game, an average pace of 20.0 that ranked third all-time at Oklahoma behind Courtney Paris' freshman and sophomore years.

With 741 points, Ellenberg is on pace to become OU's 26th 1,000-point scorer by the end of February.

Ellenberg's Streak Ends
Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg broke an Oklahoma record versus Liberty on Nov. 25 by making a 3-pointer in 23 consecutive games, which ended at 29 (Dec. 20) when she was 0-for-1 from 3 against Xavier.

Ellenberg already owned OU's single-season 3-pointers made record holder after hitting 94 as a freshman.

The sophomore has already scored 175 points this season, 78 (51 percent) of which have come from beyond the arc.

ROBINSON EARNS NCAA TOP VIII AWARD
Former Oklahoma women's basketball standout Danielle Robinson was one of eight student-athletes selected by the NCAA to receive one of its highest honors.

Robinson will be recognized in January 2012 as a Today's Top VIII Award winner.

The NCAA Today's Top VIII Award recognizes student-athletes who completed their athletics eligibility during the 2010-11 academic year for their success on the fields and courts, in the classroom and in the community. Award recipients will be recognized at the Honors Celebration on Jan. 13 during the NCAA Convention in Indianapolis.

500th VICTORY APPROACHING
Sherri Coale guided Norman High School to two state championships and a 147-40 record in seven years before becoming the Sooners' head coach.

In the collegiate ranks, Coale has 343 victories in 16 seasons, leaving her just 10 wins shy of 500 in her career as a head coach.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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