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

No. 21/21 Tennessee (16-9, 8-5 SEC) continues a challenging stretch, playing its third game in six days and fourth in eight with a Sunday road 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 game, which is the Big Orange’s penultimate road contest of the regular season, will be televised by ESPN and available on the Lady Vol Radio Network and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Ch. 81).

Tennessee is coming off a home loss vs. Texas A&M on Thursday night, falling by an 82-74 count after the Lady Vols erased all but two of a 19-point deficit and nearly had a thrilling comeback win. Oklahoma, meanwhile, held off an upset bid by No. 24/25 Georgia in Athens on Thursday night, claiming a 71-67 victory.

This is the ninth meeting between these programs, with UT holding a 6-2 edge in the all-time series. The Lady Vols have won three of the past four meetings, but the Sooners edged Tennessee in Knoxville last season, 87-86.

BROADCAST DETAILS

• Tiffany Greene (play-by-play) and Carolyn Peck (color analyst) will be on the call for the ESPN broadcast.
• All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
• The contest also can be heard on Lady Vol Network stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice providing play-by-play and Jay Lifford serving as studio host.
• A link to the live audio stream can be found on the WBB Preview page or the schedule on UTSports.com.
• For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then click on the Vol Network Affiliates tab.
• Air-time generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
• The Lady Vol Network broadcast also will be available on SiriusXM Satellite Radio channel 81.

A LOOK AT THE LADY VOLS

• UT is 22nd in the NET, 26th in the WAB and 21st in 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 forward 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 forward Zee Spearman (10.4 ppg., 6.0 rpg., 21 3FGs).
• The Lady Vols rank No. 7 nationally in threes made per game (9.6), with 13 games of 10+ treys (7x in SEC play).
• UT is No. 16 nationally in offensive rebounds per game (15.6) and No. 52 in total 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), including 74.2 in SEC games.
• The Lady Vols are 36th nationally in steals per game (10.9), carding 10+ steals 14 times after grabbing an SEC-high 15 vs. Missouri.
• Tennessee is No. 41 in turnovers forced per game (20.24) and has caused 20+ turnovers 13 times this season after hurrying Missouri into 21 on Feb. 12.

TRENDING…

• Tennessee ranks No. 1 on the NCAA’s Toughest Schedule Report, facing teams with a combined winning percentage of .690 from its past and future opponents.
• Of the Lady Vols’ three remaining games, all are vs. ranked teams and two are vs. those in the top 10.
• Since Jan. 18, Tennessee is in a stretch of playing nine ranked teams in 13 games.
• By the time the regular season ends, UT will have played seven of the top 10 teams in this week’s AP Poll, including  the top five and all four teams from last year’s NCAA Final Four.
• UT has made 10+ three-pointers in six of its last seven games.
• Nya Robertson and Zee Spearman joined teammates Janiah Barker and Talaysia Cooper by reaching 1,000 career points.
• Janiah Barker (34) is six treys away from giving UT’s its first-ever quartet of players with 40 or more three-pointers.
• In addition to potentially reaching that first, Talaysia Cooper (52), Nya Robertson (48) and Mia Pauldo (40) also are trying to become the program’s second-ever trio with 50+ deep balls.

FAMILIAR FACES

• Lady Vol Jersey Wolfenbarger played at Arkansas from 2021-23, overlapping with Oklahoma assistant Pauline Love when she was an assistant with the Razorbacks from 2017-24.
• Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel was a 2001 national championship-winning quarterback at Oklahoma, finishing as 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 end Jason Witten is tight ends coach at OU.

FOUR LADY VOLS REACH 1,000 CAREER POINTS

• Tennessee opened the 2025-26 campaign with one 1,000-point career scorer and three others who needed fewer than 370 points to reach the 1K plateau.
• As of Feb. 19, there are four Lady Vols who have reached 1,000 during their college days, including Janiah Barker, Talaysia Cooper, Nya Robertson and Zee Spearman.
• UT now has had three or more 1,000-point scorers at season’s end on 16 occasions, four or more four times and five on two occasions.
• 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 points with her fifth of 11 points in career game 102 at UConn on Feb. 1.
• Robertson has scored 1,553 points combined in stints at George Washington, SMU and Tennessee, reaching 1K while at her second stop. She has tallied 198 as a Lady Vol.
• Janiah Barker reached the 1K mark vs. Winthrop on Dec. 14 in her 94th career game, entering with 998 and exiting with 1,018 after firing in 20 vs. the Eagles.
• Barker, who now has 1,217, scored 345 of those at UT.
• With her eighth point vs. Texas A&M on Feb. 19, Zee Spearman reached 1K in her 119th game. 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 with her first point 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 become the 51st player to surpass 1,000 points all while representing the Big Orange.
• Tennessee has had 50 players all-time score 1,000 points while wearing a Lady Vol uniform, with Rickea Jackson (35th, 1,176) and Tamari Key (48th, 1,040) joining that club in 2023-24.

