OU Basketball: Oklahoma Ousts Florida Gulf Coast to Set Up Date With Iowa

Raegan Beers and Skylar Vann both scored over 20 for the Sooners as OU reached the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year.

Oklahoma's Skylar Vann and Raegan Beers / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — A familiar face set Oklahoma on the right path as OU opened the NCAA Tournament in Norman on Saturday. 

Skylar Vann, last year’s Big 12 Co-Player fo the Year, guided the 3-seeded Sooners through the tight moments of the tournament opener, scoring 24 points to oust the feisty 14-seeded Florida Gulf Coast Eagles 81-58 at the Lloyd Noble Center. 

"We know that Florida Gulf Coast is good, and having played them a year ago, and you could tell we were a little bit tight," OU coach Jennie Baranczyk said after the win. "I thought the more fun that we had throughout the game, the better we got, especially in that fourth quarter."

Raegan Beers dominated alongside Vann, pacing OU with 25 points and 18 rebounds. The duo helped Baranczyk’s Sooners build a healthy lead in the first half. 

Final Box Score / NCAA Stats

They each scored seven in the first quarter, outscoring the Eagles 14-12 by themselves through the first 10 minutes. 

Oklahoma looked to deliver an early knockout punch in the second quarter. 

The Sooners scored the first seven points of the period, which formed a 9-0 run when paired with Beatrice Culliton’s layup at the end of the first, to put OU on top 31-12. 

But the scoring run made way for a big drought. 

As the crowd roared the team on, Oklahoma began to settle for long jump shots early in the shot clock instead of feeding Beers, who had seven points in the first. The Sooners missed 11-straight shots, and Florida Gulf Coast took the invitation to work itself back into the game. 

The Eagles endeavored to get out and run as opposed to settled for so many 3’s after hitting just 3-of-15 attempts from beyond the arc in the first quarter, and Emani Jefferson’s layup with 2:59 on the clock punctuated an 11-0 run for the 14-seed. 

Oklahoma ultimately took a 36-26 lead into the locker room, which gave Baranczyk time to settle her team down. 

"Our defense really fuels us… And so we knew we just had to contain them," freshman Zya Vann said. "... Just stay in front of the ball and rebound."

Skylar Vann took over the early stages of the second half. 

She chipped in nine points in the third, but Florida Gulf Coast forward Skyler Gill starters to pound the paint.

"I told myself even before the game started in the locker room, I was like just play with joy, have fun," Skylar Vann said. "I was like this could have been my last game in my college career."

"I just want to play with joy with my team and I think we did that, especially in that fourth quarter going on that run and we were putting each other in really good positions and just made it easy."

Gill only went 2-of-2 from the floor, but she got to the free throw line six times as the Sooners struggled to stay in front of her. The contribution was necessary for the Eagles to stay in the game, as Florida Gulf Coast played a majority of the second half without Jefferson, its leading scorer, who picked up her fourth foul just 49 seconds into the second half. 

Just as OU struggled to knock anything down before halftime, Oklahoma missed its last six field goals of the third quarter to carry a seven-point lead into the final 10 minutes of the game. 

Jefferson, back on the floor to try and cut the deficit, pulled the Eagles within eight off a tip-in with 6:07 remaining, but on the ensuing possession, Payton Verhulst was able to corral the ball in the lane, absorb contact and lay it in. She was fouled, and though she missed the free throw, Beers was able to grab the rebound. 

After a brief reset, OU funneled the ball back to their center, and Beers cooly finished with her left hand to push the lead back to 12. 

"I liked the way that we started the game ask then we kind of got tighter as the game went on honestly," Baranczyk said. "I thought the biggest keys, I thought, obviously, Raegan kind of coming life and her ball movement. I thought Payton put people in really good positions and then you have Skylar. I think Skylar was just so relentless tonight in terms of rebounding. I just thought she did a really nice job."

It was just the start of a 7-0 run by Beers herself in which the Sooners fully asserted themselves and took a 71-54 lead with under four minutes remaining. 

"I think going to that fourth quarter, especially we knew we had to pull away and the stretch where it was close with was are important that we kept pouring into each other," Beers said. "And Jennie reminded us of that the whole game because when we pour into each other and we are playing with so much joy, it's easier to go on those runs than when we are played frustrated, and there was a stretch where I was —  and I had my teammates and coaches to pull me out of that obviously."

OU guard Reyna Scott even pulled Beers aside at the free throw line, grabbing her hands to remind her center to stay positive. 

“I was telling her to just give it to me,” Scott told Sooners on SI after the game. “Give that frustration to me. I’ve got it and just clear her mind and hopefully she’ll make the next one. And she did.”

As the Eagles sped up to try and stave off elimination, Oklahoma’s defense forced a pair of turnovers to effectively end the game. 

Skylar Vann finished with nine rebounds and four assists to go along with her season-best scoring output, and Verhulst also scored double figures, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists. 

Oklahoma also set a tournament record with 72 rebounds, which topped the previous mark of 69 rebounds shared by both South Carolina and UConn.

The victory sets up a matchup with 6-seeded Iowa on Monday at the Lloyd Noble Center with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. 

Oklahoma hasn’t made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2013, and Baranczyk will have to go through her alma mater to take the Sooners to Spokane. 

•

OU Basketball: Oklahoma's Turnovers Prove Costly in Sweet 16 Loss to UConn

•

OU Basketball: Oklahoma 'Prepared' for Paige Bueckers, UConn Juggernaut in Sweet 16

•

UConn Coach Geno Auriemma Blasts NCAA Tournament Regional Format

•

OU Basketball: How 'Ultimate Team Player' Raegan Beers has Unlocked Another Level for Oklahoma

•

OU Basketball: Oklahoma Beats Texas, Lands No. 1 Recruit Aaliyah Chavez