No. 16 OU Begins Final Road Swing at K-State

^16/19 OKLAHOMA

^RV/RVKANSAS STATE

FEBRUARY 21 | 7 p.m. (CT) | Manhattan, Kan.

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TUESDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 16/19 Oklahoma (21-6, 12-3 Big 12) looks for its sixth straight victory and its seventh win in the last eight games as the Sooners travel to Manhattan, Kan., on Tuesday to face Kansas State (19-8, 9-6 Big 12). The Sooners, who are in sole possession of third place in the Big 12 standings, enter the contest after knocking off then No. 8 Texas, 74-73, on Saturday in Norman.

Kansas State rallied from a 13-point deficit on the road at TCU Saturday to top the Horned Frogs, 66-63, in Fort Worth, Texas. OU leads the all-time series, 37-25, and won the first meeting between the two teams in Norman on Jan. 4, 85-80, in overtime.

ON THE AIR

Tuesday's game will be televised on Fox College Sports Central with Brian Smoller and Missy Heidrick on the call. The contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Brian Brinkley calling the action.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• Oklahoma is 37-25 all-time against Kansas State and has won 17 out of the last 19 meetings. Since the formation of the Big 12 Conference, OU has won 23 of 29 meetings between the two teams. K-State won last year's meeting, 87-71, inside Bramlage Coliseum and the Wildcats lead the series in Manhattan, 15-12.

• The Sooners own the Big 12's longest active winning streak with five straight victories in league play. A win Tuesday night would also give OU its third straight Big 12 road win. The Sooners have won three consecutive road contests in league play just four times in the last 10 seasons.

• Over the last three games, junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis has anchored OU's offensive production, averaging 21.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest. Pierre-Louis, who scored 21 points in the Sooners' win over then No. 8 Texas on Saturday, is averaging 15.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks over the last five contests.

• Gabbi Ortiz and Peyton Little have barely left the floor in OU's last three games as Ortiz has played 124 out of 130 possible minutes, while Little has played 123 minutes. The extra playing time has not hurt the duo offensively as Ortiz is averaging 13.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists during the stretch. Little hit a key 3-pointer with two seconds left against Texas on Saturday to help the Sooners knock off the eighth-ranked Longhorns in Norman.

• Tuesday's matchup with Kansas State marks OU's sixth meeting with a top-25 opponent this year. The Sooners are 2-4 against ranked opponents so far this season. OU topped Kansas State, 85-80, on Jan. 4 in overtime to secure its first ranked win of the 2016-17 season. A victory Tuesday would mark the Sooners' first road win over a top-25 foe since defeating No. 21 Iowa State, 75-54, in Ames on Jan. 21, 2014.

GAME 27 RECAP: TEXAS

• Peyton Little hit a go-ahead three with two seconds remaining and Nancy Mulkey had a key steal and free throw to secure No. 19 Oklahoma's 74-73 win over No. 8 Texas Saturday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center. The win marks OU's seventh straight at home over the rival Longhorns, who entered Saturday's game with the nation's second-longest winning streak at 19 games.

• Vionise Pierre-Louis led four Sooners in double figures with 21 points, despite fouling out with two minutes to go. Little contributed 15 and knocked down three 3-pointers. Gabbi Ortiz had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Gioya Carter poured in 10 points. Chelsea Dungee led the Sooners in rebounding for the first time in her career with seven rebounds and dished a career-high five assists.

• In a game that featured 16 lead changes and nine ties, the Sooners scored 42 points in the first two quarters to grab a four-point lead at intermission. In the fourth quarter, Little and Ortiz combined for 13 of OU's 18 points.

PREVIEWING KANSAS STATE

• Kansas State enters Tuesday's game in fourth place in the Big 12 standings after rallying to defeat TCU, 66-63, on the road Saturday. The Wildcats are 19-8 overall and 9-6 in league play. They are 6-1 in Big 12 home games with their lone loss coming to Texas (63-58) on Feb. 4. In Big 12 play, K-State averages 68.2 points a game (ranks sixth in the league) on .418 field goal shooting (fourth), .354 3-point shooting (sixth) and .684 free throw shooting (seventh). It ranks third in scoring defense (67.5 ppg), sixth in field goal percentage defense (.414) and eighth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.367). The Wildcats are second in the Big 12 with 8.0 steals a game during conference play.

