Oklahoma Sooners vs Duke Blue Devils -> Women's BB -> Wed 3:30PM

[OUBeliever56A]

The 6-0, #8 Ranked, Oklahoma Sooner Women's Basketball Team will face the 6-1, #13 Ranked, Duke Blue Devils in Henderson, NV in a 3:30 PM game on Wednesday, Nov 27th. Both teams could look back at this game and may say, our season went one-way or the other, at least for the pre-conference portion of the season. Both teams come in to the game ranked and are 12-1 combined. In some way the two teams are similar.

Some of the similarities are:

• Oklahoma has 7 players averaging '7.0' points a game. Duke has 6 players averaging '7.0' points a game.

• The top 4 scorers for Oklahoma score 52 points a game. the top 4 scorers for Duke score 49 points a game.

• Both teams have started the same five players in each game.

• Both teams make 64% of their free throws. (Both need to improve this.)

• Both teams have had multiple players lead the team in scoring in a game. OU has had 4, Duke has had 5.

• Both teams have ball handling ratios of just undr 2-to-1. OU has 17.3 turnovers with 33.2 steals/assists per game. Duke has 14.8 turnovers with 28.6 steals/assists per game.

• Both teams score double-digit more points than their opponent. OU outscored their opponents by 27.5 pts/game. Duke outscores their opponents 20-85 pts/game.

• Both teams outrebound their opponents by double-digits. OU pulls down 23.6 more rebounds while Duke pulls down 9.4 more rebounds per game (almost 10).

• Oklahoma plays 12 players over 9 minutes game. Duke plays 10 players over 9 minutes a game.

The differences between Duke and Oklahoma are:

• OU is led by the their forwards (S Vann, Williams and G/F Verhulst) and Raegan Beers at center. Duke is led by their guards (Richardson and Jackson) and a forward off the bench (Fornier).

• Duke has played 2 ranked teams (Maryland #10 and Kansas State #9). Oklahoma has not played a ranked team.

• Oklahoma gets slightly more shots a game than Duke; Oklahoma takes 71.7 shots a game, Duke takes 65.2 shots a game.

• Oklahoma shoots better from the field at 50.0% while Duke shoots 46.5% from the field. OU shots 58.3% from inside the 3-point line, Duke shoots 49.7% from inside the arc.

• Duke shoots 36.6% from downtown while OU shoots 33.1% from downtown and has 30 more 3-point shots taken in 1 less game.

• Duke goes to the offensive boards better than OU. Duke pulls down 15.6 offensive rebounds per game. OU pulls down 11.3 offensive boards a game.

To me, the keys to the game will be:
1. Oklahoma must win the ball handling ratio in the game with only about 15 turnovers compared to 30+ assists and steals.

2. Oklahoma must be able to keep Beers, S Vann, Williams and L Scott in the game and out of foul trouble. Duke has decent size starting a 6'0" G, a 6'0" G/F and a 6'3" F. Duke brings a 6'2" and a 6'4 Forward off the bench for 33 minutes a game also. OU has to have a presence in the paint to combat those offensive boards and to counter their scoring

3. Oklahoma must outshoot the Blue Devils from outside the three-point line. Duke can shoot it from long range, especially Jackson #3. Verhulst and Keys and other Sooners must keep pace and really outscore Duke from long range. this does mean that OU has to guard the permimeter effectively on defense without it leading to easy layups and drives for assists for Duke.

4. Oklahoma needs to play their pace to be able to use their guards in open court leading to quick scores without their turnovers leading to quick easy points by Duke. Duke averages 13 steals a game. OU neeeds to handle the ball very well in the mid-court area and make Duke score from the other end of the court on steals. OU needs to win the battle of fast break points in the game.

5. Oklahoma needs to score at that high rate of almost 60% from inside the 3-point line. Duke will be athletic and big inside and OU's shooting needs to be unaffected by that.

I think OU can win this game.

But I think to do so, it will be the best game of the year played by Oklahoma. This game will tell a great deal about the Sooners expectations for the season.

Best of luck to the Sooners tomorrow afternoon.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Well, as others have pointed out above, the Sooners did not play particularly well against Duke on Wednesday and lost the ball game 109-99 in 1 overtime period. Th scores by quarters were, Duke 27-20 after 1Q, 46-35 after 2Q, 65-58 after 3Q and 94-94 after the regular 4th quarter game. In the 5 minute overtime period, Duke outscored the Sooners 15-5 to win by 10 points.

As some have said, the turnovers, the defense and maybe some missed shots inside were the reason that OU lost the game. For me, I look at the 1st quarter of play to find the reason for the Sooner loss. The Sooners led 14-5 with 5:56 left to play in the quarter. By the time the quarter ended the score was 27-20. Duke outscored the Sooners in the last 6 minutes of the first quarter 22-6.

