No. 13/12 OU Takes On Colorado State Sunday

colorado STATE

^13/12 Oklahoma

November 27 | 2 p.m. | NORMAN, OKLA.

Notes

SUNDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 13/12 Oklahoma (4-0) looks to continue its undefeated start to the 2016-17 season as its hosts Colorado State (2-2) on Sunday at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners picked up their fourth win of the season by taking down South Dakota State, 74-60, on Wednesday at home. Colorado State, who won the Mountain West last season and finished with a 31-2 overall record, is under the direction of fifth-year head coach Ryun Williams.

ON THE AIR

Sunday's game will air on Fox Sports Southwest with Toby Rowland, Dan Hughes and Jessica Coody announcing. The contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Brian Brinkley calling the action.

TICKETS

Tickets are available for $8 and $15 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and online here. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open at 12:30 p.m. CT on Sunday. OU students will be admitted free with a valid school I.D.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• No. 13/12 Oklahoma is off to its best start since winning seven straight games to open the 2010-11 season. Sunday's game marks OU's third straight matchup against a 2016 NCAA Tournament participant as Colorado State visits Norman. The series is tied, 1-1, between the Sooners and the Rams with OU winning the lone meeting at Lloyd Noble Center (72-58, Jan. 10, 1987).

• Peyton Little needs just 13 points to reach 1,000 points during her collegiate career between Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Little has scored in double figures in three consecutive games and led the Sooners with 17 points in OU's win against South Dakota State on Wednesday. She is 169 points away from becoming the 32nd OU player to reach 1,000 career points as a Sooner.

• OU will look to build upon its defensive success early in the season. Through its first four games, OU's opponents are averaging 56.8 points per game, a .342 shooting percentage, a .250 clip from 3-point range and a .550 mark from the free throw line. In Division I, the Sooners also rank 22nd in rebounds per game (46.8 rpg) and 23rd in blocks per game (6.3 bpg).

• The Sooners entered the season ranked in both the AP and USA Today Coaches Poll. OU moved up three spots to No. 13 in the latest AP Poll (highest AP ranking since Nov. 18, 2013). The Sooners have been ranked in the AP Poll for 22 consecutive weeks (13th-longest active streak in the country). OU made the biggest jump of any team in this week's USA Today Coaches Poll, sliding up five spots to No. 12 (highest USA Today Coaches Poll ranking since Dec. 3, 2012).

• Oklahoma finished the 2015-16 season with a 22-11 overall record (11-7 Big 12; tied for fourth) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament (No. 6 seed/second round) for the 17th consecutive year. The Sooners return four starters and 82 percent of their scoring and rebounding along with 94 percent of their assists from last year's team, including 2016 Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Vionise Pierre-Louis.

GAME FOUR RECAP: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE

• Three Sooners scored in double figures as No. 13/12 Oklahoma topped South Dakota State, 74-60, on Wednesday at Lloyd Noble Center. Oklahoma forced South Dakota State to a season-high 22 turnovers as the Sooners recorded a season-best 12 steals.

• Peyton Little led the way with a team-high 17 points on 5-of-15 shooting including a team-best four 3-pointers. The redshirt senior has led OU in scoring in three of the first four games this season, and needs just 13 points to reach 1,000 for her collegiate career.

• Vionise Pierre-Louis picked up her second double-double of the year with a 13-point, 14-rebound performance, while Maddie Manning filled the stat sheet with 15 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds.

• Down 12-10 midway through the first quarter, the Sooners used a 12-0 run that spanned into the second quarter to take the lead for good. Manning sparked the offensive outburst for the Sooners with a 3-pointer to put OU in front.

• T'ona Edwards picked up her 200th career assist in the win as she paced the OU offense off the bench with a season-high six helpers in 26 minutes. On the defensive end, Pierre-Louis, Nancy Mulkey and Ijeoma Odimgbe each added two blocks.

PREVIEWING COLORADO STATE

• Mountain West member Colorado State enters Sunday's game with a 2-2 record after defeating Division II member Adams State, 76-29, in Fort Collins, Colo., on Wednesday. The Rams are 0-2 on the road this year.

• Senior guard Ellen Nystrom leads the Rams with 16.5 points per game this season. Nystrom, the reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, recently became 19th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Senior forward Elin Gustavsson leads the Rams with 7.0 rebounds per game and is also averaging 12.3 points per contest.

• Half of Colorado State's 14-player roster hails from Europe, including five from Sweden (Gustavsson, Amanda Kantzey, Nathalie Linden, Veronika Mirkovic and Nystrom). Sofie Tryggedssson (Denmark), Anna Dremaine (Lativia) and Stine Austuglen (Norway) also are from overseas.

• Colorado State is led fifth-year head coach Ryun Williams has led the Rams to three consecutive Mountain West regular season titles. Williams is 92-39 in five seasons at Colorado State and 350-192 in 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach.

LITTLE CLOSING IN ON 1,000 CAREER POINTS

• Peyton Little is just 13 points away from eclipsing the 1,000-point scoring mark for her collegiate career. Little scored 156 (4.5 ppg) during her freshman season at Texas A&M before transferring to Oklahoma. Since arriving in Norman, Little has scored 831 points, averaging 11.9 per game as a Sooner.

• The redshirt senior has led OU in scoring in the last three games and is averaging 13.5 points per contest (tied for 17th in the Big 12) through the first four games of the season. Little has recorded 45 career double-digit scoring games at Oklahoma. She is also just 21 3-pointers away from breaking into the top 10 for career 3-pointers made as a Sooner.

• Over the last three games, Little is averaging 16.7 points per game with .410 (16-for-39) shooting percentage from the floor and a .444 (8-for-18) clip from 3-point range.

T'ona Edwards led the Sooners with six assists against South Dakota State.

QUICK HITS

• The Sooners are 13-6 against current members of the Mountain West Conference.

• Oklahoma has limited opponents from taking advantage of second-chance points. The Sooners are 23rd in Division I with 31.0 defensive rebounds per game.

• OU boasts one of the nation's most experienced rosters with eight different players combing for 266 career starts. The Sooners return four starters and 82 percent of their scoring and rebounding along with 94 percent of their assists from last year's team including 2016 Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Vionise Pierre-Louis.

• OU is 26-4 and 11-1 against non-conference opponents on its home court over since the start of the 2014-15 season.

• OU reached the 20-win plateau for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons under head coach Sherri Coale a year ago. The Sooners have won at least 20 games 14 times in Coale's 20 years at Oklahoma.

• Oklahoma's non-conference schedule includes matchups against four NCAA Tournament teams from last season (BYU, Colorado State, Kentucky and South Dakota State). The Sooners will play nine of their 14 non-conference matchups at Lloyd Noble Center. OU's first six opponents each won at least 20 games a year ago.

• Oklahoma's non-conference slate along with its 18-game Big 12 schedule will allow the Sooners to play nine teams that were ranked inside the top 50 of the RPI to finish the 2015-16 season.

• Over the last 10 seasons, the Sooners rank second in the Big 12 in overall wins (216) and conference victories (144). OU is the only team in the Big 12 to make every NCAA Tournament since 2000.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma heads to Lexington, Ky., to take on Kentucky in the 2016 SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be played at Memorial Coliseum and televised on the SEC Network. This will be third straight season that OU and Kentucky have met with the Wildcats taking the last matchup, 79-58, in the 2016 NCAA Tournament on March 21.

For more information on Oklahoma women's basketball, follow the Sooners on Twitter (@OU_WBBall) or like Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball on Facebook.