OU Basketball: How ‘Ultimate Team Player’ Raegan Beers has Unlocked Another Level for Oklahoma
Oklahoma knew it was getting a big-time player when it landed Raegan Beers out of the transfer portal.
The star center averaged 17.5 points and 10.3 rebounds a year ago for Oregon State, helping the Beavers march into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, but Beers’ fit with the Sooners has been better in ways head coach Jennie Baranczyk couldn’t have imagined last offseason.
“She’s one of the world’s best people,” Baranczyk said on Friday ahead of OU’s Sweet Sixteen matchup against UConn. “She frequents Hobby Lobby, right? And she wants to make arts and crafts and meaningful gifts for her teammates. You don’t always get to see that from a center who is pretty aggressive, who is physical, but off the floor she’s just the most amazing person.”
Still, it took time to get Beers acclimated with the Sooners.
Oklahoma’s pace is much faster than Oregon State’s, and it took time for Beers to learn the system and for OU’s returners to learn how to best utilize a new weapon on the interior.
“We needed a big, we knew we needed a big since I’ve been here at OU,” senior forward Skylar Vann joked. “… We’ve never had a post, especially a dominant post like her… And now it’s like, ‘Okay, we got to get Raegan involved in this.’
“And that took us a couple months honestly. And then, I want to say probably five games… like last five games of the (regular season), I think something clicked and we found out — we just like — I don’t know what it was, we just meshed. And like everything just felt like it flowed so well.”
Beers missed a pair of conference games with a shoulder injury — wins over Ole Miss and Auburn — then she returned to the lineup in OU’s road contest against Missouri.
And while the Sooners won those games against the Rebels and the Tigers, Beers’ reintroduction helped Oklahoma close the regular season on a seven-game win streak — a stretch that OU carried into the SEC Tournament to also beat Georgia and Kentucky.
Over that stretch, Beers averaged 20.9 points per game, which flies above her season average of 17.5 points per game, and she pulled down 9.3 rebounds per game to match her season average.
“That’s when it felt like we were really peaking,” guard Payton Verhulst said.
Part of Beers’ adjustment was building chemistry. Another hurdle was getting used to the pace and the physicality of the SEC.
“We saw a lot of athleticism in the SEC, I feel like, every single game,” she said. “It was just insane. If you didn’t box out, you weren’t getting the rebound even if you were taller.”
How to Watch Oklahoma vs. UConn:
- When: Saturday, March 29
- Time: 4:30 p.m.
- Channel: ESPN
But Baranczyk was constantly there to build and reinforce Beers’ confidence, which played a huge role in helping the entire team progress throughout the season.
“I came here and adjusting to a program that was very different, had little confidence to start,” said Beers, “And she has continued to pour it into me.
“She just is such an inspiring coach, but she is one of the most intimidating coaches at times because she gets so into it. She just wants to win, and that competitiveness is just a fire that lights in her. You can see it in her eyes because she gets a look, and you’re like, ‘Oh, geez, she’s ready to go.’”
Beers, Verhulst and Vann are all going to need to have their A-game come Saturday if the Sooners are going to upset UConn. But the jolt brought all season by the dominant center has taken Oklahoma to a different level and has the team believing this year can continue to be special.
“She’s given everybody this unique belief, not in winning… but just in their own games,” Baranczyk said. “She’s defensively been a lot better than maybe I even anticipated. We knew we needed a low block defender, but she’s got mobility. She’s led the break sometimes for us. I love her, the growth that she’s had. I think she can take some hits and be really physical.
“… I’ve just been really impressed with that, just her ability to be the ultimate team player.”