In those 6 minutes, Oklahoma had 10 possessions. they turned the ball over 3 times, they missed 2 'threes' (S Vann and Beers), missed a layup (Tot), had a shot blocked that was off of OU with the ball going to Duke, and they made 3 shots inside.

In those 6 minutes, Duke had 11 possesions. They had 1 turnover and scored the other ten trips down the floor. they made 1 'three' and made a traditional 3-point play. they were 5 of 5 fro the free throw line and 7 two-point buckets.

Duke proved that the Sooners could not guard them 1-on-1 as Duke penetrated into the paint and dished the ball to open players for easy shots in those six minutes. The Sooners got absolutely nothing from outside in that stretch. With the Sooners moving more and more to a zone defense after that, Duke got more and more open looks on the outside and on the baseline to continue their hot shooting. The Sooners did rally back late to tie the score by the end of regulation but the chase was too much in overtime as the Sooners looked harried and tired.

The Duke guards scored 63 points as Richardon had 35, Jackson had 18 and Mair had 10 on 22 of 39 shooting from the field and 10 of 17 shooting from '3-point' territory and 9 of 11 free shots. When Oklahoma tried to play them close, the Duke guards beat OU off the dribble. When the Sooners went to the zone, Duke shoot the lights out on open shots outside. The three primary players inside for Duke, Donovan, Thomas and Wood were 14 of 20 for 31 points. Everyone for Duke played well as they shot 56.3% from the field, 55.0% from '3-point' land and 78.3% from the charity stripe. Duke also outrebounded the Sooners 38 to 34. Duke handled the ball very well with only 15 turnovers with 38 assists and 6 steals for almost a 3-to-1 ratio. Oklahoma had 'only' 18 turnovers (it seemed more at times) with 33 assists and 9 steals for a 2.3-to-1 ratio. So whlie it did not feel like it, the turnovers were not a killing factor. It just seemed like they came at tough times.

Oklahoma shot fairly well with 51.4% from the field, 36.4% from 'three' and 65.2% from the free throw line. But Duke made 2 more shots from the field, 3 more from 'three' and 3 more free throws. Duke also had 16 more fast break points, 9 more bench points and 6 more points off of turnovers. But OU did score 18 more point from inside the paint than Duke.

Payton Verhulst was sterling for the Sooners as she had a triple double with 29 points, 10 renounds and 10 assists. She did have 5 turnovers though. she played 39 minutes also. Raegan Beers showed some heart and determination as she had an ankle issue but came back and scored 26 points with 6 rebounds but had 8 turnovers herself. Skylar Vann had a goo agme with 13 points on 11 shots with 3 rebounds and 7 assists. Williams added 12 points with 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Those four Sooners scored 80 points and had 22 rebounds, 23 assists, 5 steals but had 14 turnovers. They probably did their part in the game. Liz Scott and Lexi Keys, the two super subs for OU, both scored 8 points on 6 of 8 shooting and 3 of 4 free throws wth 4 rebounds.

That was about it for the Sooners. The other 5 Sooners that played added 3 points, 3 rebounds 6 assists and 3 steals. Most of that was Zya Vann. i thought it wa strange that Aubrey Joens did not play in the game. Culliton and Johnson both played 1 minute in the game.

Nevaeh Tot, the floor leader for the Sooners played 30 minutes and scored 0 points, was 0-7 from the field (0-5 from 'three') and 2 assists and 3 steals. Tot has scored 11 points in 7 games for the Sooners. I like the story of Nevaeh Tot a great deal. I like her effort. But she has to score more to play that many minutes (149 so far in 7 games). I think she will have more and more trouble playing against the bigger gaurds of the SEC. Maybe Keys or Zya Vann could swap with Tot as an option, but that does hurt the bench play. As a duo on Wednesday, Keys and Z Vann played 35 minutes to Tot's 30.

The Season is not over for Oklahoma. They are 6-1. They are scoring over 90 points a game. But thy did just give up 109 points to the first ranked team they played. The Defense has to get better. The play against good guards has to get better. The Sooners need more off the bench or the bench has to be shorter. The Sooners can regroup and watch the film and find ways to improve the defense. But Louisville is next in a week (next Wednsday in Louisville). Louisville is 4-2 and is ranked in the low 20's. They were beaten by ranked teams, UCLA and Kentucky, by 7 and by 10.

It has been a good start with a hiccup and a chance to improve going forward. We will find out about that next Wednesday.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff wrtiers article about the Sooner Women's BB firs tloss of the season to Duke on Wednesday.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/11/2 ... to-13-duke

Boomer Sooner!

[TN Sooner]

Nice write-up, 56. I must say - I’m more encouraged reading your write up than I was listening to the game. Sooners need to play better defense. And turnovers - always turnovers.

I note KSU (you know, our 15th ranked old friend) got absolutely drilled (almost doubled up, I believe) today by the Gamecocks

Side rambling thought - do the ladies teams still get called Gamecocks? - Gamehens probably doesn’t work.