No. 24 Sooners Begin New Year Against TCU

TCU

^24/24 Oklahoma

january 1 | 2 p.m. (CT) | norman, okla.

SUNDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 24/24 Oklahoma (10-3, 1-0 Big 12) goes for its third straight home win as it hosts TCU (8-4, 0-1 Big 12) on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT. The Sooners, who have won nine games by double digits this year, are 6-1 at home this season and coming off an 84-54 victory at Kansas Thursday night. TCU, which is 0-2 in true road games this season, fell to No. 12 West Virginia, 83-61, Thursday night in Fort Worth, Texas.

ON THE AIR

Sunday's game will air live on Fox Sports Oklahoma with Dave Barnett, Angela Beck and Megan McDonald announcing. Fans can also watch the game online through FoxSportsGo.com or the Fox Sports Go app. The contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Ed Murray calling the action.

TICKETS

Tickets are available for as low as $8 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and online here. Fans can also use the promo code “STUDENT” to purchase $10 tickets to sit in the OU student section and receive a replica jersey.

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

• Oklahoma owns a 19-4 all-time record against TCU and has won eight out of the last 10 meetings. The Sooners are 12-0 in the series in Norman, and posted a 77-64 victory over the Horned Frogs at Lloyd Noble Center last season. Box scores and cumulative stats from last year's two meetings are on page 15 of these notes.

• OU is the only team in the country to rank in the top 15 nationally in blocked shots and steals. The Sooners are 11th in blocked shots (76) and 13th in steals (149). OU also leads the Big 12 and ranks 25th in the Division I with 11.2 steals per game. The Sooners are second in the league with a +4.2 turnover margin.

• Redshirt senior Maddie Manning looks to continue her strong run of performances Sunday, after scoring a team-high 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting at Kansas. The Ankeny, Iowa, native leads the Big 12 and ranks 26th nationally with 3.0 steals per game. Over the last six games, the redshirt senior is averaging 17.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.3 steals and 1.5 assists per game on .486 field goal and .522 3-point shooting. Manning was selected Big 12 Player of the Week on Monday following her performance at the Puerto Rico Classic.

• Oklahoma has outscored its opponents off turnovers in five straight games and in 10 of 13 contests this year. In the last five games, the Sooners have scored 25.8 points off turnovers, while holding opponents to just 12.8 per contest.

• Freshman center Nancy Mulkey ranks second in the Big 12 with 2.2 blocks per contest. Mulkey finished with career highs of 14 points, nine rebounds and seven rebounds against Kansas Thursday night in her first career start. The seven blocks by Mulkey are tied for the fifth-most in a single game by an OU player in school history (also tied for the 11th-most in a single game nationally this season). The Cypress, Texas, native is already fourth in OU freshman history with 28 blocks.

GAME 13 RECAP: KANSAS

• Four Sooners scored in double figures Thursday night as No. 24/24 Oklahoma rolled past Kansas, 84-54, at Allen Fieldhouse. The victory marked the 12th straight year OU won its opening league game.

• Maddie Manning led the Sooners with a game-high 17 points, her sixth straight double-digit scoring game. Chelsea Dungee and Peyton Little both added in 15 points against Kansas.

• In her first start as a Sooner, Nancy Mulkey finished with career highs of 14 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. The seven blocks by the freshman are tied for the fifth-most ever in a single game by a Sooner, while Mulkey finished just one rebound shy of her first career double-double.

• OU finished with a .516 (33-of-64) shooting percentage from the field and .467 (7-of-15) clip from 3-point range. The Sooners won the rebounding battle, 50-47, against the Jayhawks. Gabbi Ortiz tied her career-high with eight assists as OU finished with 21 helpers in the victory. The Sooners led 42-31 at halftime as Manning scored 12 of her 17 points in the opening half. After Kansas trimmed the OU lead down to five points early in the third quarter, the Sooners responded with 3-pointers from Dungee, Little and Manning to extend its advantage back to double figures.

