How to Watch No. 16 Oklahoma vs. Auburn

The Sooners look to build momentum from Thursday night’s overtime victory over No. 2 South Carolina on Sunday against the Tigers.

Oklahoma forward Sahara Williams | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma got its season back on track in dramatic fashion on Thursday. 

The Sooners battled No. 2 South Carolina into overtime, where freshman star Aaliyah Chavez then took over. 

She went 5-for-5 for 15 points, powering No. 16 OU’s dominant showing in the game’s additional five minutes to snap a three-game losing streak. 

After the game, coach Jennie Baranczyk declared that her team was back in a fiery postgame speech — a message she hoped her team would take the right way. 

“What I mean by that is not, ‘We’re back. Take notice.’ But we’re back to who we are,” Baranczyk said on Thursday. “This has been a hard, hard, hard two weeks that has felt like two months. … And so when I say we’re back … That’s what I mean. That we are back.”

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How to Watch the Sooners Battle the Tigers

• Location: Neville Arena in Auburn, AL
• Date: Jan. 25
• Time: 1 p.m.
• TV: SEC Network
• Radio: 107.7 FM The Franchise

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Oklahoma looked much more like themselves against the Gamecocks. 

The pace was fast as usual, but the Sooners did a much better job of reading the game and playing in the flow of the offense, whether sharing the basketball, cutting off the ball or putting up shots in rhythm instead of forcing things on the offensive end. 

Oklahoma also won the rebounding battle handily and limited the Gamecocks with great physicality on the other end of the floor, which are all things the Sooners hope to replicate the rest of the year. 

Now, OU must show the maturity to go on the road and build on the signature win. 

Up next, Oklahoma (15-4, 3-3 SEC) travels to The Plains to battle Auburn (13-7, 2-4). 

Oklahoma guard Payton Verhulst rises to shoot against South Carolina. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Tigers fell to No. 5 Vanderbilt 81-53 in their last outing, but they are just two games removed from upsetting No. 21 Alabama 58-54 at Neville Arena. 

Guard Harissoum Coulibaly leads Auburn with 11.1 points per game and forward Khady Leye pulls down 5.1 rebounds per contest. 

The Tigers try to slow the game down, as they play with the No. 291 adjusted pace in the country, but Auburn is 158th in field goal percentage per game, 210th in 3-point shooting percentage and averages a minus-3.1 rebounding margin. 

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Oklahoma Takes Down No. 2 South Carolina in OT

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Still, the Sooners will use their recent heartbreak to ensure they don’t take a step backward after Thursday’s massive victory. 

“It doesn’t wash away anything,” OU center Raegan Beers said. “I’m still frustrated with those three losses that are still recent that I lost sleep over. So those aren’t going to go away. Those are going to remind us of what we don’t want to revert back to because that hurt and we don’t want to go back to that. 

“So I think (the South Carolina win) was a great way for us to just feel ourselves again, like Jennie said, and just take a step forward. It’s January, so we’ve got plenty of basketball left and more steps to take forward.”