No. 13 Oklahoma's Growth Will Have to be on Display to Take Down No. 6 LSU

NORMAN — Oklahoma needs to get moving back in the right direction.

The Sooners charged all the way to a top-five ranking in the AP Poll before dropping back-to-back SEC contests.

But on the heels of a disappointing trip to Kentucky, OU (14-3, 2-2 SEC) got a few extra days of practice to prepare for No. 6 LSU (16-2, 2-2).

OU has been unable to make enough plays on the offensive end of the floor in the final 90 seconds against both Ole Miss and Kentucky, but Jennie Baranczyk and her coaching staff are working to get the most out of Oklahoma’s talented roster in crunch time — especially the youngest pieces of the team.

“We’re still trying to learn,” Baranczyk said. “… We’re trying to learn what aggressive means, right. Because to some of us, when you hear, ‘Go be aggressive.’ You hear, 'Go drive to the basket and score.' … Those are things you underestimate as a freshman.

“What does aggressive actually mean? What does it mean if I’m in a scorer’s mentality? Because to us it means you might shoot, you might pass, you might cut, you might space out, right?”

How to Watch No. 13 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 LSU

When: Sunday, Jan. 18
Where: Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, OK
When: 2 p.m.
Channel: ESPN2

Baranczyk has been drilling into her young guards, freshman star Aaliyah Chavez and sophomore Zya Vann, what the team needs down the stretch. But part of that maturation process can only come from feeling the pressure of a close contest.

“We’ve been end some end of game situations that maybe we weren’t in up to that point, and so you don’t know what it feels like unless you’re in it,” Baranczyk said. “You can practice it as much as you want, but unless you’re in it, you don’t really understand the feel… until you’re in it.”

Still, All-American center Raegan Beers has been impressed with how the young guard duo has handled the adversity.

“Simply put, they’re ballers,” Beers said. “Aaliyah has hit some of the toughest shots I think I’ve seen from a freshman. And then Zya just has this sense of calm that I learned last year… That’s just who she is. She has this crazy sense of calm that helps her in those moments stay composed.”

Every Sooner will need to play their best in front of a sellout crowd at the Lloyd Noble Center to take down Kim Mulkey’s Tigers.

Flau’jae Johnson leads the team averaging 14.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, and South Carolina transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley adds 14.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

LSU always has star power under Mukley, but Beers believes another aspect of their game is what makes the Tigers so good.

“Their rebounding, that’s what they do,” Beers said. “We were watching a little bit of film today and every single one of them on our scout was rebounder, rebounder, rebounder. You can go down that bench and they rebound the ball. And so I think it’s important for this team to do that on Sunday and that’s an area I think we have struggled in, obviously in the SEC.

“… It’s going to be very important for this team to just make a decision. Are we going to rebound and win the game or are we going to lose again because we decide not to rebound?”

Oklahoma will be able to make that choice at 2 p.m. on Sunday, and a win will give OU some momentum before it turns its attention to a battle with South Carolina on Thursday.

“(LSU is) so good,” Baranczyk said. “They’re so talented.

“… They’re always going to be a team that you look at to say, okay, they’re a certain kind of standard. And as we try to build our program, we want to be a certain kind of standard too.”