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University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooners Begin Big 12 Play with Kansas
December 29, 2015 | Women's Basketball
KANSAS
18/19 OKLAHOMA
DECEMBER 30 | 7 p.m. CT | NORMAN, OKLA.
WEDNESDAY'S GAME BASICS
No. 18/19 Oklahoma (9-2) returns home after a 10-day layoff and begins Big 12 play on Wednesday as the Sooners take on Kansas (5-6) at 7 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners are 4-1 at home this season with an average scoring margin of + 20.8. OU has won 10 straight Big 12 openers dating back to the 2005 season. The Jayhawks are 5-6 this season and under the direction of head coach Brandon Schneider.
ON THE AIR
Wednesday's contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Ed Murray calling the action. The game will be televised by Sooner Sports TV on Fox Sports Oklahoma/Fox Sports Southwest +/Fox College Sports Central with Bob Carpenter and Brenda VanLengen announcing.
TICKETS/PROMOTIONS
Tickets are available starting at $8 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and online here. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. OU students will be admitted free with a valid school I.D.
Wednesday night's game will be Star Wars night at Lloyd Noble Center. The first 500 fans will take home a light saber. OU players T'ona Edwards, Shaya Kellogg, Gileysa Penzo, McKenna Treece and LaNesia Williams will sign autographs postgame in the southwest concourse.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• The No. 18/19 Sooners begin their 20th season of Big 12 play when it hosts Kansas on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. Oklahoma owns a 33-30 all-time series lead against Kansas and possesses a 15-11 advantage in games played in Norman. Head coach Sherri Coale is 19-6 against the Jayhawks and has won 16 out of the last 19 meetings with Kansas dating back to 2000.
• Kaylon Williams recorded her fourth double-double in the last five games with 12 points and 13 rebounds against Texas A&M on Dec. 20. The redshirt senior forward is averaging 16.2 points and 12.0 rebounds per game over the last five contests. She leads the Sooners with 14 career double-doubles and is third in the Big 12 with five double-doubles this season.
• The Sooners have won 10 straight Big 12 openers and are 17-2 when beginning their conference slate under Sherri Coale. OU is 15-4 under Coale in Big 12 home openers, winning 10 of its last 11.
Sophomore guard Gabbi Ortiz is averaging 10.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the last five games for the Sooners.
• OU is 4-1 this season in home games, averaging 70.6 points and outshooting its opponents .436 to .334 from the field and .370 to .272 from behind the arc. The Sooners starting five is shooting .423 from the field in home games this season. The duo of Kaylon Williams (29 of 56, .517) and Peyton Little (25 of 54, .463) are a combined 54 of 110 (.491) from the field at the Lloyd Noble Center this season. Little is also 11 of 26 (.423) from 3-point range at home.
• Eight OU players are averaging double-figure minutes for the Sooners during non-conference play. Gabbi Ortiz (28.2), Maddie Manning (28.9) and Peyton Little (31.7) are averaging 25-plus minutes per contest. Little's 31.7 minutes per game is the fifth-best average in the conference heading into Wednesday's game.
GAME 11 RECAP: TEXAS A&M
• Redshirt senior forward Kaylon Williams picked up her third straight double-double, but No. 17 Oklahoma let a 10-point third-quarter lead slip away as No. 18 Texas A&M rallied to earn a 74-68 win over the Sooners on Dec. 20 in Oklahoma City.
• Williams, a preseason All-Big 12 honorable mention pick, finished with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds in the loss. The redshirt senior has five double-doubles this season and has scored in double figures in all 11 games.
• The Sooners led 45-35 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. Texas A&M's Chelsea Jennings made a pair of free throws to spark a 21-2 run and Texas A&M led 56-47 at the end the third. The Aggies' Courtney Williams scored six points and Courtney Walker had five during the span. Williams finished with a game-high 23 points, while Walker added in 18.
• Junior guard Derica Wyatt scored 11 points on 4 of 11 shooting for OU, while redshirt junior guard Maddie Manning chipped in 10 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Manning played a career-high 38 minutes for the Sooners and the redshirt junior set a career-high with three blocks against Texas A&M.
PREVIEWING KANSAS
• Kansas enters Big 12 play with a 5-6 record and has lost four out of its last five games. The Jayhawks are 0-2 this season in true road contests (lost at Arizona [67-52] and at SMU [73-64]). Kansas averages 62.3 points per game, shoots .394 from the field, .302 from behind the arc and .659 from the free throw line.
• Junior forward Caelynn Manning-Allen is 28th in the Big 12 in scoring (10.0 ppg) and is tied for ninth in rebounding (7.1 rpg). Manning-Allen leads Kansas with 22 blocks (2.0 bpg), which is the sixth-best total in the league.
