Coatney's Call: Oklahoma Game Preview (Feb. 23)

#3 Nebraska at #11 Oklahoma

Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010Time: 7:00 p.m.(CST)
Site: Norman, Oklahoma
Arena: Lloyd Noble Center
Television: Sooner Sports Network (Bob Carpenter-Play-by-Play; Debbie Antonelli-Color Analyst); Nebraska Charter Communications Cable System Channel 17; KOLN/KGIN MyTV (10.2/Lincoln 11.2 Grand Island/Time Warner Cable/Lincoln Channel 110/Cox Cable Omaha - Channel 122). 
Nebraska Radio:
Husker Sports Network (Matt Coatney-Play-by-Play; Jeff Griesch-Color Analyst) -98.1 KFGE-Lincoln (Froggy 98.1), 93.3 KTWI-Omaha (Twister 93.3), 880 KRVN-Lexington, 99.5 KUTT-Fairbury/Beatrice, 94.5 KLIQ-Hastings (The Breeze) and available to our entire 21-station radio network.
Internet: Live Radio on Huskers.com

Here's how to vote and show your support of Kelsey Griffin right now:
http://www.seniorCLASSaward.com OR Text W6 to 74567

#3 Huskers and #11 Sooners Meet In Big 12 Showdown
Just saying "Nebraska vs. Oklahoma" conjures up recollections of Johnny Rodgers, "Man, Woman and Child" and Eric Crouch to Mike Stuntz. It also evokes memories of two highly ranked football teams meeting late in the season with conference titles and other national implications on the line. A similar late-season meeting of two highly ranked women's basketball teams with national implications will occur this Wednesday night in Norman when #3 Nebraska visits #11 Oklahoma. The 25-0 Huskers remain one of two undefeated teams in the country and have a 2 ½ game lead on the Sooners in the Big 12 league standings. A Nebraska win will give the Huskers their first regular season conference title since joining the Big 12.

Nebraska continued their magical season with an 89-73 win over Colorado Saturday at the Devaney Center. NU picked up a school record 12th conference victory and matched the second-best league start, tying the 2009 Oklahoma squad who also started 12-0. The Huskers also stretched their school-record winning streak to 25 games, while notching their 18th straight home win. Every opponent seems to be giving Nebraska their best effort, and Colorado did their best to knock off the undefeated Huskers with a barrage of three-pointers. The 15 triples were a NU-opponent record and were a women's basketball record for the Devaney Center. 6-2 National Player of the Year candidate Kelsey Griffin posted her 15th double-double of the season and 35th of her career with 25 points, 12 rebounds and a career high six assists. Griffin ranks fifth nationally in field goal percentage (61.8%). Nebraska played in front of the fifth straight crowd of over 10,000 as 12,747 fans witnessed NU extend their home court winning streak to 18 games. The big crowds have vaulted Nebraska into the top 10 nationally in attendance this season.

11th-ranked Oklahoma is 19-7 overall and in second place in the Big 12 with a 9-3 record. OU is 2-4 vs. teams ranked in the Top 10 this year, including last week's 76-60 loss at home to #1 UConn. The Sooners were challenged on the road Sunday at Kansas State. Trailing by 21 points with 16 minutes remaining, OU rallied to defeat the Wildcats 64-58.

5-9 junior point guard Danielle Robinson, a pre-season first-team All Big 12 selection, leads Oklahoma. Robinson is one of the most deadly free throw shooters in the nation. Against Oklahoma State on February 6, she set OU and Big 12 single game records for single-game free throw percentage and most consecutive free throws in a single-game by making 16-of-16. She broke her own Sooner free throw record (previously 30 set last season) for consecutive free throws made with a streak of 35 straight that ended against Baylor on February 10. Robinson leads the team in scoring (16.8 ppg), assists, steals, and free throw percentage (85.5%).

5-10 senior guard Nyeshia Stevenson is second on the team in scoring (14.2 ppg) and leads OU in three-pointers (58) and minutes per game (35.0 mpg). She had a team-high 24 points in the comeback winner at Kansas State Sunday. 6-1 senior forward Amanda Thompson is fourth on the team in scoring (12.3 pg) and leads the team in rebounding (10.1 rpg) and blocked shots. Thompson is second in the Big 12 in rebounding behind Nebraska's Kelsey Griffin. She posted her ninth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds against K-State. 6-4 senior center Abi Olajuwon is having her best season. The daughter of former NBA great Hakeem, Olajuwon played in the shadow of twin sisters Courtney and Ashley Paris the last three years. Olajuwon has started all 26 games for OU this year, and averages 10.4 ppg and 6.8 rpg.

Oklahoma suffered a blow to their starting lineup when 2009 Big Freshman of the Year Whitney Hand tore her ACL in game five this season. 6-1 junior forward Carlee Roethlisberger has usually replaced Hand in the starting lineup this season. However, 5-11 sophomore guard Jasmine Hartman has started the last three games. Roethlisberger, the sister of Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben, averages 7.9 ppg and is second on the team with 35 three-pointers. Hartman averages 1.4 ppg.

14th-year Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale has won more Big 12 conference games than any other coach. She has a league record of 145-75. Coale led OU to a program record 32-win season last year, the team's sixth Big 12 regular season title and advanced to the NCAA Final Four. OU was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 in the pre-season poll. The Huskers were picked sixth.

Nebraska will shoot for its first 6-0 sweep of the South Division at Oklahoma. The Huskers will be gunning for just the third-ever sweep by a North school against the South since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996-97. Iowa State was the last team to do it in 1999-2000, following a Kansas sweep in 1998-99. A North school has won five or more games against the South only eight previous times, most recently Kansas State's back-to-back 5-1 marks in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

Oklahoma leads the all-time series 26-22 and has won the last four meetings and 10 of the last 11 games. Nebraska's last win in Norman was in 1998 and the Huskers have lost each of the last five meetings at the Lloyd Noble Center. In last season's game in Lincoln, OU opened on a 15-0 run and never looked back en route a 77-56 victory. Dominique Kelley had 12 points to lead the Huskers.

I cordially invite you to join Jeff Griesch and me for Nebraska Women's Basketball on the Husker Sports Network. Our radio broadcast Wednesday at Oklahoma begins with the Husker Courtside pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. (central) with the tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on KFGE 98.1 FM (Froggy 98) in Lincoln, KTWI 93.3 FM (Twister 93.3) in Omaha, KRVN 880 AM in Lexington, KUTT 99.5 FM in Fairbury/Beatrice, KNEB 94.1 FM/Scottsbluff-Gering, KLIQ 94.5 FM in Hastings and available to our entire 21-station radio network. All Husker Women's Basketball broadcasts are also available for free worldwide on the internet at www.huskers.com. I hope you can join us.

Go Big Red!

Matt