WBB Preview: #21/21 Lady Vols at #11/9 Oklahoma

No. 21/21 Tennessee (16-9, 8-5 SEC) continues a difficult stretch, taking part in its third recreation in six days and fourth in eight with a Sunday highway contest at No. 11/9 Oklahoma (20-6, 8-5 SEC).

The Lady Vols and Sooners will meet at 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET) at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla. The recreation, which is the Big Orange’s penultimate highway contest of the common season, will likely be televised by ESPN and accessible on the Lady Vol Radio Network and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Ch. 81).

Tennessee is coming off a house loss vs. Texas A&M on Thursday evening, falling by an 82-74 rely after the Lady Vols erased all however two of a 19-point deficit and practically had an exciting comeback win. Oklahoma, in the meantime, held off an upset bid by No. 24/25 Georgia in Athens on Thursday evening, claiming a 71-67 victory.

This is the ninth assembly between these applications, with UT holding a 6-2 edge within the all-time collection. The Lady Vols have gained three of the previous 4 conferences, however the Sooners edged Tennessee in Knoxville final season, 87-86.

BROADCAST DETAILS

• Tiffany Greene (play-by-play) and Carolyn Peck (shade analyst) will likely be on the decision for the ESPN broadcast.
• All of the video games included within the ESPN package deal (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) will likely be accessible by WatchESPN, accessible on-line at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets by way of the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions by Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to followers who obtain their video subscription from an affiliated supplier.
• The contest additionally will be heard on Lady Vol Network stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice offering play-by-play and Jay Lifford serving as studio host.
• A hyperlink to the dwell audio stream will be discovered on the WBB Preview web page or the schedule on UTSports.com. 
• For a listing of Lady Vol Network associates, please click on the Fans tab at the highest of UTSports.com, choose Vol Network after which click on on the Vol Network Affiliates tab.
• Air-time usually happens half-hour previous to tip-off.
• The Lady Vol Network broadcast additionally will likely be accessible on SiriusXM Satellite Radio channel 81.

A LOOK AT THE LADY VOLS

• UT is twenty second within the NET, twenty sixth within the WAB and twenty first within the AP & Coaches Polls.
• Tennessee is led by 6-0 redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper (15.8 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 3.8 apg., 2.8 spg., 52 3FGs), 6-4 senior ahead Janiah Barker (14.4 ppg., 6.8 rpg., 34 3FGs), freshman guard Mia Pauldo (11.2 ppg., 56 assts./31 TOs, 40 3FGs) and senior ahead Zee Spearman (10.4 ppg., 6.0 rpg., 21 3FGs).
• The Lady Vols rank No. 7 nationally in threes made per recreation (9.6), with 13 video games of 10+ treys (7x in SEC play).
• UT is No. 16 nationally in offensive rebounds per recreation (15.6) and No. 52 in whole rebounds per contest (40.12).
• The Big Orange is No. 32 nationally in turnover margin at 4.72.
• Tennessee is No. 33 in NCAA scoring offense (77.0), together with 74.2 in SEC video games.
• The Lady Vols are thirty sixth nationally in steals per recreation (10.9), carding 10+ steals 14 instances after grabbing an SEC-high 15 vs. Missouri.
• Tennessee is No. 41 in turnovers compelled per recreation (20.24) and has brought on 20+ turnovers 13 instances this season after hurrying Missouri into 21 on Feb. 12.

TRENDING…

• Tennessee ranks No. 1 on the NCAA’s Toughest Schedule Report, dealing with groups with a mixed profitable proportion of .690 from its previous and future opponents.
• Of the Lady Vols’ three remaining video games, all are vs. ranked groups and two are vs. these within the prime 10. 
• Since Jan. 18, Tennessee is in a stretch of taking part in 9 ranked groups in 13 video games.
• By the time the common season ends, UT may have performed seven of the highest 10 groups on this week’s AP Poll, together with  the highest 5 and all 4 groups from final yr’s NCAA Final Four.
• UT has made 10+ three-pointers in six of its final seven video games.
• Nya Robertson and Zee Spearman joined teammates Janiah Barker and Talaysia Cooper by reaching 1,000 profession factors.
• Janiah Barker (34) is six treys away from giving UT’s its first-ever quartet of gamers with 40 or extra three-pointers.
• In addition to probably reaching that first, Talaysia Cooper (52), Nya Robertson (48) and Mia Pauldo (40) additionally are attempting to turn into this system’s second-ever trio with 50+ deep balls.

