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Three-Game Losing Streak Testing Oklahoma, but Sooners Still Have Plenty Ahead of Them

While the No. 13 Sooners' chances of hosting in the NCAA Tournament have taken a hit, they still have a chance to bounce back — if they learn from current skid
Ryan Aber|
Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk reacts during an NCAA women's basketball game between the Sooners and the LSU Tigers at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. LSU won 91-72.
Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk reacts during an NCAA women's basketball game between the Sooners and the LSU Tigers at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. LSU won 91-72. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Oklahoma Sooners

NORMAN — Oklahoma women’s basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk was quick to strike down any talk of NCAA Tournament seeds and the ramifications of the Sooners’ three-game losing streak after her team’s 91-72 loss to LSU on Sunday.

“I don’t care about that,” Baranczyk said. “I probably should and I don’t. We have to get better. … We have enough talent on our team but we’ve got to shoot better clearly, we’ve got to get it to each other a little better, clearly; and we’ve got to learn to guard. ...

"I don't know what our resume is. It's probably not good. At this point, don't care, doesn't matter, there's nothing we can do about it."

None of OU’s losses during the streak have been particularly damning.

The Sooners fell to then-No. 18 Ole Miss 74-69 on Jan. 8 at Lloyd Noble Center to snap their 13-game winning streak, lost at then-No. 6 Kentucky 63-57 in a tight one, then fell to the currently sixth-ranked Tigers on Sunday in front of a sold-out crowd at LNC.

Collectively, though, the streak has raised plenty of concerns.

The 13th-ranked Sooners were shooting 47.2% from the field and 31.7% from beyond the arc through the first 15 games of the season.

During its losing streak, OU is shooting just 35.3% from the field and 26.0% from beyond the arc.

There were always going to be growing pains for freshman Aaliyah Chavez, even with her lofty credentials coming out of high school.

Chavez worked through early struggles against Belmont and UCLA to thrive for most of the next two months.

But during the last four games, Chavez is just 20 of 63 (31.7%) from the field and 9 of 31 (29.0%) from beyond the arc.

“Our standard and our expectation is probably … it might be too high for young players but I’m not going to change that,” Baranczyk said. “The expectation is you’ve got to come in to win every possession, and that’s where we’re not holding that standard right now. You don’t get a choice if you want to box out, … you don’t get a choice if you want to play together.

“As a team, we’ve got to grow together a little bit more. I don’t think we’re doing a great job right now of trying to set each other up.”

Specifically, Baranczyk said Chavez and the other young players on the roster struggled with LSU’s physicality Sunday.

“We’ve got to do a better job of being able to be a little more powerful, and a little less finesse,” Baranczyk said.

Chavez was 3 of 14 Sunday with four turnovers and two assists.

"I think the biggest thing for our team to learn is we've got to out-team people, because we can't out one-on-one people," Baranczyk said.

It’s not just OU’s young guard duo of Chavez and Zya Vann that need to grow, though.

Sahara Williams was a major part of the Sooners’ success early in the season, but during the losing streak, Williams is just 9 of 28 from the floor. 

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The losing streak is the Sooners’ first of three or more games since December 2023 when they fell to UNLV, North Carolina and Southern. 

That stretch was more concerning, though it came much earlier in the season.

This one is still early in conference play, though the chances for resume-building wins dwindle after this stretch, which ends with OU hosting No. 2 South Carolina on Thursday.

After Thursday’s game, just two games remain against top-20 opponents — No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Vanderbilt in back-to-back road games in early February.

“I’m not worried because we have a team that will come into work and we’re going to work for each other,” Payton Verhulst said.

Oklahoma still has plenty of path to host in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, but with a resume who’s best win is the Dec. 13 Bedlam victory, the Sooners have work to do to get back in that discussion.

That, Baranczyk said, will take care of itself as long as the team continues to grow and not stagnate though this rough stretch.

“I’d like to see us have a little more trust and chemistry,” Baranczyk said. “I think that’s where you’re going to see gs go a little bit better than they are right now because good teams expose you. They’re supposed to, but if we’re playing this for the long game, I think there’s a lot more that can come.

“But the expectation is that we’ll get a hell of a lot better.”

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Ryan Aber
RYAN ABER

Ryan Aber has been covering Oklahoma football for more than a decade continuously and since 1999 overall. Ryan was the OU beat writer for The Oklahoman from 2013-2025, covering the transition from Bob Stoops to Lincoln Riley to Brent Venables. He covered OU men's basketball's run to the Final Four in 2016 and numerous national championships for the Sooners' women's gymnastics and softball programs. Prior to taking on the Sooners beat, Ryan covered high schools, the Oklahoma City RedHawks and Oklahoma City Barons for the newspaper from 2006-13. He spent two seasons covering Arkansas football for the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas before returning to his hometown of Oklahoma City. Ryan also worked at the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the Muskogee Phoenix. At the Phoenix, he covered OU's national championship run in 2000. Ryan is a graduate of Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City and Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

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