• Senior guard Kindred Wesemann leads the Wildcats and ranks tenth in the Big 12 in scoring with 14.2 points per game this season. Wesemann averages 14.0 points per contest against league opponents and has scored in double figures in five straight games. Senior center Breanna Lewis averages 13.6 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds a game, while shooting .567 (fifth in the Big 12) from the floor. Junior guard Karyla Middlebrook, who scored 27 points against Oklahoma in the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 4, averages 8.9 points and leads K-State with 3.4 assists per contest.

• Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie is 57-35 in his three seasons with the Wildcats. Mittie is 4-13 against the Sooners as a head coach.

Gioya Carter

Gioya Carter has recorded three straight games, scoring 10 points in OU's win over Texas Saturday.

THE ANCHOR

• During OU's five-game winning streak, junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis has paced the Sooners on offense. The junior is averaging a team-best 15.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per contest over the last five games, scoring 20-plus points twice. Pierre-Louis has eight double-digit scoring games in the last 10 contests for the Sooners.

• The Lake Worth, Fla., made the most of her 23 minutes of action against Texas, scoring 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 attempts at the foul line. Playing in foul trouble throughout the game, Pierre-Louis scored 16 of her 21 points in the first half versus the Longhorns.

• Against West Virginia, Pierre-Louis turned in her best performance as a Sooner with 33 points and 13 rebounds in OU's double OT victory. She followed that up with another double-double at Texas Tech, picking up 10 points and 14 rebounds.

• The junior's eight double-doubles this year rank third in the Big 12 and are the most by a Sooner in one season since Joanna McFarland tallied 14 during the 2013-14 season.

ON THE CLOCK

• Due to injuries, the Sooners have turned to a shorter rotation that has resulted in five players having their minutes increase dramatically. Gabbi Ortiz (124) and Peyton Little (123) have barely left the court, playing almost every second of the 130 minutes of action over the last three contests. Against West Virginia, Little (50) and Ortiz (48) became the first two players to log 45 or minutes in a single game in program history.

• With an injury sidelining Maddie Manning, freshman Chelsea Dungee has stepped up in her absence by averaging 37.7 minutes a contest. Dungee led the Sooners in scoring with 18 points and added nine rebounds at Texas Tech. She followed that up with a career-high five assists and logged seven rebounds versus Texas. Senior guard Gioya Carter has also stepped up with 12.0 points over the last three games.

• Junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis, who had played just 30 minutes or more just once this season prior to Feb. 7, has logged 30-plus minutes twice in the last three contests. Pierre-Louis' production has only increased with the junior averaging a double-double with 21.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

QUICK HITS

• OU's win over Kansas State on Jan. 4 marked the Sooners' first OT victory over a top-25 opponent since defeating Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament on March 28, 2010 in the Sweet 16.

• Saturday's win over Texas gave the Sooners their third victory over an AP top-10 team at the Lloyd Noble Center in the last three seasons. The Longhorns had won 19 straight games and were undefeated in Big 12 play before falling to the Sooners in Norman for the seventh consecutive season.

• The Sooners are 15-0 this season and have won 36 straight games when posting a higher shooting percentage than their opponent. OU has also earned 30 consecutive victories (13-0 in 2016-17) when the Sooners win both the rebounding and turnover battle against their competition.

• OU has held 21 of its 27 opponents to a shooting percentage below .450. The Sooners have won five consecutive games and are 15-6 this year when limiting its opponent to a .450 clip from the field.

• Against Big 12 teams, the Sooners have been one of the league's best at the free throw line. OU ranks fourth in the league with a .746 mark at the charity stripe in conference play. OU is second in the Big 12 this season with a .734 clip at the foul line.

• The Sooners are not short on experience this season. Entering Tuesday's game, OU's roster boasts 385 career starts among 10 players who have made at least one career appearance in the Sooners' starting five. The foursome of Gioya Carter, Peyton Little, Maddie Manning and Gabbi Ortiz have combined to make 306 starts between them. OU's bench is laden with experience, including T'ona Edwards and VIonise Pierre-Louis who have played in 119 and 90 career games, respectively.

• The Sooners have been ranked in the AP Poll for 38 consecutive weeks (tied for the 10th-longest active streak in the country). OU has been ranked in the AP poll 258 times under Sherri Coale.

UP NEXT

The Sooners travel to Fort Worth, Texas, for their final Big 12 road game of the season on Saturday as OU takes on TCU at 7 p.m. CT inside Schollmaier Arena. In the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 1, OU defeated the Horned Frogs, 87-72, at Lloyd Noble Center.

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