FAMILIAR FACES

• Lady Vol Jersey Wolfenbarger performed at Arkansas from 2021-23, overlapping with Oklahoma assistant Pauline Love when she was an assistant with the Razorbacks from 2017-24.
• Tennessee head soccer coach Josh Heupel was a 2001 nationwide championship-winning quarterback at Oklahoma, ending because the runner-up for the Heisman in 2000, and he later served as a graduate assistant (2003-04), quarterbacks coach (2006-10) and co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach (2011-14) for the Sooners.
• Former Vol and Dallas Cowboys tight finish Jason Witten is tight ends coach at OU.

FOUR LADY VOLS REACH 1,000 CAREER POINTS

• Tennessee opened the 2025-26 marketing campaign with one 1,000-point profession scorer and three others who wanted fewer than 370 factors to succeed in the 1K plateau.
• As of Feb. 19, there are 4 Lady Vols who’ve reached 1,000 throughout their school days, together with Janiah Barker, Talaysia Cooper, Nya Robertson and Zee Spearman. 
• UT now has had three or extra 1,000-point scorers at season’s finish on 16 events, 4 or extra 4 instances and 5 on two events.
• Jewel Spear (2,217), Samara Spencer (1,730) and Ruby Whitehorn (1,106) ended 2024-25 above the 1K mark.
• Nya Robertson reached 1,500 factors together with her fifth of 11 factors in profession recreation 102 at UConn on Feb. 1.
• Robertson has scored 1,553 factors mixed in stints at George Washington, SMU and Tennessee, reaching 1K whereas at her second cease. She has tallied 198 as a Lady Vol.
• Janiah Barker reached the 1K mark vs. Winthrop on Dec. 14 in her 94th profession recreation, coming into with 998 and exiting with 1,018 after firing in 20 vs. the Eagles.  
• Barker, who now has 1,217, scored 345 of these at UT.
• With her eighth level vs. Texas A&M on Feb. 19, Zee Spearman reached 1K in her 119th recreation. She now has 1,006, with 659 coming in a UT uniform.  
• Talaysia Cooper joined Spearman in reaching 1K, doing so in her 82nd contest together with her first level vs. Texas A&M on Feb. 19. Cooper now has 1,010 as a collegian.
• Cooper, who now has 941 solely as a Lady Vol, is in line to turn into the 51st participant to surpass 1,000 factors all whereas representing the Big Orange. 
• Tennessee has had 50 gamers all-time rating 1,000 factors whereas carrying a Lady Vol uniform, with Rickea Jackson (thirty fifth, 1,176) and Tamari Key (forty eighth, 1,040) becoming a member of that membership in 2023-24.

A LOOK AT OUR LAST GAME

• Senior ahead Janiah Barker scored a career-high 29 factors and pulled down 10 rebounds, however No. 21/21 Tennessee dropped a Southeastern Conference contest to Texas A&M, 82-74, after a frantic fourth-quarter comeback bid got here up quick.
• The Lady Vols (16-9, 8-5 SEC) outscored the Aggies 23-13 within the remaining body and used a 10-0 run to chop an 18-point deficit to 2 with 2:07 to go, however A&M scored the sport’s remaining six factors to seal the result.
• Senior ahead Zee Spearman and redshirt junior Talaysia Cooper joined Barker in double figures with 14 and 11, respectively.
• Texas A&M (11-11, 4-9 SEC) was led by guard Ny’Ceara Pryor, who scored 13 factors within the first quarter and completed with 22. Forward Fatmata Janneh and guard Lemyah Hylton contributed 17 and 12, respectively, with Janneh knocking down a game-high 12 boards.

NOTES FROM THE TEXAS A&M GAME

• TWO JOIN THE 1,000-POINT CLUB: Talaysia Cooper (11 factors) joined the 1,000-point membership together with her first three within the first quarter. The guard, who now has 1,010, is the third Vol on this group to hitch the membership. Cooper can also be solely 59 factors away from a grand as a member of the Tennessee ladies’s basketball group. Zee Spearman (14 factors) additionally joined the 1K scoring membership within the fourth quarter with an old-school three-point play. Spearman was the fourth participant on the present Lady Vol group to get to a thousand. The ahead has elevated her level whole considerably, scoring 659 within the Orange and White after she tallied 347 factors at Miami for a complete of 1,006.
• SHOWING OUT AGAINST PREVIOUS TEAMS: Janiah Barker has thrived taking part in versus her former groups, scoring a career-high (at the time) 25 at UCLA on Nov. 30 after which gathering a double-double with one other career-best 29 and a team-leading 10 rebounds in opposition to Texas A&M on Feb. 19. Barker tallied her fourth double-double this marketing campaign and the twentieth of her time in school, in addition to her tenth time with 20+ factors (fifth this season). The ahead has now paced UT in caroms 12 instances in 2025-26. 

