Women's Hoops Returns to Court at SMU on Tuesday

(RV/RV) Oklahoma (5-1, 0-0 Big 12)

SMU (3-3, 0-0 AAC)

Tuesday, Nov. 30 / 7:00 p.m. CT / Moody Coliseum / Dallas, Texas

NORMAN – Oklahoma returns to the hardwood on Tuesday at SMU after going 2-1 at the Women's Battle 4 Atlantis over the Thanksgiving break. Tuesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with John Liddle and Stephen Howard on the call. Brian Brinkley will provide radio coverage on the Sooner Radio Network starting 30 minutes prior to tip.

Oklahoma (5-1, 0-0 Big 12) is off to its best start in five seasons, and a win on Tuesday would mark the best start since 2015, when the team went 9-1 to open the year.

THE STARTING FIVE

Oklahoma enters Tuesday's matchup fresh off a successful trip to The Bahamas, where it beat Buffalo and Minnesota by 21 and 19 points, respectively, and led then-No. 9 Oregon for most of the game before falling 98-93. The Sooners led the tournament in scoring 91.3 points per game, sinking a field-high 40 3-pointers.
Under head coach Jennie Baranczyk, the Sooners high-powered offense is one of the best in the nation. OU's 87.7 points per game rank fourth nationally as the Sooners dish out a nation's best 20.7 assists per game. In addition, Oklahoma's 10.8 3-pointers made per contest rank seventh in the country as Taylor Robertson's 31 makes are the most in Division I. OU is the only school in the country with three players inside the top-100 nationally in points per game with Taylor Robertson (19.0), Ana Llanusa (17.0) and Madi Williams (17.0).
The Sooners and Mustangs have met 13 times since their first meeting in 1992. OU currently maintains a four-game winning streak with the most recent contest resulting in a 77-61 win in Dallas in 2018. The Sooners are 4-3 vs. SMU in Dallas, winning the last two meetings.
OU's 5-1 start to the season is its best start since the 2016-17 campaign when the Sooners opened 5-0 before dropping back-to-back games at No. 17 Kentucky and Oral Roberts. That year's team, led by Sherri Coale, finished the season 23-10 and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Jennie Baranczyk is the first coach in OU women's basketball history to win five of their first six games as head coach of the Sooners.
With the announcement that the NCAA Women's Tournament will expand to 68 teams, ESPN released updated bracketology on Nov. 17. The Sooners moved up one spot to a No. 10 seed in the Spokane region. A staple of the NCAA postseason, Oklahoma has appeared in 21 NCAA Tournaments, including 19 since the turn of the century. The Sooners' 21 appearances in the tournament are the second most in the Big 12 Conference and are tied for 23rd most in NCAA history.

UP NEXT

Tuesday night's road trip is the Sooners' last non-conference road game of the season as the team returns to Norman for its next five games, starting with Mississippi State on Saturday in Norman. The Bulldogs (5-1) come to Norman for the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge as the two teams will square off for just the second time ever. The game is slated for a 2 p.m. start at Lloyd Noble Center.