A LOOK AT OUR LAST GAME

• Senior forward Janiah Barker scored a career-high 29 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, but No. 21/21 Tennessee dropped a Southeastern Conference contest to Texas A&M, 82-74, after a frantic fourth-quarter comeback bid came up short.
• The Lady Vols (16-9, 8-5 SEC) outscored the Aggies 23-13 in the final frame and used a 10-0 run to cut an 18-point deficit to two with 2:07 to go, but A&M scored the game’s final six points to seal the outcome.
• Senior forward 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 points in the first quarter and finished with 22. Forward Fatmata Janneh and guard Lemyah Hylton contributed 17 and 12, respectively, with Janneh pulling down a game-high 12 boards.

NOTES FROM THE TEXAS A&M GAME

• TWO JOIN THE 1,000-POINT CLUB: Talaysia Cooper (11 points) joined the 1,000-point club with her first three in the first quarter. The guard, who now has 1,010, is the third Vol on this team to join the club. Cooper is also only 59 points away from a grand as a member of the Tennessee women’s basketball team. Zee Spearman (14 points) also joined the 1K scoring club in the fourth quarter with an old-school three-point play. Spearman was the fourth player on the current Lady Vol team to get to a thousand. The forward has increased her point total significantly, scoring 659 in the Orange and White after she tallied 347 points at Miami for a total of 1,006.
• SHOWING OUT AGAINST PREVIOUS TEAMS: Janiah Barker has thrived playing versus her former teams, scoring a career-high (at the time) 25 at UCLA on Nov. 30 and then collecting a double-double with another career-best 29 and a team-leading 10 rebounds against Texas A&M on Feb. 19. Barker tallied her fourth double-double this campaign and the 20th of her time in college, as well as her tenth time with 20+ points (fifth this season). The forward has now paced UT in caroms 12 times in 2025-26.

UT/OKLAHOMA SERIES NOTES

• Tennessee leads the all-time series, 6-2, winning three of the past four meetings.
• The Lady Vols are 2-1 at home vs. the Sooners, 1-1 away and 3-0 at neutral sites.
• UT is 0-1 vs. OU since the program from Norman became a member of the Southeastern Conference, including an 87-86 setback in Knoxville on Jan. 5, 2025.
• This marks the Big Orange’s second trip to Norman all-time for women’s basketball, with a No. 2/2 Lady Vol squad taking a 71-55 decision over a No. 13/15 Oklahoma team on Dec. 21, 2003.
• The other road contest in the series was a regular season game then-No. 2/2 OU hosted at what is now called the Paycom Center in OKC in 2009.

A LOOK AT THE SOONERS

• The Sooners feature the No. 4 scoring offense in the nation, putting up 86.7 per contest.
• Five Oklahoma players have started all 26 games and average double figures in scoring, including 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 game and No. 3 in rebounds per game at 48.23.).

ABOUT THE HEAD COACH

• Jennie Baranczyk is 313-136 in her 14th season as a head coach, including 121-40 in five years at Oklahoma.
• She has led OU to four straight NCAA Tournaments and is a three-time national coach of the year semifinalist.
• Baranczyk, a 2004 Iowa graduate and three-time All-Big Ten selection, served as head coach at Drake University in Des Moines from 2012-21 before coming to Norman.

OU’S LAST GAME

• Aaliyah Chavez racked up 27 points, five assists and four rebounds, as No. 11 Oklahoma held off No. 24 Georgia, 71-67 on Thursday night in Athens.
• Chavez was nine of 17 from the floor and a perfect eight of eight from the charity stripe for the Sooners (20-6, 8-5 SEC). OU improved to 14-0 when Chavez leads the team in assists.
• Sahara Williams added 11 points, six rebounds and a team-high three steals.

LAST TIME WE MET 

• No. 15/13 Tennessee outscored No. 9/10 Oklahoma, 27-12, in the fourth quarter to nearly erase a 16-point final-frame deficit before falling, 87-86, on Jan. 5, 2025, in front of a season-best crowd of 11,321 in Knoxville.
• The Lady Vols (13-1, 1-1 SEC), pulled to within one on a Jewel Spear three-pointer with 40 seconds left and used a shot clock violation to get the ball back with just over 10 seconds remaining. The Big Orange got an open look beyond the arc, but a shot attempt with three seconds left on the clock wouldn’t go down, and the Sooners (13-2, 1-1 SEC) escaped with a one-point victory.
• Spear had a season-high 28 points, connecting on 11 of 17 shots from the field, including 6-of-11 accuracy beyond the arc. Talaysia Cooper and Samara Spencer scored 16 points each, while Ruby Whitehorn tossed in 13.  Cooper finished with a career-high nine steals during the contest.
• OU was led by Payton Verhulst with 16 points. Raegan Beers added 13 points 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, in the second half to claim a 71-55 victory on Dec. 21, 2003.
• Shyra Ely had 17 to lead four Lady Vols in double figures, with Tasha Butts adding an 11/10 double-double..
• Caton Hill paced OU (8-1) with 17 points
• UT overcame 37.7 percent shooting by holding the Sooners to 33.8 percent, including a 3-for-24 effort (12.5 pct.) beyond the arc.

NEXT UP

• Tennessee is back on the road next week, as it travels to Baton Rouge, La., for a Thursday night match-up with No. 7/7 LSU in its penultimate game of the regular 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 be televised nationally on ESPN and also carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming available on UTSports.com.