OU women's basketball can reach NCAA Sweet 16, but Sooners 'have to bring it' vs Indiana

The Round of 32 has been the Sooners’ Achilles heel as of late.

Head coach Jennie Baranczyk has yet to lead OU women’s basketball past the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend since arriving in Norman in 2021, falling to Notre Dame in year one and UCLA in year two, both in the second round. After escaping Florida Gulf Coast’s last-second upset attempt Saturday with a 73-70 win, No. 5-seeded Oklahoma faces a tough contest against the host team, No. 4-seeded Indiana, on Monday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

“(We’re) just really excited to be here,” said Baranczyk to open her press conference on Sunday. “Obviously, last night could go a lot of different ways and so we’re just excited to be here today.”

With a win over the Hoosiers, the Sooners would advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since Sherri Coale’s 2012-13 team. It would be quite the feat for Baranczyk — one of the best young coaches in the country — to lead a program used to competing deep into the tournament back to where it wants to be after three years at the helm.

Before the former Drake coach was hired in Norman, OU missed the tournament three consecutive seasons.

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While Oklahoma certainly didn’t play up to Baranczyk’s standards in their first round game, March is about finding ways to win, however they come. The Sooners’ gritty veterans helped fend off the Eagles, showcased by Skylar Vann’s 24 points and 50% shooting from the field.

“I think it shows that we're really connected,” senior Lexy Keys said on Sunday. “I think we've done a really good job of learning to cover for each other and I think that's something that just keeps continuing to play. I think that we've made that a precedent in our program and learned that throughout the season especially.”

Just a few months ago, after a 7-5 start to the season and a nine-point home loss to Southern, OU wasn’t even in the conversation for an NCAA Tournament berth. But Baranczyk’s group looked themselves in the mirror, reevaluated and battled to win the Big 12, one of the toughest conferences in the country.

The Sooners finished the season winning 12 of their last 14, which included wins over Texas, a No. 1 seed, and Baylor, a No. 5 seed. But, a 17-point loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament brought Oklahoma back down to Earth.

Baranczyk’s hope is once the season’s over, she’ll be able to look back and point to the loss as the turning point that pushed her team over the hump in the big dance.

“It's March and so you just survive and you’ve got to get better,” Baranczyk said. “And we know that we're going to have to bring it against Indiana. We're not acting like we're coming here and we're completely out. But we're also not acting like we're coming in and we think we're just going to walk, you’ve got to play. You’ve got to give everything you have.”

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It’s been quite the journey for the Sooners to get to this point.

Keys and Vann credited the team’s successes to Baranczyk.

“She's very passionate and I think it's really contagious. … (She) makes me play even harder and helps me use my platform and I think it just shows with how much she loves us as people and as players,” Keys said.

Vann added, “Jennie has really just instilled a different type of confidence. … Her confidence pushes onto us.”

Win or lose Monday, what Baranczyk has accomplished so far in Norman has been impressive.

But a win — on the heels of a rebuild after the loss of OU’s three superb super seniors from a year ago — would catapult her team to the national stage Friday against top-ranked South Carolina in Albany, New York, and cement Baranczyk as one of the elites in the game.

“This second-round game, we've struggled in the last couple of years,” Baranczyk said. “So I would be more probably curious to see how we do from that perspective.”

More: How Payton Verhulst's transfer to OU women's basketball paying off on and off court

How to watch OU vs. Indiana in NCAA Tournament

TIPOFF: 5:30 p.m. Monday at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. (ESPN2)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU women's basketball has 'to bring it' vs Indiana in March Madness