How Oklahoma 'Didn't Back Down' in Physical Game Against Michigan State

NORMAN — The bumps and bruises that the Sooners sustained against Michigan State were worth it.

No. 4-seeded Oklahoma defeated the Spartans 77-71 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16.

The victory, though, was far from easy. Several of OU’s players persevered through ailments that they suffered early in the game against the Spartans.

But it was nothing new for Oklahoma.

“We like it,” forward Sahara Williams said. “We don’t really back down from that.”

Williams had blood on her left shoulder after the game. Senior forward Payton Verhulst played nearly the entire game with a massive scratch on her left shoulder.

Michigan State finished the game with 21 team fouls, while Oklahoma logged 17.

Freshman forward Brooklyn Stewart — who sported a scratch on her neck after the game — said she knew that the Spartans would bring a physical brand of basketball into the Lloyd Noble Center.

But after the Sooners’ two-and-a-half-month SEC slate, Stewart said that the Spartans’ physicality didn’t phase the Sooners.

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“Michigan State is a great team,” Stewart said. “They were coming in to compete. We knew we had to be physical right back. That was our mentality — we’re going to hit first, and we’re going to hit harder.”

Center Raegan Beers didn’t come to the postgame press conference with any visible ailments, but she was at the center of Oklahoma’s physical effort.

Beers scored 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and logged a team-high 14 rebounds. Though she was incredibly efficient, Beers drew double teams from the Spartans regularly, due to her 6-4 frame.

She drew a fair share of MSU fouls, but on other occasions, contact from the Spartans went uncalled. Beers finished the game with four fouls, just one short of fouling out.

Beers has helped Oklahoma play a physical brand of basketball since she arrived in Norman in 2024, and that didn’t change on Sunday.

"It's March Madness… Physicality is the name of the game,” Beers said. “We play in a conference that is extremely physical, and so that prepared us well for this, which was great, but Michigan State is a physical team, a phenomenal team.”

Payton Verhulst, Oklahoma Sooners — Oklahoma's Payton Verhulst fights for a loose ba during the Sooners' NCAA Tournament game against Michigan State on Sunday, March 22 2026. | Carson Field, Sooners on SI

The Sooners’ victory over MSU was well-earned and, at times, painful. But Oklahoma’s job isn’t finished.

OU will likely battle No. 1-seed South Carolina in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento. The Gamecocks will battle USC at 7 p.m., and they are 22.5-point favorites to advance.

The Sooners won their only regular-season meeting against the Gamecocks, winning 94-82 in overtime in Norman.

South Carolina has lost only once since that game, and that defeat came against fellow No. 1-seed Texas in the SEC Tournament.

For the Sooners to keep their Final Four dreams alive, they’ll need to be similarly aggressive in the next round.

“I thought we looked strong out there, and I thought obviously there's moments where we can hold our ground more, but the SEC gets us ready for games like this,” Verhulst said.