OU Basketball: No. 15 Oklahoma Survives Auburn Scare

NORMAN — Oklahoma climbed back above .500 in SEC play on Monday night, but the evening was far from comfortable.

The No. 15-ranked Sooners hosted Auburn, and OU quickly got to work at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Jennie Baranczyk’s team got out to a 12-2 start thanks to a pair of 3’s and four quick points from Beatrice Culliton, and the Sooners were able to keep the Tigers at arm’s length for three quarters.

But Auburn opened the final stanza on a 9-0 run, putting OU right back in the middle of a tight conference battle down the stretch.

The Tigers took a 66-65 lead on Mar’Shaun Bostic’s runner with 3:30 remaining, which marked the first time OU trailed all night.

Skylar Vann tracked down a rebound off Sahara Williams’ missed free throw with 1:17 left and laid the ball in to knot the game back at 70-70.

On the ensuing possession, Williams came up with a block in the lane and Payton Verhulst got to the free throw line to put OU back on top 71-70, but Auburn matched Verhulst with a free throw of its own.

That put the ball back in OU’s hands with 24.1 seconds to come up with a win.

Vann fired a pinpoint entry pass to Verhulst, and the Tigers fouled the Oklahoma guard with 4.8 seconds left.

Verhulst sunk both of her free throws to put the Sooners back up by two, but they needed to produce one last defensive stop.

The Tigers got the ball to Deyona Gaston, but Culliton and Vann combined to contest the shot and it clanked off the left side of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Oklahoma hung on to win 73-71 on Monday to move to 18-6 overall and 6-5 in conference matchups this year while Auburn fell to 12-12 (3-8).

Vann led OU with 20 points and Verhulst also added 15 herself in the win.

"For Payton and Sky to be that steady, to be able to into kind of a two player game was really good," Baranczyk said after the game. "Because you didn’t really want them with a tie game to get to set their defense. And they’re such good defenders. And so yeah, (we) made a play."

Here are Sooners on SI’s three takeaways from the OU win.

Loose Handles Late

The turnover bug once again bit the Sooners late.

Oklahoma turned the ball over seven times in the fourth quarter alone, helping Auburn to work its way back into the game.

OU actually won the turnover battle 18-13 through the first three quarters, but the hosts were unable to turn that into a distinct advantage in points of those mistakes.

"I want us to understand how good (we can) be," Baranczyk said. "And I’m pretty positive… But at the end of the day we took the second half for granted. We can’t take the second half for granted and you can’t against good teams. You can’t in this conference.

"... At the end of the day if we don’t (start) taking care of the basketball we’re going to struggle because we’re averaging giving up 25 points a game. So when we don’t we’re really really freaking good. And when we do, it comes down to the end and we give up a 10 point lead in a minute."

Baranczyk’s team finished the night with 20 total turnovers, a return to the careless basketball that plagued the team through December and January.

Sky High

Entering the night, Vann’s previous season-best scoring output was 20 against Alabama State on Dec. 8.

She matched that output on Monday night, and the Sooners needed every single minute of production from the last year’s Big 12 Co-Player of the Year.

Vann went 9-of-15 from the floor, hitting one 3 and one free throw while adding five rebounds and four assists in an excellent all-around effort.

"I need to know that I’ve got to look to score when I have the ball especially or when I feel like I have a mismatch," Vann said. "And I definitely did that today. It felt good."

Baranczyk has praised Vann’s work on the defensive end of the floor and as a facilitator all year, but Vann needs to continue to score for the Sooners to reach their full potential in March.

Still No Beers

The Sooners won their second straight game without the services of transfer center Raegan Beers.

She missed Thursday’s road win over Ole Miss with an illness, and Beers was ruled out on Oklahoma’s final SEC Availability Report before the contest.

Beers was limited earlier this year after suffering what appeared to be a shoulder injury against Texas A&M, but she didn’t miss any time on the heels of that.

Baranczyk didn't provide much clarity on Beers after the win.

"I’m hoping she’s back soon," she said. "We don’t know yet. I don’t have a timeline for you."

Without their big transfer acquisition, the Sooners have looked a lot closer to last year’s group, as the personnel has been the same.

Culliton and Liz Scott have played much bigger roles, and that duo will continue to get plenty of run down the stretch until Beers fully returns to the lineup.

Oklahoma will be back in action in a road battle with Missouri on Sunday at 1 p.m.