OU Hosts K-State for Top-25 Matchup Wednesday

^25/rv KANSAS STATE

^20/24 Oklahoma

january 4 | 7 p.m. (CT) | norman, okla.

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WEDNESDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 20/24 Oklahoma (11-3, 2-0 Big 12) looks to pick up its third straight win to begin conference play as the Sooners host No. 25/RV Kansas State (11-3, 1-1 Big 12) on Wednesday night at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners scored 50-second half points in Sunday's 87-72 home victory over TCU. Kansas State knocked off then No. 12 West Virginia, 86-71, in Manhattan, Kansas on Sunday.

ON THE AIR

Wednesday's game will air live on Fox College Sports Central 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 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 5:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday. OU students will be admitted free with a valid school I.D.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• Oklahoma is 36-25 all-time against Kansas State and has won 16 out of the last 18 meetings. The Sooners own a nine-game home win streak and are 18-9 all-time in Norman against the Wildcats. Since the formation of the Big 12 Conference, OU has won 22 of 28 meetings between the two teams. Box scores and cumulative stats from last year's two meetings are on page 15 of these notes.

• Redshirt senior guard Peyton Little claimed her second career Big 12 Player of the Week honor, averaging 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in OU's two double-digit wins over Kansas and TCU. Little, who averaged 38.6 minutes per contest last week, recorded a season-high 25 points and buried three treys against the Horned Frogs, while adding in 15 points and eight rebounds at Kansas.

• Freshman center Nancy Mulkey was named Big 12 Freshman of the Week after a pair of prolific defensive performances for the Sooners. In OU's two wins to begin Big 12 play, the Cypress, Texas, native recorded 13 blocks over two games last week, including a career-high seven rejections at Kansas (tied for the sixth-most in a single game by an OU player).

• Over the last two games, Mulkey has recorded 13 blocks - the most in back-to-back games by a Sooner since Courtney Paris recorded 16 at Texas Tech (March 1, 2006) and Iowa State (March 8, 2006). She ranks second in the Big 12 and 25th in Division I with 2.4 blocks per contest.

• OU is the one of two teams in the nation to rank in the top 20 nationally in blocked shots and steals. The Sooners are ninth in blocked shots (87) and tied for 19th in steals (158). OU also leads the Big 12 and ranks 30th in the Division I with 11.3 steals per game. The Sooners are second in the league with a +3.6 turnover margin.

GAME 14 RECAP: TCU

• Redshirt senior Peyton Little scored a season-high 25 points and No. 24 Oklahoma used a dominant third quarter to defeat TCU, 87-72, on Sunday. Little's 25 points marks her second-highest point total as a Sooner.

• Vionise Pierre-Louis had 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench, Maddie Manning had 12 and Chelsea Dungee 11 for the Sooners who outscored the Horned Frogs, 26-11, in the third quarter.

• For the second straight game, OU recorded 11 blocks while Nancy Mulkey led the Sooners with a game-high six rejections. Pierre-Louis also added in three blocks for the Sooners. The 11 blocks as a team are tied for the sixth-most ever in a single game by Oklahoma.

• Two free throws by Gioya Carter at the 6:09 mark of the third quarter put the Sooners up 48-47 and started a 7-0 run. OU limited TCU to 3-of-18 from the field, while making 8-of-17 at the other end and going 10-of-10 from the foul line for a 63-52 lead. OU finished with season highs in free throw makes (26) and free throw attempts (35) in the win.

PREVIEWING KANSAS STATE

• Kansas State is 11-3 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 play. The Wildcats are coming off an 86-71 home victory over No. 12 West Virginia on Sunday and have opened Big 12 play with three straight games against ranked opponents. Sunday's win over 12th-ranked West Virginia gave the Wildcats their second victory over a top-25 opponent this season. K-State averages 68.1 points per game (ranks ninth in the Big 12) on .438 field goal (seventh), .332 3-point (seventh) and .680 free throw shooting (fifth).

• Senior center Breanna Lewis, a preseason Naismith Trophy candidate, leads Kansas State in scoring (14.7 points per game), field goal percentage (.620) and rebounding (8.9 rebounds per game). She is third in rebounding and seventh in scoring among Big 12 players. Against West Virginia, Lewis scored 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds. Senior guard Kindred Wesemann averages 14.4 points per game and has scored in double figures 13 times in 14 games this season.

• Junior guard Karyla Middlebrook, a transfer from Alabama, adds in 7.4 points per game for the Wildcats. Junior forward Shaeyln Martin leads the Wildcast with 3.9 assists per game this season (ranks seventh in the Big 12).

• K-State head coach Jeff Mittie is 49-30 in his three seasons with the Wildcats. Mittie holds a 503-265 all-time record in 25 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He is 4-12 versus the Sooners during his career.

Junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis recorded 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench versus TCU.

HONORS ROLL IN FOR A PAIR OF SOONERS

• Peyton Little won OU's second straight Big 12 Player of the Week honor by averaging 20.0 points, 5.5. rebounds and 3.0 assists, helping OU to double-digit wins over Kansas and TCU. The Abilene, Texas, native chipped in 15 points and set a season high with eight rebounds at Kansas last Thursday. In OU's victory over TCU, Little finished with a season-best 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while adding four steals.

• Nancy Mulkey earned Big 12 Freshman of the Week with 13 blocked shots in OU's first two leagues games, while averaging 11.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. In her first career start at Kansas, Mulkey nearly finished with a triple-double, picking up career highs of 14 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks against the Jayhawks. She followed her performance by recording a team-high six blocks in against TCU in 16 minutes. Mulkey finished 4-of-5 from the field and scored eight points versus the Horned Frogs

• The sweep of the Big 12 Weekly Awards marked the first time since 2006 that the Sooners claimed both conference player and freshman of the week honors during the week (Courtney Paris, won both Player and Freshman of the Week - Jan. 3, 2006).

QUICK HITS

• In the last two games, the Sooners have recorded double-digit block totals, the first time they have accomplished that feat in the Sherri Coale era. OU finished with 11 blocks against both Kansas and TCU.

• OU's 23 combined blocks over the last two games are the most rejections by the Sooners in as many games since the 2006-07 season. In the 2007 Big 12 Tournament, OU recoded 23 blocks in two consecutive games (13, Texas, March 7, 2007; 8, vs. Baylor, March 8, 2007).

• Oklahoma's 30-point win over Kansas on Dec. 29 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.

• Both Chelsea Dungee and Nancy Mulkey started OU'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.

• 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 four games, OU has combined to record 63 steals (15.8 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 14 games, the Sooners have nearly doubled their block total from this time last season. OU has logged 87 blocks (6.2 per game) to begin the season, which ranks ninth 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 45 blocks (3.0 blocks per game).

• In all 11 wins, OU has attempted more free throws than its opponents and the Sooners have averaged 15.6 made free throws in each victory. OU ranks second in the Big 12 with a .701 free throw percentage this season.

• The Sooners have been ranked in the AP Poll for 31 consecutive weeks (tied for the 11th-longest active streak in the country). OU has been ranked in the AP poll 251 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 970 points, averaging 12.1 per game as a Sooner. She needs 30 points to become the 32nd Sooner to score 1,000 points at Oklahoma.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma heads to Morgantown, W. Va., to face No. 17/16 West Virginia on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT inside WVU Coliseum. The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1.

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