Sooners visit A&M

Oklahoma takes its six-game winning streak on a true road game for the first time when it visits College Station, Texas, home of the defending national champion Texas A&M Aggies. The game will be televised nation-wide on FOX Sports Net with Brenda VanLengen and Cindy Stein calling the action. The radio broadcast with Brian Brinkley airs on KOKC 1520 AM in the Oklahoma City metro area.

OU Tickets Available
• Season Tickets are available for as low as $114. Tickets may be purchased online at SoonerSports.com or by calling the OU Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-456-GoOU.
• Single-game tickets went on sale to the general public Nov. 1. Prices are $15 for reserved seating, $8 for general admission adults and $5 for general admission youths and senior citizens. OU students receive free admission when presenting a valid ID.

The Teams
• Texas A&M is 9-3 and is coming off a loss, its first to an unranked opponent this season, to Kansas State in an overtime game in Manhattan, Kan. The Aggies are 5-0 at home and have a 10-game winning streak at Reed Arena since losing to then-No. 1 Baylor, 63-60, on Jan. 30, 2011.
• Texas A&M is ranked No. 8 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' Poll and is No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
• OU leads the all-time series 26-18 but is 8-10 in College Station and has a five-game losing streak to Texas A&M.
• Oklahoma is 9-3 and not ranked in either poll.

The Coaches
• Sherri Coale is 345-158 (.686) in her 16th season at Oklahoma. She has been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year four times.
• Gary Blair is 197-82 (.706) in his ninth season at Texas A&M and is 605-245 (.712) in his 27th year overall.

Next Game
• Oklahoma hosts undefeated Texas Tech at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on the Sooner Sports Network.

PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA
The Sooners were picked by the league's coaches to finish fourth in the Big 12 Conference this season. The media voted Oklahoma 15th in the Preseason Associated Press Poll and the Preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll had Oklahoma at No. 16.
Oklahoma returns to the court following a third straight Sweet 16 appearance. OU returns nine letterwinners from that squad and introduces four freshmen.
The Sooners must replace one of its most successful senior classes after the graduation of two-time All-American point guard and eligibility exhausted for Carlee Roethlisberger and Lauren Willis. That trio claimed 54 wins inside the Lloyd Noble Center, the most by Oklahoma in a four-year span.
Redshirt junior Whitney Hand is finally back to 100 percent health after suffering an ACL tear in November 2009 and returning to action in January 2011.
Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg, the team's top returning scorer, was true to self in the team's preseason scrimmage by leading the scoring with 22 points.
Unfortunately, senior Jasmine Hartman will not play in 2011-12 after tearing her ACL in a September workout and Lyndsey Cloman doing the same in OU's first exhibition game on Nov. 2.

Captains for 2011-12
Junior Lyndsey Cloman, redshirt junior Whitney Hand and senior Jasmine Hartman are co-captains of the Sooners this season. The captains were voted by their teammates.

All Home Games Televised
All 14 of OU's regular season home games plus the two exhibition contests will be televised either locally on the Sooner Sports Network or nationally on Fox Sports Net or ESPN2.
OU's games on the Sooner Sports Network are also webcast on SoonerSports.com All-Access subscription site (exhibitions free).
An additional eight road games are scheduled to be televised on various networks, giving OU a guaranteed slate of 24 television broadcasts in 2011-12.

PREVIEWING TEXAS A&M
No. 9 Texas A&M, the defending national champions, opened Big 12 play with an overtime loss to Kansas State -- its second loss in as many seasons in Manhattan -- but returns to home territory where it is undefeated this season.
Aside from the K-State loss, the Aggies have fared well in a tough schedule, succumbing only to ranked teams Purdue and Connecticut in true road games. Texas A&M's win over McNeese State on Dec. 30 was its 48th consecutive non-conference home win.
Senior guard Tyra White leads the Aggies in scoring, averaging 14.1 points and 5.2 rebounds.
Junior center Kelsey Bone, who transferred from South Carolina, adds 12.6 points per game and is the leading rebounder, averaging 7.6 boards.
Junior point guard Adrienne Pratcher dishes 4.9 assists per game, the fifth best mark among Big 12 players.

TWO SOONERS ON NAISMITH WATCH
Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg and redshirt-junior Whitney Hand were among the 51 women's college basketball players on the Naismith Trophy Early-Season Watch List released Nov. 29.
Ellenberg has averaged 18.3 points for Oklahoma this season and has been the team's leading scorer in eight games. Against Liberty, the 5-7 guard set an OU record by making a 3-pointer in a 23rd consecutive game.
Hand has totaled 11.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game as she recently crossed 750 career points.

ELLENBERG'S DEFENSE
The sophomore has taken nearly one-fifth of her career steals in the past three games with 11 over that span. In the previous nine games this season, she totaled 15 and, as a freshman, Ellenberg averaged just more than one per game with 37 in 35 games.

WINNING STREAK HIGHLIGHTS
The Sooners lost three consecutive games for the first time since March 2008. Since then Oklahoma...
...played five straight games without trailing (Milwaukee-TCU), the most for the program in more than 10 years, lasting back to at least the 2002 season.
...has led or been tied with its opponent for 233 minutes, 54 seconds of a possible 240 minutes (98 percent).
...has held at least a 26-point lead in each of its last six wins.
...has outscored its opponent in each period of play.
...has held its opponent from 3-point range to no better than 26.3 percent (Xavier, 5-of-19).

SWING SET
Iowa State led Oklahoma by 7 with 11:36 remaining in the first half and the Sooners won by with its largest lead of 29.
The 36-point swing was the largest by OU against an opponent that held at least a 7-point lead since the Sooners set the NCAA record for a comeback in regulation. The then-No. 5 Sooners trailed No. 9 California by 26 points at a tournament in San Jose, Calif., and won 86-75, a 37-point swing.

ROBINSON EARNS TOP VIII AWARD
Former Oklahoma women's basketball standout Danielle Robinson was one of eight student-athletes selected by the NCAA to receive one of its highest honors.
Robinson will be recognized in January 2012 as a Today's Top VIII Award winner.
The NCAA Today's Top VIII Award recognizes student-athletes who completed their athletics eligibility during the 2010-11 academic year for their success on the fields and courts, in the classroom and in the community. Award recipients will be recognized at the Honors Celebration on Jan. 13 during the NCAA Convention in Indianapolis.

COALE NEARS 500 WINS AS A HEAD COACH
Sherri Coale guided Norman High School to two state championships and a 147-40 record in seven years before becoming the Sooners' head coach.
In the collegiate ranks, Coale has 345 victories in 16 seasons, leaving her just eight wins shy of 500 in her career as a head coach.