UT/OKLAHOMA SERIES NOTES

• Tennessee leads the all-time collection, 6-2, profitable three of the previous 4 conferences.
• The Lady Vols are 2-1 at residence vs. the Sooners, 1-1 away and 3-0 at impartial websites.
• UT is 0-1 vs. OU because the program from Norman turned a member of the Southeastern Conference, together with an 87-86 setback in Knoxville on Jan. 5, 2025.
• This marks the Big Orange’s second journey to Norman all-time for girls’s basketball, with a No. 2/2 Lady Vol squad taking a 71-55 determination over a No. 13/15 Oklahoma group on Dec. 21, 2003.
• The different highway contest within the collection was an everyday season recreation then-No. 2/2 OU hosted at what’s now known as the Paycom Center in OKC in 2009.

A LOOK AT THE SOONERS

• The Sooners characteristic the No. 4 scoring offense within the nation, placing up 86.7 per contest.
• Five Oklahoma gamers have began all 26 video games and common double figures in scoring, together with Aaliyah Chavez (18.4), Raegan Beers (15.8), Sahara Williams (12.1), Payton Verhulst (11.9) and Zya Vann (10.5).
• OU ranks No. 1 in defensive rebounds per recreation and No. 3 in rebounds per recreation at 48.23.).

ABOUT THE HEAD COACH

• Jennie Baranczyk is 313-136 in her 14th season as a head coach, together with 121-40 in 5 years at Oklahoma.
• She has led OU to 4 straight NCAA Tournaments and is a three-time nationwide coach of the yr semifinalist.
• Baranczyk, a 2004 Iowa graduate and three-time All-Big Ten choice, served as head coach at Drake University in Des Moines from 2012-21 earlier than coming to Norman.

OU’S LAST GAME

• Aaliyah Chavez racked up 27 factors, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, as No. 11 Oklahoma held off No. 24 Georgia, 71-67 on Thursday evening in Athens.
• Chavez was 9 of 17 from the ground and an ideal eight of eight from the charity stripe for the Sooners (20-6, 8-5 SEC). OU improved to 14-0 when Chavez leads the group in assists.
• Sahara Williams added 11 factors, six rebounds and a team-high three steals.

LAST TIME WE MET 

• No. 15/13 Tennessee outscored No. 9/10 Oklahoma, 27-12, within the fourth quarter to almost erase a 16-point final-frame deficit earlier than falling, 87-86, on Jan. 5, 2025, in entrance of a season-best crowd of 11,321 in Knoxville.  
• The Lady Vols (13-1, 1-1 SEC), pulled to inside one on a Jewel Spear three-pointer with 40 seconds left and used a shot clock violation to get the ball again with simply over 10 seconds remaining. The Big Orange obtained an open look past the arc, however a shot try with three seconds left on the clock would not go down, and the Sooners (13-2, 1-1 SEC) escaped with a one-point victory.
• Spear had a season-high 28 factors, connecting on 11 of 17 photographs from the sector, together with 6-of-11 accuracy past the arc. Talaysia Cooper and Samara Spencer scored 16 factors every, whereas Ruby Whitehorn tossed in 13.  Cooper completed with a career-high 9 steals through the contest.
• OU was led by Payton Verhulst with 16 factors. Raegan Beers added 13 factors and eight boards.

LAST TIME WE PLAYED IN NORMAN

• Leading 29-28 at the half, No. 2 Tennessee (7-1) outscored No. 13/15 Oklahoma, 42-27, within the second half to assert a 71-55 victory on Dec. 21, 2003.
• Shyra Ely had 17 to steer 4 Lady Vols in double figures, with Tasha Butts including an 11/10 double-double..
• Caton Hill paced OU (8-1) with 17 factors
• UT overcame 37.7 % capturing by holding the Sooners to 33.8 %, together with a 3-for-24 effort (12.5 pct.) past the arc.

NEXT UP

• Tennessee is again on the highway subsequent week, because it travels to Baton Rouge, La., for a Thursday evening match-up with No. 7/7 LSU in its penultimate recreation of the common season.
• The Lady Vols and Tigers will meet at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 5 p.m. CT (6 p.m. ET).
• The contest will likely be televised nationally on ESPN and likewise carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming accessible on UTSports.com.