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OU Basketball: Oklahoma Dominates DePaul, Sets Up Showdown With Duke

Jennie Baranczyk's Sooners got another big night from Peyton Verhulst, Raegan Beers and Liz Scott in Las Vegas.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma head coach Jennie Baranczyk
Oklahoma head coach Jennie Baranczyk / Amy Kontras-Imagn Images
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By OU Media Relations

* No. 9-ranked Oklahoma beat DePaul 85-62 on Monday night in Las Vegas.
* OU improved to 6-0 this season and punched its ticket to the Ball Dawgs Classic championship game against No. 13 Duke on Wednesday.
* The Sooners’ 6-0 start is the program’s best since 2010-11, when OU went 23-12 en route to the Sweet 16.
* Payton Verhulst flirted with a triple-double, tallying 18 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds.
* Raegan Beers finished a perfect 6-of-6 shooting to post 17 points and 8 rebounds.
* Liz Scott had her best game of the season, tallying season highs in points (14), rebounds (9) and blocks (2).
* OU’s school-record streak of five consecutive 30-point victories was snapped.
* The Sooners notched 10 blocked shots, tying the team’s high mark under Baranczyk (2021-present).
* Oklahoma shot 50 percent and held DePaul to 28 percent shooting. The Sooners have now held five of their six opponents to 30 percent or less from the floor.
* The Sooners outrebounded the Blue Demons 57-42, a plus-15 differential on the glass was OU’s closest this season.
* Oklahoma continues to lead the country in rebounding margin at plus-23.7 per game.
* Wednesday’s title game is OU’s first Top 25 test of the season. Duke knocked off No. 9 Kansas State in the other semifinal, 73-62.
* The game will air online at FloCollege and on the radio at 1520 KOKC.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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