OU Basketball: Two Oklahoma Players Land All-SEC Honors

Two Oklahoma players landed All-SEC accolades on Tuesday as the Sooners wrap up their first season in the Southeastern Conference.

Center Raegan Beers was named All-SEC First Team, while guard Payton Verhulst earned second-team honors, as voted on by the league's 16 coaches and announced by the conference office.

Beers, a junior center from Littleton, Colo., averaged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds while leading the nation with a 68.4 percent field goal percentage. She became the first SEC player in over 25 years to average at least 17.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and shoot 65 percent from the field. A finalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award, Beers was strongest against elite competition, averaging 18.4 points (70.2 percent shooting), 9.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 blocks per game against teams ranked or receiving votes in the AP Top 25.

The three-time SEC Player of the Week and two-time National Player of the Week earns her first All-SEC honor, adding to her two All-Pac-12 selections at Oregon State. Beers became the first Sooner since Courtney Paris to post back-to-back 30-point games, accomplishing the feat against Vanderbilt and Arkansas in late February while shooting 85 percent in those contests. Her 11 double-doubles in the regular season ranked third among SEC centers. One of the most efficient players in the country, Beers is the only player nationwide to average 31.0 points and 16.0 rebounds per 40 minutes and led the SEC in player efficiency rating.

Verhulst secured her second consecutive postseason honor with a spot on the All-SEC Second Team. The senior guard, who can return to Oklahoma next season, is the only player in the nation to average at least 15.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in under 30.0 minutes per contest. She closed the regular season on a tear, scoring in double figures in 10 straight games and leading No. 10 Oklahoma to a seven-game winning streak entering the postseason.

Her 29-point triple-double against then-No. 12 Duke made her just the second player since 1999 to record a 25-point triple-double against a ranked opponent, joining Caitlin Clark. In conference play, the Louisville transfer knocked down a team-high 39 three-pointers, fourth in the SEC, and finished 11th in the league in scoring with 16.88 points per game in league games. Verhulst was one of only two SEC players – along with Alabama's first-team selection Sarah Ashlee Barker – to average at least 15.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game this season.

The SEC included nine players on the first team and eight players on second team. Six players made the All-Defensive team and eight made the All-Freshmen Team.

Oklahoma's two All-SEC selections tied for the second most in the league, trailing only LSU's three honorees.

In her four seasons at Oklahoma, head coach Jennie Baranczyk has now produced 13 All-Conference honorees, the most in a four-year span for the program since the Sooners earned 16 honors from 2006-09.

The 10th-ranked Sooners enter this week's SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C., as the No. 5 seed. Oklahoma will face either 12th-seeded Georgia or 13th-seeded Arkansas on Thursday at approximately 12:30 p.m. on SEC Network.

OU Media Relations contributed to this report.