OU Opens Postseason Saturday in Big 12 Quarterfinal Against TCU

NORMAN – Big 12 regular season champion Oklahoma opens postseason play on Saturday as the top seed at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship in Kansas City. The Sooners (21-8, 15-3 Big 12) are the championship's No. 1 seed after winning the league title outright, and OU will face No. 9 seed TCU (19-10, 6-12 Big 12) at 1:30 p.m. at T-Mobile Center.

The Horned Frogs knocked off Oklahoma State 68-66 in Friday's second-round contest to advance to play the Sooners.

The championship is held at T-Mobile Center in downtown Kansas City for the first time after spending the last three seasons at Municipal Auditorium. Oklahoma has won the league's postseason championship four times: 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007. After winning the league's regular season crown outright, Oklahoma enters the championship as the No. 1 overall seed for the first time since 2009 and sixth time in program history.

THE STARTING FIVE

Oklahoma posted a 15-3 record in conference play, sweeping Big 12 runner-up Texas, and boasts a 5-1 record vs. teams seed Nos. 2-5 at the championship. The Sooners opened league play with a 5-1 record and won nine straight games from Jan. 13 to Feb. 14, including victories vs. then-No. 2 Kansas State and at then-No. 10 Texas. Oklahoma, who has won consecutive titles on three separate occasions (2000-02; 2006-07; 2023-23), is one of four schools that have won at least a share of consecutive Big 12 championships. The Sooners enter the postseason with five top-25 wins under their belt and the third-best winning percentage (.667) vs. NET Top 25 teams in the country.
Oklahoma produced the league's Co-Player of the Year (Skylar Vann), Coach of the Year (Jennie Baranczyk), Newcomer of the Year (Payton Verhulst) and landed four All-Big 12 honorees: Vann (unanimous 1st team), Verhulst (1st team), Tot (honorable mention) and Williams (honorable mention). Oklahoma's two first-team selections were tied for a league-high.
Oklahoma's outright championship was the program's first since 2009, as the Sooners shared the regular season crown last season with Texas. The Sooners have won nine total regular season conference titles (8 Big 12, 1 Big 8) as Oklahoma's eight Big 12 titles are the second most in conference history. The Sooners have won a combined 71 games in head coach Jennie Baranczyk's first three seasons, the best stretch at OU since 2008-10 (81 wins, two Final Fours).
A win would mark the third straight season that Oklahoma has advanced to the Big 12 Championship semifinal and be the first time since 2011-13 that the Sooners had won a game at the championship in three straight seasons.
Oklahoma's offensive attack is powered by 20.6 assists per game (2nd NCAA, 1st Big 12), highlighted by four different Sooners averaging 2.0 assists this season, with two more at 1.6+. The Sooners assist on a nation-leading 71.0% of their makes this year. OU has posted 15+ assists in 80 of its 96 games under Baranczyk, including 17 of its last 19, and is 67-13 in such contests.

SERIES HISTORY

Saturday's game marks the 41st and final as league foes between Oklahoma and TCU. The Sooners have won six straight vs. the Horned Frogs and lead the all-time series 29-11.

The Sooners are 1-1 vs. TCU at the Big 12 Championship, falling 90-83 in the 2018 quarterfinal, but Oklahoma avenged that loss by ending TCU's season at the 2023 Big 12 Championship.

UP NEXT

With a win, Oklahoma would advance to its third straight Big 12 semifinal, facing the winner of No. 4 Baylor and No. 5 Iowa State, which tips at 11 a.m. Saturday.

The semifinal tips at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 11, on ESPN2.

A loss would send the Sooners home, awaiting their fate on Selection Sunday (March 17), when the NCAA Selection Committee unveils the bracket on ESPN at 7 p.m. CT.