No. 7 Oklahoma Stomps Arkansas on Senior Night for Fifth Straight Win

NORMAN — The Sooners didn't waste any time against Arkansas.

Oklahoma got out to a sizable lead early and expanded on it throughout Thursday's game, defeating Arkansas 89-44. The win is OU's fifth in a row.

The Sooners improved to 22-6 overall and 10-5 in SEC play with the win, while the Razorbacks fell to 11-19 and 0-15.

Here are three takeaways from OU's lopsided victory:

Seniors go out in style

Oklahoma’s three seniors — Raegan Beers, Payton Verhulst and Beatrice Culliton — helped the Sooners overpower the Razorbacks in the trio’s final regular-season game at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Verhulst scored 14 points and also logged five assists and four rebounds. She entered Thursday’s game averaging 12.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3 assists per game.

Beers played only 20 minutes but was still very impactful for the Sooners, as she notched 11 points and 14 rebounds. The 6-4 center came into the Arkansas game averaging a double-double (15.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game).

Culliton scored two points in seven minutes on the floor. She also recorded two rebounds and an assist.

Culliton is the only one of those three who began her college career at Oklahoma, as Beers and Verhulst transferred in from Oregon State and Louisville, respectively.

"We can fall down, get up and go forward because we can roll up our sleeves and we can work," Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "We’re not afraid to put a smile on our face, we’re not afraid to fail. These three women have been a huge part of that, keeping the locker room together and, obviously, being pretty good basketball players as well."

Though Thursday marked the last home regular-season game for those three, they could play a couple more games in Norman if the Sooners are a top-16 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Sooners dominate down low

Winning by 45 points, Oklahoma dominated almost every facet of Thursday’s contest.

But the Sooners were particularly stout down low.

OU outrebounded Arkansas 59-27. The Sooners also grabbed 20 offensive rebounds to Arkansas’ eight.

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Freshman forward Brooklyn Stewart registered a team-high 15 boards.

Oklahoma scored 50 of its 89 points in the paint. The Razorbacks scored only 12 points in the paint.

One regular-season game left

Now that senior night is in the rearview mirror, Oklahoma has only one regular-season contest remaining.

The Sooners will battle Missouri on the road Sunday, with tipoff scheduled for 3 p.m. After that, they will go to Greenville, SC, to compete at the SEC Tournament, which begins on March 4 and ends on March 8. As of now, Oklahoma would be the No. 5 seed in the SEC tourney.

At stake over the next week and change is Oklahoma’s seeding for the NCAA Tournament.

The Sooners will likely host the first two rounds of the NCAA tourney if they avoid losses to inferior competition. In the NCAA Tournament Committee’s Top 16 Ranking on Feb. 14, the Sooners were ranked No. 16 — meaning they would be the final team to host the first two rounds.

Since then, OU has won games against No. 23 Alabama, No. 24 Georgia, No. 21 Tennessee and, now, Arkansas.

"Heading to the SEC Tournament playing team basketball is going to be super important," Beers said. "We'll celebrate each other tonight, love on each other tonight, and then tomorrow's back at it at practice."