Big 12/SEC Challenge at LNC Saturday

NORMAN – After back-to-back road contests, the Sooners return to Lloyd Noble Center Saturday to host LSU in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The game will tip at 3 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Oklahoma.

ON THE AIR

The contest will air on KREF 99.3 FM/1400 AM in Norman and KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City (Tune In Radio App) with Taylor Maples on the call. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Oklahoma.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• The Sooners are 0-6 all-time in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and are seeking their first win in the event. The Sooners fell in last year's edition to Auburn 95-79 on the road. OU is 76-76 all-time against current members of the SEC.

• Sophomore guard Taylor Robertson was named Big 12 Co-Player of the Week for Dec. 2, marking OU's first conference weekly award this season and the fifth of Robertson's career. Robertson registered back-to-back 20-plus point performances last week as she scored team-highs against Abilene Christian (21) and Wichita State (30) with a career-high nine 3-pointers against the Shockers.

• Robertson has become the NCAA's active career leader in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 47.3% (148-for-313) from deep in just two years of her career. Robertson is the youngest member of the 10-player list; the nine other players are juniors and seniors.

• A trio of Sooners are averaging points in double figures through seven games. Ana Llanusa leads the squad with 19.0 while Robertson is right behind with 19.1. Madi Williams accounts for 13.4. All three players have scored in double figures in seven of OU's eight contests this season.

• Three Big 12 players have had 30-point performances this season and two of them are Sooners. Llanusa was the first league player to achieve the feat when she dropped 30 against Missouri State on Nov. 14, while Robertson recorded 30 at Wichita State on Nov. 30.

RECAPPING WESTERN KENTUCKY

The Oklahoma women's basketball team fell to Western Kentucky 74-63 Wednesday on the road. Three Sooners scored in double figures, led by Llanusa with 19. Robertson chipped in 14; Gabby Gregory had 11; and sophomore Nydia Lampkin tied her career high with 10. Lampkin also tied her career high in blocks with two; both of those came in the first quarter.

The Sooners out-shot the Lady Toppers 41.7%-36.8% from the field. WKU narrowly out-rebounded OU 42-41. Williams pulled down eight boards for the Sooners and Gregory had a career-high eight on the night.

OU trailed by just one at the half before the Lady Toppers stormed back to lead by as many as 18. OU closed the gap to three with back-to-back treys from Robertson in the fourth quarter, but came up short.

ROBERTSON NAMED BIG 2 PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Robertson earned her fifth career Big 12 weekly award Monday as she was named Big 12 Co-Player of the Week. Robertson shared the award with Texas Tech senior forward Brittany Brewer to garner the first conference award for the Sooners this season.

Robertson registered back-to-back 20-plus point performances last week, as she scored team-highs against Abilene Christian (21) and Wichita State (30). Against ACU, Robertson hit seven 3-pointers, going 7-for-12 (58.35) from beyond the arc, then followed that performance up with a career-high nine 3s at Wichita State to match a school record.

T-ROB TREY TRACKER

Sophomore guard Robertson has become the NCAA's active career leader in 3-point field goal percentage as she shot 47.3% (148-for-313), just eight games into her second season of college basketball. Robertson is the youngest member of the 10-player list, which is comprised of juniors and seniors (including 2019 Wooden Award Winner Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon, a senior who ranks seventh on the list). Robertson is shooting 48.9% (43-for-88) from deep this season.

Robertson also sits atop the national rankings for both made 3s (43) and 3s per game (5.38) this season. She is averaging the most 3s per game of any player in men's or women's Division I basketball; Dru Kuxhausen of McNeese is the men's 3s per game leader and is averaging 4.44. Robertson is also averaging more 3s per game and a better 3-point field goal percentage (53.8%) than the leading NBA player; James Harden (Houston) accounts for 4.9 per game and is shooting 34.4% from deep.

Robertson leads the Big 12 in 3-pointers this season (43), with 19 more than the next closest players (Kysre Gondrezick of West Virginia has hit 24). Robertson also sits atop the national rankings for both made 3s and 3s per game (5.38).

As a team, OU has hit 71 3-pointers this season; Robertson accounts for more than half of those. Robertson has made more treys than 161 teams in DI women's basketball this season.

Additionally, Robertson's nine made 3s at Wichita State tie for the most in a single game in women's Division I basketball this season and are one shy of the men's 2019-20 Division I single game record of 10.

THE BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE

Now in its sixth year, the Women's Basketball Challenge between the Big 12 and Southeastern Conference features every team from the Big 12 against 10 squads from the SEC. This is the fourth season in which 10 games will be played. The format consists of five home games on campus sites for each conference.

This year's challenge includes six games that will feature at least one ranked opponent in either the Associated Press or USA TODAY Sports' Coaches poll.

The inaugural challenge was held in 2014 in Little Rock, Arkansas and featured a top-5 showdown with No. 3 Texas squaring off against No. 4 Texas A&M. Oklahoma and Arkansas, who were both receiving votes, played in the second game. The conferences split the Challenge with the two games decided by a total of nine points.

The 2015 version was contested in Oklahoma City with the opponents reversed as No. 5 Texas played Arkansas while No. 17 Oklahoma competed against No. 18 Texas A&M. Each league again claimed a win. In 2016, the SEC edged the Big 12, 6-4, in the first 10-game slate. The conferences have split the challenge, 5-5, in the last two seasons.

PREVIEWING LSU

No. 25 LSU enters Saturday's contest at 8-1 overall and rides a seven-game winning streak to Norman. The Tigers' lone loss of the season came at the hands of then-No. 12 Florida State 70-62 in Baton Rouge.

In their last outing, the Tigers routed Nicholls State 63-32 at home. Ayana Mitchell led the team with a season-high 21 points, going 9-for-9 in field goals while adding four rebounds and one assist. Khayla Pointer also excelled with nine points, six rebounds and seven assists. Mercedes Brooks contributed nine points off the bench, leading a strong bench performance of 25 points.

Pointer leads the Tigers with an average 14.0 points per game to go with 3.9 rebounds. Two more LSU players are averaging points in double digits with Mitchell accounting for 12.7 and Faustine Aifuwa tallying 12.3 per contest. Mitchell averages a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game.
Saturday's contest will mark the first-ever meeting between Oklahoma and LSU.

QUICK HITS

The No. 25 Tigers will be OU's first ranked opponent this season.
The Sooners will be tested early and often during their 14-game non-conference schedule. OU's non-conference slate features at least seven matchups with teams that appeared in the postseason a year ago including three NCAA Tournament teams (Abilene Christian, Drake and UConn).
OU is the only team in the Big 12 without a senior on its roster. The Sooners will be one of two league teams (Texas Tech) that will return three players who averaged at least 10.0 points per game. Llanusa (18.3), Robertson (14.3) and Williams (11.6) all averaged scoring in double figures during the 2018-19 season.
Assistant coach Stiles was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2016 in the same class as head coach Coale. Oklahoma joins Connecticut as the only Division I women's basketball programs with two WBHOF inductees on their coaching staff.

UP NEXT

The Sooners will host Sam Houston State on Dec. 15, followed by Drake Dec. 17 before closing out nonconference play at UConn on Dec. 22.

ON THE AIR

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

RECAPPING WESTERN KENTUCKY

ROBERTSON NAMED BIG 2 PLAYER OF THE WEEK

T-ROB TREY TRACKER

THE BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE

PREVIEWING LSU

QUICK HITS

UP NEXT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Gabby Gregory

Nydia Lampkin

Ana Llanusa

Taylor Robertson

Madi Williams

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics