OU Opens NCAA Tournament with DePaul

Oklahoma

^RV/23 DePaul

March 16 | 11:30 a.m. | College Station, Texas | NCAA First Round

FRIDAY'S GAME BASICS

Making its 21st NCAA Tournament appearance and 19th straight under head coach Sherri Coale, Oklahoma (16-14 overall, 11-7 Big 12) enters Friday's first-round game against DePaul (26-7 overall, 15-3 Big East) as the Spokane Regional's No. 12 seed. The contest will be played at Texas A&M's Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. Tip-off is set for 11:30 a.m. CT. DePaul is the regional's No. 5 seed.

Should the Sooners advance, OU will play Sunday against host Texas A&M (No. 4 seed) or Drake (No. 13). Texas A&M and Drake will play Friday at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The Aggies (24-9 overall, 11-5 SEC) are hosting an NCAA Tournament First/Second Round game for the fifth time in seven years and are 15-3 at home this season. Drake (26-7, 18-0 MVC) is making its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance after winning its seventh Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title.

ON THE AIR

Friday's game will be televised on the ESPN2 with Lowell Galindo and Andraya Carter on the call. The contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Brian Brinkley calling the action.

TICKETS

Tickets are available here. All session passes start at $30.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• Oklahoma boasts a 33-20 (.623) overall NCAA Tournament record and is making its 21st all-time appearance as the Sooners open play with No. 5 seed DePaul on Friday at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. OU, who is seeded No. 12 in the Spokane Regional, is 16-3 all-time in opening round games in the NCAA Tournament.

• The Sooners have made 19 straight NCAA Tournaments under head coach Sherri Coale, the fifth-best active streak in Division I women's basketball. The run is the ninth-longest streak all-time for consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. OU's 21 all-time NCAA Tournament berths are the second most by a Big 12 team and rank 21st overall in NCAA history.

• OU is just one of nine teams in Division I men's or women's basketball to hold an active streak of 19 or more consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Tennessee (37), Stanford (31), Connecticut (30), Notre Dame (23) are the only four women's basketball teams that have made more consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament than OU, while Kansas (29), Duke (23), Michigan State (21) and Gonzaga (20) have all made at least 19 straight trips to the Big Dance on the men's side.

• When the Sooners and Blue Demons collide, expect plenty of points to be scored. OU and DePaul have both scored 100 points each in the last two meetings. Earlier this year, DePaul topped the Sooners, 111-108, in overtime as Amarah Coleman's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Blue Demons the win. The two teams met in the 2014 NCAA Tournament with OU falling to DePaul, 104-100. The 204 combined points set the NCAA record for points scored in regulation by two teams.

• The Sooners' starting five continues to be efficient as all five players are averaging at least 12.2 points per game heading into the NCAA Tournament. OU is the first Big 12 team in conference history to have at least five players average 12.0 per game. The Sooners are also the only Power 5 team with all five starters averaging at least 12.0 points per game.

COALE AND THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

• Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale has led the Sooners to 19 straight NCAA Tournament appearances since 2000. She owns a 31-18 (.633) record and is 15-3 in opening-round games. Coale has guided the Sooners to three Final Fours (2002, 2009, 2010) and nine Sweet 16 appearances.

• Coale is one of seven active coaches to take their current program to three or more Final Fours. The others are: Geno Auriemma (Connecticut), Brenda Frese (Maryland), Sylvia Hatchell (North Carolina), Muffet McGraw (Notre Dame), Kim Mulkey (Baylor) and Tara VanDerveer (Stanford). She is just one of nine active coaches with at least 30 wins in the NCAA Tournament.

• The 22nd-year head coach ranks ninth among active coaches with a .633 winning percentage and 31 victories. Coale is 10th among active coaches with 49 games coached heading into the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

Vionise Pierre-Louis

Vionise Pierre-Louis set the OU single-game NCAA Tournament record for blocked shots last year with nine versus Gonzaga.

PREVIEWING DEPAUL

• No. 5 seed DePaul enters the 2018 NCAA Tournament with a 26-7 overall record. The Blue Demons were Big East regular season co-champions and won the Big East Conference tournament championship last week to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. DePaul has made the NCAA Tournament in 16 consecutive seasons, the sixth-longest active streak in the country.

• DePaul leads the country in 3-pointers per game (12.1), while ranking second in 3-point field goals made (398) and 3-point attempts (1,104). The Blue Demons are sixth in the nation in scoring offense at 82.8 points per game. Nearly half of DePaul's field goal attempts come from beyond the arc as 48.8 percent of the Blue Demon's shot attempts are from 3-point range. DePaul also ranks third nationally in assists (674) and fourth in assists per game (20.4).

• Junior forward Mart'e Grays leads the Blue Demons in scoring at 14.4 points per game. The junior was named to the All-Big East First Team and averaged 15.2 points per game contest in league play. Junior guard Ashton Millender ranks second on the team at 13.6 points per game and has made a team-high 98 3-pointers (ranks 16th in Division I). Senior guard Amarah Coleman, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer against OU in the first matchup, is averaging 12.4 points a contest. Kelly Campbell, a first team All-Big East, fills the stat sheet with 10.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. Campbell ranks third nationally with a 4.0 assist-turnover ratio.

• DePaul head coach Doug Bruno is 667-333 in his 31 seasons with the Blue Demons, leading his program to 23 NCAA Tournament appearances.

THE STREAK CONTINUES

• Oklahoma's 19 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances rank as the longest active streak by a team in the Big 12 and the fifth-best active streak among Division I women's basketball teams. OU's 19 straight NCAA bids is the ninth longest streak all-time in Division I.

• Only Tennessee (37), Stanford (31), Connecticut (30) and Notre Dame (23) have made more consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament than the Sooners.

SOONERS AGAINST THE NCAA FIELD

• OU has played 12 games this season against nine teams who are in the NCAA Tournament and is 2-10 in those contests. OU's wins came over No. 6 seed South Florida on Dec. 9 and No. 12 seed Belmont on Nov. 10.

• The Sooners faced No. 2 seed Baylor (twice), No. 2 seed Oregon, No. 2 seed Texas (twice), No. 5 seed DePaul, No. 6 South Florida, No. 8 seed South Dakota State, No. 9 seed Oklahoma State (twice), No. 12 seed Belmont and No. 14 seed Little Rock.

GETTING OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND

• Oklahoma is 16-3 all-time in first-round games in the NCAA Tournament The Sooners have won 12 out of their last 13 matchups in the first round with their lone defeat coming to DePaul (104-100) in 2014.

OKLAHOMA VS. POSSIBLE COLLEGE STATION OPPONENTS

• OU is 1-2 all-time against DePaul and is taking on the Blue Demons for the second time this season. The Sooners fell to DePaul, 111-108, in overtime on Nov. 13 in Chicago, despite six OU players scoring in double figures. Vionise Pierre-Louis led the Sooners with 25 points and 16 rebounds, while Shaina Pellington scored 23 off the bench. OU is 6-2 all-time when playing teams in the NCAA Tournament that it faced during the regular season (only two losses came to UConn in 2000 and 2002).

• The Sooners lead the all-time series, 27-21, against former Big 12 rival Texas A&M. OU last faced the Aggies in 2015 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge as Texas A&M rallied to top the Sooners, 74-68.

• OU and Drake have not met since 1996 with the Bulldogs leading the all-time series, 3-0.

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