• Lauren Aldridge leads the Jayhawks with 13.0 points per game in 35.5 minutes per contest. The sophomore guard has recorded double-figure scoring games nine times in 11 contest this year. Kylee Kopatich averages 11.5 points per game and has scored in double-digits in seven straight games for the Jayhawks. Kopatich earned her first career double-double with a 14-point, 11-rebound performance against Oral Roberts in Kansas' last non-conference game of the season.
• Kansas is led by head coach Brandon Schneider, who is in his first season in Lawrence. Schneider is in his 17th year has a head coach and spent the last five seasons at Stephen F. Austin, where he led the program to three postseason appearances. He also served as the head coach at Emporia State from 1998-2010. He boasts a 406-144 (.811) record.
• Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 33-30, against Kansas. The Sooners have won four out of the last five matchups in the series.
• Kansas topped the Sooners in OU's final home game last season with a 65-58 win at Lloyd Noble Center. OU is 15-11 all-time against the Jayhawks in Norman.
• OU head coach Sherri Coale is 19-6 against the Jayhawks at OU and 8-3 versus Kansas at Lloyd Noble Center.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE KAY KAY
• Redshirt senior forward Kaylon Williams has logged double-doubles in four of the last five games for the Sooners. Williams leads OU with 14 career double-doubles and is just two shy of cracking the top 10 in OU history.
• Williams has averaged 16.2 points and 12.0 rebounds per game over the last four contests. During the 2015-16 season, she has scored in double figures in all 11 games. Dating back to last year, Williams has finished in double-digits 18 times in the last 19 games for the Sooners.
• The Midwest City, Okla., native is 25th in the nation with in double-doubles (5), 34th in field goal percentage (.568) and also ranks 54th in the country with 9.3 rebounds per game.
• The redshirt senior ranks seventh all-time in OU history with 275 offensive rebounds and is tied for 10th with 60 blocks. Her .549 career field goal percentage is the 14th-best mark among active players in the NCAA.
ON THE RISE
• Oklahoma has won 10 straight Big 12 openers and is 17-2 in its first conference game of the year under head coach Sherri Coale. OU's last loss to begin its Big 12 slate came in 2005 at Texas Tech (L, 70-64).
• The Sooners are 15-4 in Big 12 home openers under Coale. Oklahoma has won 10 of its last 11 Big 12 home openers at Lloyd Noble Center dating back to the 2003-04 season.
• OU opened conference play by winning seven straight Big 12 games to open its league slate last season. The Sooners started their Big 12 schedule with a 71-60 victory over West Virginia behind 24 points from Gioya Carter.
QUICK HITTERS
Kaylon Williams is looking for her fourth consecutive double-double when OU takes on Kansas Wednesday night.
• Kaylon Williams' 15 rebounds against Little Rock marked the most rebounds by an OU player since Joanna McFarland logged 16 boards against UCLA in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. She is tied for second in the Big 12 with 68 defensive rebounds this season. Williams also ranks 10th in the Big 12 and 34th nationally with a .568 shooting percentage.
• Peyton Little's 23 steals is the fifth-most in the Big 12 this season. She has collected 26 percent (23 of 89) of OU's steals this year.
• Oklahoma is 59th in the NCAA with 183 assists and has recorded 20 or more assists three times this season. The Sooners' 16.6 assists per game rank 37th in the nation heading into Wednesday's game vs. Kansas.
• OU is 8-0 this season when outrebounding its opponent. The Sooners have dominated the boards over the last six games with a +7.0 margin on the glass. The Sooners have held 10 of their 11 opponents to sub-45 percent field goal shooting (seven times in the last eight games). OU has held nine of its 11 foes to sub 33-percent 3-point shooting this season.
• Head coach Sherri Coale picked up her 200th non-conference victory on Dec. 6 in OU's 71-68 comeback victory at Washington. Coale also won her 425th game at Oklahoma with the Sooners' 76-61 win over Boston College (Nov. 28)
• Coale will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on June 30, 2016, in Knoxville, Tenn. Coale is OU's all-time leader in wins (429) and has led the Sooners to three Final Fours and 16 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
• The Sooners return the majority of their production in every statistical category for 2015-16. That includes 81 percent of the team's points and rebounds, along with 85 percent of its assists, 81 percent of its blocks and 78 percent of its steals. OU also brings back 80 percent of its made 3-point field goals and its free throw production. 11 letterwinners return from last season's squad that combined to play 5,377 minutes a year ago.
• The Sooners are 294-212 (.581) all-time against Big 12 competition and 201-111 under Coale.
UP NEXT
The Sooners travel to Waco, Texas on Sunday for their first road test of Big 12 play against No. 4/4 Baylor. The game will air on FS1 at 3:30 p.m. CT. Oklahoma won the last meeting between the two teams with a 68-64 win in Norman. The Sooners lead the all-times series, 26-20.
For more information on Oklahoma women's basketball, follow the Sooners on Twitter (@OU_WBBall) or like Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball on Facebook.
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