How to Watch No. 16 Oklahoma vs. No. 2 South Carolina

The Sooners are looking to avoid dropping a fourth-straight contest as the Gamecocks roll into the Lloyd Noble Center on Thursday night.

Oklahoma guard Aaliyah Chavez drives into the lane against LSU. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — Oklahoma must overcome its toughest challenge yet to snap its three-game losing skid. 

The No. 16 Sooners welcome No. 2 South Carolina (19-1, 5-0 SEC) to the Lloyd Noble Center on Thursday evening in the final of OU’s four-straight ranked matchups. 

Jennie Baranczyk’s squad was unable to send Sunday’s sellout crowd home happy after falling 91-72 to LSU, as the Tigers out-physicaled the Sooners in their own gym. 

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How to Watch Oklahoma vs. South Carolina

• When: Thursday, Jan. 22, 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Lloyd Noble Center
• Channel: ESPN

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“I think our guards got pushed a little bit,” Baranczyk said after Sunday’s loss. “We’ve got to learn and we’ve got to hold our ground. And that’s, especially Aaliyah (Chavez) and Zya (Vann), I think the physicality got to them today. That’s SEC basketball. That’s if you want to go compete for anything, you’ve got to learn that. 

“And so it’s one thing for us doing that in practice, it’s a whole different thing experiencing it. So they’re gonna learn from it.”

All-American center Raegan Beers got into foul trouble at the end of the first quarter, which allowed LSU to turn up the heat on OU’s inexperienced backcourt. 

Even if Beers is able to avoid early fouls and stay on the floor longer against the Gamecocks, Dawn Staley’s squad will be ready to pounce on the Sooners if they are not up for the fight. 

Oklahoma center Raegan Beers pulls down a rebound against LSU. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

That applies down low, too. While Beers has been excellent, the Sooners as a team have struggled to rebound during the three-game losing streak. 

South Carolina is fifth in the country in rebounding margin, though OU was able to hang tight on the boards in both contests against the Gamecocks last year, despite getting handled on each occasion. 

Still, Oklahoma can’t feel sorry for itself on Thursday night, or the losing streak will extend to four. 

“The SEC is such a great conference that if you hang your head after one loss, then it’s going to be five losses before you know it,” redshirt senior guard Payton Verhulst said on Sunday. “So I think for us, it’s one game at a time. Obviously losing three in a row sucks and that’s stuff that we’re going to go into practice and we’re going to learn and we’re going to watch film. But, again, we have plenty of more games to get better, so I’m not worried. 

“I know that we have a team, we’re going to come in and work and we’re going to work for each other. So I’m not worried about how we’re going to respond.”

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To stand a chance of pulling the upset, OU will have to slow down forward Joyce Edwards, who paces South Carolina with 20.6 points per game. 

Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot add 16.0 points and 14.5 points per game, respectively, for the Gamecocks, and Okot also chips in 11.0 rebounds per game at center. 

Beers will have to hang tough to battle with Okot, but Baranczyk believes her entire team has to find ways to keep pace when the OU big is off the floor. 

“We’ve got to find different ways to manufacture some paint points,” Baranczyk said. 

Verhulst backs her team to have a fiery response on Thursday, even if it’s natural for the younger pieces of OU’s roster to get a bit discouraged in the face of a tough run in SEC play. 

“I think this is all stuff that we’ve known and that we’re getting better at and that we’re working at in practice,” Verhulst said. “… Sometimes you can’t rely on other people to give you the confidence; you have to have that confidence within yourself.”