PREVIEWING TCU

• TCU is 8-4 overall and 0-1 in Big 12 play. The Horned Frogs are 0-2 on the road this season with losses coming at No. 2 Notre Dame (92-59) on Nov. 26 and LSU (67-61) on Dec. 4. TCU is coming off an 83-61 home loss to No. 12 West Virginia. The Horned Frogs lead the Big 12 and rank first nationally with a .443 3-point shooting percentage, while their 8.4 treys per contest are second in the league (25th in the NCAA). TCU averages 74.6 points per game (fifth in the Big 12) on .467 field goal shooting (third).

• Redshirt sophomore forward Amy Okonkwo leads three Horned Frogs who average double figures in scoring. Okonkwo averages 12.3 points on .593 field goal and .600 3-point shooting (leads the Big 12). Junior guard AJ Alix averages 10.2 points and 4.4 assists per contest, while knocking down 2.4 3-pointers per game. Senior guard Jada Butts is averaging 10.0 points per game and is fifth in the Big 12 with a .462 3-point shooting percentage.

• Freshman guard Amber Ramirez, a 2016 McDonald's All-American, is fourth on the team with 9.6 points per game, but has missed the last four contests due to injury. She was named Big 12 Freshman of the Week on Dec. 5. Freshman guard Mikayla Christian earned Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors for her game-high 19 points versus Alcorn State.

• TCU head coach Raegan Pebley is 44-33 in her three seasons with the Horned Frogs. Pebley is her in 14th season as a collegiate head coach and owns a 200-208 career mark. She is 0-4 against the Sooners during her tenure at TCU.

Junior guard Gabbi Ortiz tied her career high with eight assists at Kansas Thursday night.

QUICK HITS

• Oklahoma's 30-point win over Kansas Thursday night was its biggest margin of victory against a Big 12 opponent on the road since the Sooners topped Texas Tech, 68-65, on Jan. 2, 2014.

• The 11 blocks by the Sooners against Kansas are tied for the sixth-best most rejections in one game in school history (most against a Big 12 opponent since recording 11 versus Texas on Jan. 21, 2012).

• OU is the only team in the country to rank in the top 15 nationally in blocked shots and steals. The Sooners are 11th in blocked shots and 13th in steals. OU also leads the Big 12 and ranks 25th in the Division I with 11.2 steals per game. The Sooners are second in the league with a +4.2 turnover margin.

• Both Chelsea Dungee and Nancy Mulkey started Thursday night's Big 12 opener at Kansas -- the first time since the 2002-03 season that two freshmen made starts in OU's conference opener. The last time a pair of freshmen started for the Sooners to begin league play came on Jan. 11, 2003 at Nebraska when Laura Andrews and Chelsi Welch were in OU's starting five.

• Against Kansas, OU's freshman pair of Dungee and Mulkey combined for 29 points, 11 rebounds, seven blocks, two steals. Both Dungee and Mulkey finished 6-for-9 from the field in the victory over the Jayhawks.

• Maddie Manning's 10 steals against Portland State on Dec. 21 rank as the most by a Division I player in a single game this season and the most by an OU player in one game since 1996.

• Over the last three games, OU has combined to record 54 steals (18.0 per game). The 27 steals by the Sooners against Portland State on Dec. 21 are tied for the sixth-most in a single game in Division I this year.

• Through 13 games, the Sooners have doubled their block total from this time last season. OU has logged 76 blocks (5.8 per game) to begin the season, which ranks 11th in Division I. The Sooners finished 136th in the nation a year ago with 112 blocked shots (3.4 per game). At this point last season, OU had just 39 blocks (3.0 blocks per game).

• In all 10 wins, OU has attempted more free throws than its opponents and the Sooners have averaged 15.7 made free throws in each victory. OU ranks second in the Big 12 with a .696 free throw percentage this season.

• The Sooners have been ranked in the AP Poll for 30 consecutive weeks (tied for the 11th-longest active streak in the country). OU has been ranked in the AP poll 250 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 945 points, averaging 12.0 per game as a Sooner. She needs 55 points to become the 32nd Sooner to score 1,000 points at Oklahoma.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma takes on Kansas State at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday night inside Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners split the season series a year ago with OU taking the meeting in Norman, 68-58. The Sooners lead the all-time series, 37-24, and are 19-9 against the Wildcats in Norman.

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