OU Basketball: Oklahoma 'Prepared' for Paige Bueckers, UConn Juggernaut in Sweet 16

To return to the Elite Eight, Oklahoma is going to have to make a little program history.

OU has never beat UConn — something that will obviously have to change if the 3-seeded Sooners are to get through the 2-seeded Huskies on Saturday.

But Jennie Baranczyk’s Sooners are different this year than her teams of the past three years, and they play a much different brand of basketball than when Sherri Coale warred with Geno Auriemma in the 2000’s.

Led by veteran guard Payton Verhulst, senior forward Skylar Vann and transfer center Raegan Beers, OU can win with blistering pace while also pounding the paint with a physical post presence.

“Their post situation is different,” Auriemma said on Friday. “There aren't very many teams in the country… where they have got a dominant post player that can single-handedly win you a game. It certainly takes a lot of pressure off your shooters knowing that if you're not making a lot of shots on the perimeter, you always got somewhere to go to get a bucket. Certainly the effect that she's had on their team has been tremendous.”

Beers is averaging 17.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in her first year with the Sooners.

She’s put up massive numbers all year, though Oklahoma hadn’t fully hit its stride with Beers until late.

UConn has their own set of stars, too.

Superstar guard Paige Bueckers is bound for the WNBA Draft at the end of this season, but she’s looking to capture her first national title with the Huskies.

She does a bit everything for UConn, scoring 19.2 points, pulling down 4.4 rebounds, dishing out 4.8 assists and ripping 2.1 steals per game.

Bueckers is supported b forward Sarah Strong, who averages 16.1 points and 8.5 rebounds, as well as guard Azzi Fudd who adds 13.4 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per contest.

Oklahoma has stepped onto the floor with plenty of elite talent this year battling through the SEC, and the roster construction of the Huskies reminded the Sooners of an opponent they’ve seen twice this season.

“I think the closest (comparison) may be Kentucky,” Vann said. “(Kentucky has) Georgia Amoore, great guard, and they have bigs that can shoot, they have all around just a great skill set. I think that is probably the closest team to UConn, but UConn's its own program and it's a great program. So we're definitely not going to say they're exactly the same, but I think our game plan is just to play defense and try to be in those gaps, help each other out, leave nobody on an island.”

The Sooners’ defense set the tone in their Second Round matchup against Iowa, but the offense will have to fire on all cylinders to upset UConn.

Vann played her best two games of the season in the opening rounds, which is encouraging, but OU will continue to have to limit turnovers and hit from deep.

How to Watch Oklahoma vs. UConn

When: Saturday, March 29
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Where: Spokane Vetrans Memorial Arena, Spokane, WA
Channel: ESPN

Oklahoma connected on 8-of-26 attempts from 3 against Florida Gulf Coast, then rallied from a poor shooting first half from beyond the arc against Iowa to knock down 11-of-34 triples in the Second Round.

“We know they like to play fast. So do we,” Fudd said of OU’s offense. “We got to make sure that we're playing to our tempo of quickness and still, like, not getting outside of ourselves.

“We know that, like you said, they've got a really great offense, so making sure that we're doing the best that we can to slow them down, make sure their shots are contested, not giving them as many open looks. It's going to be a challenge, but I think we're up for it.”

UConn knocked OU out of the Sweet Sixteen in 2000 and beat the Sooners for the 2002 national championship, but Oklahoma hopes the road its traveled this season will be enough preparation to put OU over the top at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“We saw a lot of athleticism in the SEC, I feel like, every single game,” Beers said. “It was just insane. If you didn't box out, you weren't getting the rebound even if you were taller. You were getting out-jumped or something like that.

“So the athleticism night-in night-out in the SEC was something that has prepared us, I feel like, really well for the Sweet Sixteen and for the tournament.”