Sooners Open Tournament in Las Vegas Monday

^20/22 Oklahoma

xavier

december 19 | 4:15 p.m. (CT) | las vegas, nev.

Notes

MONDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 20/22 Oklahoma (7-2) opens the 2016 Puerto Rico Classic in Las Vegas, Nev., on Monday afternoon at 4:15 p.m. CT at South Point Arena. The event is being played in Las Vegas due to concerns over the Zika virus in Puerto Rico. The Sooners will be playing their first game in eight days after wrapping up final exams for the fall semester.

OU defeated Tulsa, 85-68, in its final home non-conference game of the season on Dec. 9. Xavier (7-1) boasts one of the nation's top defenses, ranking 14th in Division I this season in scoring defense (52.4 ppg).

ON THE AIR

Monday's game will be streamed online here. The contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Brian Brinkley calling the action.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• No. 20/22 Oklahoma wraps up its non-conference schedule as the Sooners travel to Las Vegas, Nev. for the 2016 Puerto Rico Classic at South Point Arena. The event was originally scheduled to be play in San Juan, P.R., but was relocated to Las Vegas due to the threat of the Zika virus. The Sooners will face Xavier (Dec. 19), California (Dec. 20) and Portland State (Dec. 21) at the three-day tournament.

• In OU's final home non-conference game of the season, redshirt senior guard Maddie Manning finished with a career-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Sooners to an 85-68 victory over Tulsa. Manning also pulled down eight rebounds in the win and added in three steals off the bench. She currently ranks second on the team in scoring average with 11.1 points a game.

• Over the last two games, OU's bench has paced the Sooners' attack. In its wins over UTRGV and Tulsa, OU's bench combined to score 103 points. It's the most by points scored by OU's reserves during a two-game stretch since the 2014-15 season. Against Tulsa, the Sooners finished with a season-high 55 points from their bench, their most in a single game since registering 58 versus Bradley on Nov. 21, 2014.

• The Sooners continue to rank among the nation's leaders in blocked shots per game this season. OU currently ranks 15th in Division I with 6.2 blocks shots per game this year. The last time OU finished in the top 25 in the country for blocked shots per game came in 2008-09, when the Sooners averaged 5.7 rejections a contest. Heading into the Puerto Rico Classic, OU has 56 blocks in nine games this year. It took the Sooners 20 games to have as many blocks during the 2015-16 season.

• The Sooners are 4-0 all-time when playing in Las Vegas with three of the four wins coming at the Duel in the Desert Tournament in 2011. OU won all three games to claim the tournament title.

GAME NINE RECAP: TULSA

• Maddie Manning scored a career-high 24 points as No. 19 Oklahoma rolled past Tulsa, 85-68, on Dec. 9 at Lloyd Noble Center. Five other Sooners scored at least eight points against the Golden Hurricane, including 15 from redshirt senior Peyton Little and 10 from freshman Nancy Mulkey.

• The 24-point performance for Manning marked the first-ever game with 20-plus points during her OU career, as she led the Sooners with eight rebounds and picked up three steals. In the second half, Manning paced OU's offensive attack with 16 of her game-high 24 points. The redshirt senior finished 6-of-8 from the field in the game's final 20 minutes, hitting a pair of treys and recording five rebounds.

• The Sooners, who led for nearly the entire game, jumped out to a 25-16 first-quarter lead after shooting .571 (8-for-14) from the floor in the opening frame. Little hit her first three shot attempts to begin the game, while freshman Chelsea Dungee scored five of her nine points in the opening quarter.

• The Sooners combated Tulsa's 3-point shooting effort by forcing 21 Golden Hurricane turnovers and scoring 25 points off of TU miscues. OU also posted a season-high 15 steals, its most in a single game since recording 15 at TCU last year.

PREVIEWING XAVIER

• Big East member Xavier enters Monday's game with a 7-1 record following its 72-61 victory over Cincinnati. The Musketeers boast one of the nation's top defenses, ranking 14th in the country in scoring defense, limiting opponents to just 52.4 points a game. Xavier is holding its opponents to a .349 field goal percentage and a .255 3-point shooting percentage through eight games.

• Redshirt senior Raeshaun Gaffney leads the Musketeers in scoring, averaging 15.9 points per game. Gaffney finished with a game-high 24 points in Xavier's victory at Cincinnati. The redshirt senior is shooting .424 from the floor and boasts a .400 3-point shooting percentage this year.

• Senior Maddison Blackwell is second on the squad with 9.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Redshirt sophomore Kindell Fincher averages 9.1 points a game, while Leah Schaefer leads the Musketeers with 7.8 rebounds per game.

• Xavier head coach Brian Neal is 50-52 in his four seasons with the Musketeers. Before taking over as head coach prior to the 2013-14 season, Neal served as an assistant at Xavier for two seasons. His first head coaching stint came at Thomas More College from 2004-11.

OFF THE BENCH

• OU's bench players have provided 103 points (51.5 per game) over the last two contests. The 103 points from OU's bench were the most in back-to-back games for the Sooners since combing for 108 in a two-game stretch versus Bradley and Lamar during the 2014-15 season.

• The Sooners received a season-high 55 point from its reserves last Sunday versus Tulsa as Maddie Manning provided a career-high 24 points off the bench. Manning, who has came off the bench in the last three games, is averaging 15.0 points per game with a .514 shooting percentage during that stretch.

• Against Tulsa, OU's 77 minutes played by starters marked the third fewest in the Coale era. The fewest minutes played by an OU team was 74 against Bradley in 2014.

Freshman center Nancy Mulkey has scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the Sooners.

QUICK HITS

• The Sooners are 10-2 against current members of the Big East Conference: Butler (1-0), Creighton (5-0), DePaul (1-1), Marquette (1-0), St. John's (0-1), Villanova (1-0) and Xavier (1-0). OU's last meeting with a Big East opponent came in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, falling to DePaul, 104-100, in Durham, N.C.

• The Sooners are 41-5 all-time against unranked teams at neutral sites with only one loss coming during the regular season (lost to Iowa, 54-47, on Nov. 27, 2004, in the Junkanoo Jam).

• Redshirt freshman guard Morgan Rich is eligible to make her OU debut at this week's Puerto Rico Classic in Las Vegas. Rich, who transferred from Kentucky in Dec. 2015, scored 2,433 points at Allen County-Scottsville (Ky.) High School.

• In all seven wins, OU has attempted more free throws than its opponents and the Sooners have averaged 16.3 made free throws in each victory. OU ranks second in the Big 12 with a .719 free throw percentage.

• The Sooners have been ranked in the AP Poll for 25 consecutive weeks (tied for the 11th-longest active streak in the country). OU has been ranked in the AP poll 248 times under Sherri Coale.

• Peyton Little eclipsed the 1,000-point scoring mark for her collegiate career in the first quarter at Kentucky on Dec. 1. 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 890 points, averaging 11.9 per game as a Sooner. She needs 110 points to become the 32nd Sooner to score 1,000 points at Oklahoma.

• Over the last 10 seasons, the Sooners rank second in the Big 12 in overall wins (218) and conference victories (144). OU is the only team in the Big 12 to make every NCAA Tournament since 2000.

UP NEXT

The Sooners continue the 2016 Puerto Rico Classic on Tuesday as they face California. Tip-off is set for 8:45 p.m. CT at South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. OU is 1-2 all-time against Cal, winning the last meeting, 86-75, on Dec. 13, 2008 in San Jose, Calif.

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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— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_WBBall) December 19, 2016