Sooners Meet No. 2 South Carolina on ESPN Sunday

NORMAN – No. 13 Oklahoma seeks its fourth top-25 win of the season on Sunday when it faces defending national champion No. 2 South Carolina (17-1, 5-0 SEC) in Columbia.

The Sooners (15-3, 3-2 SEC) and Gamecocks tip at 2 p.m. on ESPN at Colonial Life Arena with Courtney Lyle and Christy Thomaskutty on the call.

THE STARTING FIVE

The Sooners have scored 70 points in every single game this season, tying a program record of 18 straight 70-point games. Oklahoma's scores 88.1 PPG (4th NCAA), which would set a program record for scoring offense in a season, besting the 1985 Sooners' 84.5 PPG. Over the last four seasons, OU is the only team in the nation to average 80.0 PPG each year.
The Sooners head into Sunday's game ranked No. 14 in the latest NET rankings and No. 13 in the AP poll. Oklahoma has appeared in every AP poll this season, beginning the year at No. 10 and climbing as high as No. 8. The team is currently riding a streak of 19 consecutive weeks in the AP poll – the fourth-longest streak in program history and the longest since a 40-week run from 2015 to 2017.
A win would snap South Carolina's home win streak (67 games) and SEC regular season win streak (52 games).
Oklahoma has two wins over the No. 2-ranked team in the nation in the last calendar year, defeating then-No. 2 Kansas State and Texas last season.
The Sooners' projected starting five boasts 336 combined starts, led by Nevaeh Tot's 123 starts as the veteran guard has started 102 straight games for Baranczyk. Other projected starters include Skylar Vann (57 starts), Raegan Beers (55), Sahara Williams (51) and Payton Verhulst (50). Vann, Williams and Verhulst started 31 games together last season.

LAST TIME OUT

Payton Verhulst scored a career-high 38 points and made six 3-pointers to help No. 13 Oklahoma beat Missouri 80-63 on Thursday night. Verhulst tied Phylesha Whaley for fifth on Oklahoma's single-game scoring list, trailing Madi Williams' program record of 45 against West Virginia on Jan. 3, 2021. Verhulst scored 18 points in the opening five minutes of the third quarter. She started the second half with a personal 9-0 run to give her 24 of Oklahoma's 48 points, while Missouri had 32. She also added seven straight points to give the Sooners a 21-point lead with 5:05 left in the frame.

SERIES HISTORY

Sunday's top-15 battle marks the fourth all-time meeting between Oklahoma and South Carolina, with the Sooners winning each of the first three contests.

The Sooners are 1-0 in Columbia, knocking off the Gamecocks by 27 in 2006. Oklahoma defeated South Carolina by 22 in 2007, the final year before Dawn Staley arrived in Columbia. Sherri Coale led OU to an 8-point win over Staley and South Carolina in 2009 at Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

UP NEXT

The Sooners' midweek bye is on Thursday, and then OU hosts Georgia on Sunday (Jan. 26) at Lloyd Noble Center at 1:30 p.m. CT.

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