No. 20 OU Heads to West Virginia Wednesday

^20/21OKLAHOMA

WEST VIRGINIA

fEBRUARY 17 | 6 p.m. CT | MORGANTOWN, W. VA.

Notes

WEDNESDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 20/21 Oklahoma (17-7, 8-5 Big 12) begins a two-game road swing at West Virginia (19-7, 8-5 Big 12) Wednesday night at WVU Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CT. The Sooners, who are 5-4 in true road games this season, are coming off a 74-56 victory over No. 6/5 Texas on Sunday at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman. West Virginia, which holds a 10-2 home record, saw its three-game winning streak end Saturday in a 63-51 road loss at the hands of Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

ON THE AIR

The game will be streamed live for free on WVUSports.com. The contest will also air on the Sooner Radio Network with Chris Plank calling the action.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• Oklahoma looks for its first road win at West Virginia in series history as the Sooners travel to Morgantown, W. Va. for a Wednesday night matchup with the Mountaineers. OU won the previous meeting this season on Jan. 27 in Norman with a 16-point comeback victory, which tied the school record for a deficit over came in a regular season Big 12 game.
• In the last matchup, Peyton Little scored a season-high 23 points (all in the second half) for the Sooners while Gioya Carter finished with 12 points and set a career-high with five steals. OU forced a season-high 31 West Virginia turnovers, while holding the Mountaineers to just 22 second-half points to earn the victory.

• Sophomore center Vionise Pierre-Louis leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage, shooting .630 from the field heading into Wednesday's contest. The sophomore center also ranks first in conference play with a .645 shooting percentage among Big 12 players. Over the last seven games, Pierre-Louis has registered a .696 clip (39-of-56) and averaged 14.1 points in 16.6 minutes per game. She has scored in double figures in four consecutive games

T'ona Edwards

The Sooners held Texas to a season-low .290 shooting percentage on Sunday. OU outscored the Longhorns, 29-7, in the fourth quarter.

• Gioya Carter has provided a spark for the Sooners since return to the starting five on Jan. 20 against Texas Tech. As a starter, Carter is averaging 12.4 points per game with a .482 shooting percentage (40-of-83). The junior has scored in double figures in six consecutive games. The junior guard finished with a season-high 19 points on Feb. 9 at K-State.

• In Big 12 play, West Virginia leads the league in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a .342 mark through 13 conference games. The Mountaineers also rank first in the conference with 6.9 blocks per game in league play. The Sooners rank third in the Big 12 in scoring offense against league foes, averaging 70.5 points per contest.

GAME 24 RECAP: TEXAS

• Oklahoma picked up its sixth straight home win over Texas with a fourth-quarter surge to defeat the No. 6 Longhorns, 74-56, on Sunday. Five Sooners scored in double figures for the third time in the last five games as OU outscored Texas, 29-7, in the final period to earn the victory.

• Vionise Pierre-Louis led the Sooners with a team-high 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field. The sophomore center, who tied a career-high with 23 minutes played, led the Sooners with a 7-of-8 performance from the free throw and also finished with five rebounds. Redshirt senior forward Kaylon Williams tallied her 20th double-figure scoring game of the season, recording 13 points against the Longhorns.

• Gioya Carter scored in doubles figures for the seventh time in eight games, finishing with 11 points and three rebounds. Peyton Little hit three of OU's six 3-pointers against Texas to add in 11 points, while Maddie Manning recorded 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the victory.

• OU held Texas to a season-low .290 shooting percentage and was just the third team to outrebound Texas this season. The Sooners held a 44-39 advantage on the glass and pulled away late by using a 25-2 run in the fourth quarter to seal the win. OU shot 8-of-11 (.727) in the final frame and held Texas to just two points over nine minutes in the fourth period.

PREVIEWING WEST VIRGINIA

• Picked by the Big 12 coaches to finish sixth in the league, West Virginia is 19-7 overall and 8-5 in conference play. The Mountaineers average 70.4 points per game (ranks fifth in the Big 12) on a .441 field goal percentage (second), .300 3-point shooting (eighth) and .663 free throw shooting (sixth) . West Virginia leads the Big 12 and ranks sixth nationally with 6.3 blocked shots per game. The Mountaineers are also second in the Big 12 and fifth in Division I in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a .335 mark.

• Preseason All-Big 12 First Team selection Bria Holmes leads the Mountaineers and ranks third in the Big 12 in scoring. The senior guard is averaging 16.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists while shooting .518 from the floor, .330 from 3-point range and .664 from the free throw line. Holmes is also the Big 12's career active leader with 1,846 points.

• Teana Muldrow is second on the team with 10.2 points per game, while averaging 6.0 rebounds per contest off the bench. Junior center Lanay Montgomery is second in the Big 12 and 23rd nationally with 2.8 blocks per game. Montgomery also averages 9.4 points and leads the team with 8.6 rebounds per game.

• The Mountaineers are under the direction of 15th-year head coach Mike Carey, who owns a 316-168 record at West Virginia.

• Since West Virginia joined the Big 12 prior to the 2012-13 season, the Sooners lead the series with a 5-4 advantage. The all-time series is tied 5-5.

