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Oklahoma Basketball Static in AP Poll Following Tight Road Loss

Despite the Sooners' impressive winning streak coming to an end on Saturday, OU still managed to stay within the Top 25.
Randall Sweet|
Oklahoma Basketball Static in AP Poll Following Tight Road Loss
Oklahoma Basketball Static in AP Poll Following Tight Road Loss

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After going 1-1 last week, Jennie Baranczyk and Oklahoma remained at No. 23 in this week's edition of the AP Top 25.

The ranking comes on the heels of a tough slate for the Sooners, as Baranczyk's team faced two ranked opponents in Baylor and West Virginia. 

On Wednesday night, the Sooners took down then-No. 21 Baylor 84-73 behind 16 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and one steal from junior guard Payton Verhulst. 

Oklahoma's victory over the Bears marked the team's ninth consecutive victory, dating all the way back to Jan. 13. 

On Saturday, however, the Mountaineers ended the Sooners win streak as then-No. 24 West Virginia defeated OU in Morgantown 70-66. Once again Verhulst led the way for Oklahoma with 20 points, seven rebounds and two assists. 

The loss dropped Baranczyk's team to 18-7 on the season and 12-2 in Big 12 play. The Sooners have four more regular season contests before the conference tournament begins on March 7. 

OU will travel to Cincinnati on Tuesday for a 5 p.m. CT matchup against the Bearcats, who are 12-13 so far this season. Following its trip to Ohio, Oklahoma will take on Oklahoma State and Texas at the Lloyd Noble Center before closing out the regular season in Lawrence against the Jayhawks.

If Baranczyk's squad can take care of business to end the regular season, it seems like the Sooners have a good chance at making the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year.

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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