Sooners to Host WVU For Pink Game Saturday

¹⁸ Oklahoma

West Virginia

Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022 / 3 p.m. CT / Norman / Lloyd Noble Center

Tickets / TV / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes / Program

NORMAN – The 18th-ranked Oklahoma women's basketball team will look to remain in first place in the Big 12 standings on Saturday when it hosts West Virginia at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners (19-3, 8-2) enter the contest on a three-game winning streak that features back-to-back top-10 wins over then-No. 9 Texas and No. 9 Baylor. The Mountaineers (11-8, 4-5) arrive in Norman winning three of their last four games.

Saturday's game is Oklahoma's annual Play4Kay Pink Game to help raise money to fight cancer via the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, and the Sooners have committed to the Play4Kay Free Throw Challenge, where fans can donate a dollar amount for every made OU free throw in February.

Doors to the arena open one hour before tip and the Lloyd Noble Center's clear-bag policy is in effect.

THE STARTING FIVE

There are four teams in the country with 14+ wins over top-100 NET opponents: No. 1 South Carolina, No. 4 Tennessee and No. 3 NC State and No. 18 Oklahoma. The Sooners rank fourth in the country with five NET top. Oklahoma is a perfect 11-0 vs. teams outside of the NET's top 50. Oklahoma has posted five wins over teams ranked above them in the NET rankings: No. 6 Texas, No. 13 BYU, No. 15 Baylor (2x), No. 17 Utah. All three of OU's losses came to teams inside the top 26 with two of three coming to NET top-10 teams. Entering Wednesday night, the Sooners' RPI is No. 7 and first in the Big 12.
The Sooners average 85.5 points per game in 2021-22, good for second-most in the country. If OU is able to maintain that average, it will shatter the school record of 84.5 PPG set in 1984-85 and be the second-highest point total in Big 12 history. Oklahoma's 19.7 assists per contest rank fifth nationally and lead to 9.4 made 3-pointers per game, 10th-most in Division I.
A win on Saturday would push Oklahoma to 20 wins in a season for the first time since 2016-17. It would also move OU to 9-2 in conference games for the first time since 2014-5.
OU has notched four top-25 wins this season, the most ever for a first-year Sooner head coach. Two of those wins have come vs. the No. 9-ranked team in the country as OU upset then-No. 9 Texas 65-63 on Jan. 29 and then-No. 9 Baylor 78-77 a few days later on Feb. 2. The Sooners also notched wins over then-No. 16 BYU and then-No. 14 Baylor. The four top-25 wins mark the most for an OU team since 2009-10 and the Sooners' hadn't knocked off back-to-back top-10 teams since the 2004 Big 12 Tournament. The win over No. 9 Baylor in Waco snapped a 20-game losing streak vs. top-10 teams in true road games.
The Sooners appear in the latest version of Charlie Creme's ESPN Bracketology as a No. 4 seed after starting the year as one of the "Last Four In" and a No. 11 seed. The top 16 teams host in the first two rounds of the tournament. 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 tied for 23rd most in NCAA history.

LAST TIME OUT

Liz Scott had another late game-winning shot for No. 18 Oklahoma after the Sooners' late arrival at ninth-ranked Baylor. Scott made a layup with 6 seconds left, the second game in a row her last shot beat a Top 10 team, as the Sooners won 78-77 on Wednesday night. After a timeout, Baylor got one more shot but Jordan Lewis missed on a drive to the basket. Madi Williams had 20 points and the assist on the game-winner by Scott as the Sooners (19-3, 8-2 Big 12) remained tied with No. 11 Iowa State for the lead in the conference standings. Taylor Robertson scored 14 points.

SERIES HISTORY

Oklahoma owns a 13-10 series lead over the Mountaineers as Saturday's game marks the 24th all-time meeting between the two schools. OU leads 6-4 when the two sides meet in Norman with its last home win coming on Feb. 5, 2020. The Sooners went to Morgantown on Jan. 19, 2022, and picked up its fifth consecutive win in Morgantown and its second straight in the series.

UP NEXT

The Sooners take their longest break of the conference season before hitting the floor next Saturday, Feb. 12, in Austin when they take on Texas. Oklahoma bested UT in Norman, 65-63, on Jan. 29, 2022, to make it two consecutive wins over the Longhorns.