• In the previous meeting on Jan. 27, Oklahoma stormed back from a 16-point deficit to defeat West Virginia, 57-54, at the Lloyd Noble Center. Peyton Little scored a season-high 23 points (all in the second half), while Gioya Carter tallied 12 points and five steals. The Sooners forced West Virginia to a season-high 31 turnovers in the victory.

BACK IN FORM

• Gioya Carter made her return to OU's lineup on Jan. 20 against Texas Tech and the move immediately paid dividends as the junior guard scored a season-high 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Since returning to the lineup, Carter has averaged 12.4 points per game and shooting .482 from the field.

• In the last five games, Carter is averaging a team-high 14.4 points per game on .556 shooting. She has led the Sooners in scoring three times in that five-game stretch. Against Texas, the junior guard finished with 11 points to finish in doubles figures for the fifth consecutive game.

• The junior guard scored a season-high 19 points in a season-high 31 minutes of action at Kansas State. Carter knocked down three treys against the Wildcats, her most in a single game this year.

• Carter scored 17 points against Oklahoma State on Feb. 3 in 30 minutes of action. The junior led the Sooners in scoring for the first time this season with her performance against the Cowgirls on Feb. 3.

• The Midwest City, Okla., native kept Oklahoma in the game against West Virginia on Jan. 27, scoring eight of her 12 points in the first half versus the Mountaineers. Carter played 30 minutes and finished 5-of-15 from the floor, recording a career-high five steals.

HIGH PERCENTAGE VPL

• Sophomore center Vionise Pierre-Louis leads the Big 12 with a .630 field goal percentage through 24 games. In the last five contests, Pierre-Louis has averaged 13.6 points per game with a .650 field goal percentage (26-of-40) in just 16.8 minutes a game. In Big 12 play, Pierre-Louis is shooting .645 (49-of-76) from the field against league foes which also tops in the conference.

• Pierre-Louis nearly broke Courtney Paris' Oklahoma/Big 12 record for consecutive made field goals, falling one make shy of tying the record set in 2006. The sophomore center made her last four shots against TCU (Feb. 6), was 8-of-8 against Kansas State and hit her first three attempts against Texas to begin the game on Sunday. The streak was snapped at 0:47 mark in the second quarter against the Longhorns.

• The sophomore has been extremely efficient in the Big 12 games, averaging 10.1 points per contest, 5.0 rebounds and a .645 shooting percentage in just 13.8 minutes of action against league foes. Pierre-Louis has been highly productive in the final five minutes of conference games, shooting 11-of-12 (.917) from the field against Big 12 opponents.

QUICK HITTERS

Peyton Little scored 11 points and hit three of OU's six 3-pointers against Texas.

• Oklahoma held Texas to a season-low .290 shooting percentage in Sunday's victory over the sixth-ranked Longhorns. Texas' 56 points were also the fewest by the Longhorns in Big 12 play. OU was just the third team this year to outrebound Texas this season.

• The Sooners are 10-2 at home this season and have won 22 out of 25 contests at Lloyd Noble Center dating back to last season. OU is 2-1 this season against AP top 25 opponent at home this year.

• Eight OU players are averaging double-figure minutes for the Sooners through 24 games. Gabbi Ortiz (27.3), Maddie Manning (28.0) and Peyton Little (30.4) are averaging 25-plus minutes per contest.

• Little earned her first career Big 12 Player of the Week on Feb. 1 for her performances against West Virginia and at Iowa State. The redshirt junior guard averaged 18.0 points per game during the week, scoring all of her points in the second half in both games. Little's 23 points tied a season-high for a Sooner in a single game. Her 23 points in the second half are the most by an OU player since Danielle Robinson recorded 24 at Oklahoma State in 2010.

• Through 24 games, OU's opponents are 264-of-398 (.663) from the free throw line during the 2015-16 season. At this point last year, OU's foes were 363-of-536 (.677) from the charity stripe.

• Oklahoma is holding opponents to 11.0 made free throws per game this season, compared to 15.1 per game last season (4.1 less per game through 24 contests).

• Oklahoma is 10-2 this season when leading at halftime and 3-0 when tied at the break. The Sooners are 5-4 when trailing at the intermission this season. OU is 15-1 this season when outrebounding its opponent and is 16-1 when holding foes to under 70 points. The Sooners are 14-2 when scoring 70 or more points against a foe this year.

• OU has also held 18 of its 24 opponents to sub-45 percent field goal shooting (15 times in the last 21 games). Only two opponents (Texas and Kansas State) have finished with a .500 or better shooting percentage against Oklahoma. The Sooners have also limited 16 of its 24 foes to sub 33-percent 3-point shooting.

• The Sooners are 209-116 (.644) against Big 12 competition under Sherri Coale.

• Coale will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on June 11, 2016, in Knoxville, Tenn. Coale is OU's all-time leader in wins (437), leading 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.

UP NEXT

The Sooners wrap up a two-game road swing at Kansas on Saturday inside Allen Fieldhouse. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CT and the game will streamed live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

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