OU Basketball: Oklahoma Will Lean on 'Experience' to Avoid First Round Hiccup

NORMAN — A year ago, Oklahoma and Florida Gulf Coast played an outstanding game in the NCAA Tournament First Round.

The Sooners dug out of an early hole and survived a late look from Florida Gulf Coast to avoid overtime.

Saturday afternoon in Norman, the Sooners and the Eagles will meet again.

Things will be a little different for Oklahoma.

A 3-seed in this year’s Dance, OU earned the right to host the first two rounds in Norman after adding center Raegan Beers and returning 98 percent of its production from a year ago.

Things will look quite a bit different for the Eagles.

There’s a new head coach, Chelsea Lyles, and while leading scorer Emani Jefferson returns, virtually the entire team is different.

Still, Florida Gulf Coast wants to deploy five guards, spread the Sooners out and launch 3’s all day at the Lloyd Noble Center.

“I said it last year, and I've said it about 15 times this year, they're the team you don't really want to play in the NCAA Tournament,” OU coach Jennie Baranczyk said on Friday. “That's the team you circle that you don't want to play.”

Battling through the SEC, Oklahoma was exposed to a different caliber of athlete on a consistent basis.

The teams OU played in conference play won’t necessarily prepare the Sooners for Saturday’s test, however, because few teams shoot as many 3’s per game (25.7) as the Eagles, who rank 21st in the country in attempts from deep.

“This match-up, we haven't seen anything like them,” Beers said. “… Trying to figure out the five-out offense will be a challenge. It's going to be fun. We've got one more day to scout, and we'll be ready to go.”

But Beers and fellow center Liz Scott didn’t take part in last year’s 73-70 win over Florida Gulf Coast either, and they’ll both provide a different edge for Oklahoma’s offense inside.

The Eagles raced out to a 25-15 lead after one quarter a year ago, and while Beers and Scott will provide a steady threat on the interior, Baranczyk said the offense isn’t going to be one dimensional.

“I think it's important for us just to have balance, period,” Baranczyk said. “… It can't be, ‘Oh, we're just going to throw it Raegan and she's going to save the day.’ That's never been our approach, no matter what kind of advantage we feel like we have or don't have.

“But we know we all have to guard, and we know we have to play team basketball. That's why our assists are high. That's why our ball movement is pretty good. That's why we've continued to get better. You've seen games where we've had five, six players in double figures. That's what you need to be able to do at tournament time.”

The winner of Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. contest (ESPNU) will take on the victor of the 11 a.m. game in Norman between 6-seeded Iowa and 11-seeded Murray State.

A pair of wins over the next three days would put OU back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013.

Oklahoma will carry the pressure as favorites this weekend at the Lloyd Noble Center, but the need to bring your best performance every night to survive the conference grind has the Sooners prepared for the do-or-die March mindset.

“I think we have a lot of experience,” Baranczyk said. “… Our players have a lot of experience in having to make in-game adjustments and to be able to read things that maybe we didn't think that we would necessarily have to through a scout because you don't know until you're really in it.

“So I think those are the lessons you really hope come out in March.”