Game Primer: How to Watch, Key Players and Important Information for Kansas Jayhawks at Oklahoma Sooners

The Kansas Jayhawks look to get back on track on the road. Here is everything you need to know.

The Kansas Jayhawks have had a rough two-game stretch against the Baylor Bears and Texas Longhorns, and it doesn't get any easier today. Heading down to Norman, OK, the Jayhawks are slated to face off against the Oklahoma Sooners, one of the most prolific offenses in all of women's basketball, and a team that is an early contender for the conference title.

It's another matchup between two ranked teams, the first this season for the Jayhawks on the road. So here is everything you need to know before what will be a unique challenge in the conference.

The Numbers

Editor's Note: Unless otherwise noted, all stats are provided by CBB Analytics. CBB Analytics is a new stats website in college hoops, covering both men and women's basketball in D-I, D-II and D-III. You can follow them on Twitter @CBBAnalytics

Kansas: 12-3 (2-2 Big 12): CBB Analytics Net Rating - 38th overall, 68th offense, 31st defense

Oklahoma: 12-2 (3-1 Big 12): Net Rating - 70th overall, 19th offense, 265th defense

Line: OU -1.5

O/U: 157.5

How to Watch

Saturday, January 14th, 2:00 p.m. CST

Norman, OK: Lloyd Noble Center

TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+

- Chad McKee (Play-by-Play), Dan Hughes (Analyst)

Radio: IMG Jayhawk Radio Network

- Steven Davis (Play-by-Play)

Webcast: Kansas Online Radio

Game Coverage

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Opponent Team Form

The Sooners are coached by Jennie Baranczyk, who is in her second season at Oklahoma. Her record at the school is 38-11. Last season, they finished 25-9 overall, including a 12-6 Big 12 record. They finished the season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 108-64 loss to Notre Dame.

This season, the team is shooting 45.6% overall and 34.2% from three-point range, with a respectable 73.3% average from the free-throw line. Offensively, they are the fifth fastest team in the entire NCAA, which they take advantage of to be the best at scoring on the fast break. However, this comes mainly from the number of opportunities, as they only make 87.9% of their field goal attempts on the fast break, good for 126th. The per-game averages for the Sooners are rather high at 86.8 points, 45.9 rebounds, 20.7 assists, but also 16.0 turnovers per game. They take a large amount of shots either at the rim or outside the arc, and they are shooting well above league averages at every spot except in the paint. A lot of this can be attributed to the pacing and fast break opportunities.

Defensively, they have some serious problems. They only average 8.1 steals per game and 4.1 blocks per game, both on the low end for Division I. And as they have gotten into conference play, the defensive numbers have just gotten worse. The steal percentage has dropped from 10.3% to 9.5% and they are going to the line less and fouling more.

Players to Watch

Oklahoma's leading scorer is senior forward Madi Williams, who scores 16.0 points per game on just 11.9 shots. But while her shooting percentages have gone up over her career, her points have dropped and rebounds have decreased. At least part of that is due to her being a somewhat small interior player at just 5'11". As the Big 12 has gotten bigger, it's been harder for her to score inside consistently. However, she has plenty of weapons in her arsenal to find some points.

Joining her on the inside is 6'2" senior forward Liz Scott, who averages 7.3 points per game and 5.6 rebounds on just 14.2 minutes per game. She provides a much needed change of pace and allows the Sooners to play big at key moments throughout the game. She may end up playing more than normal this game in an attempt to limit the Kansas interior game.

Out on the perimeter, Ana Llanusa leads the Sooners with 12.9 points per game. She is shooting 47.7% on the season. Taylor Robertson is the main three-point threat, hitting 42.2% of her attempts, and Nevaeh Tot averages 4.0 assists per game, one of the best averages in the country.

Matchups to Watch

Size has been a big issue for Oklahoma this season, and so once again center Taiyanna Jackson will have a huge impact on this game. She got back to her dominant ways against Texas on the road, with another double-double. But as Baylor was able to show, speed on the inside and a smaller playing being physical can present some big challenges for her, and so the help of Ioanna Chatzileonti  and Chandler Prater will be important, and Nadira Eltayeb may be called on in a pinch to contribute some good minutes if foul trouble causes some issues.

On the perimeter, Holly Kersgieter will be important as usual, but I'm more intrigued by how Zakiyah Franklin is able to bounce back. She has had two rough shooting games, which Baylor and Texas to concentrate elsewhere when trying to slow down the Jayhawks. Given the offensive prowess of Oklahoma, it will be just as important for her to keep up scoring as it will be to have a solid defensive effort.

Prediction

This is the hardest one to predict in quite a while, both because Kansas has struggled recently in ways I wasn't anticipating, but also because the performances from Oklahoma have been so up and down. The only certain thing here is that there will be a lot of scoring, as the Sooners have an elite offense and a very bad defense.

Kansas has shown the ability to get up and down the court and score, but I think it is their defense here that will be the biggest determining factor. Can they do enough to slow down the Sooners to escape with a win? Or will the pace be so frenetic that they don't have enough time to think consistently and avoid turnovers? I think the latter is more likely, but this will be closer than you might think.

Oklahoma 85, Kansas 80.

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