KANSAS CITY, Mo. — OU women’s basketball will not host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The Sooners still might earn a No. 4 seed in the tournament, even after their 85-68 loss to Iowa State in a Big 12 semifinal Monday, but even if they do, they’ll be on the road.

With OU women’s gymnastics hosting the Big 12 Championships on March 23, the Sooners were left scrambling for other options.

But none were forthcoming.

OU knew their fate ahead of Monday’s loss.

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“We’re not gonna get to,” Sooners coach Jennie Baranczyk told The Oklahoman. “It was hard because you don’t know how to explain that to your team. That’s a really hard conversation. Hindsight, I probably should’ve said something earlier, maybe we don’t play so tight. I don’t know. But I do know we’re going to have these conversations more in the future though because I think this program is heading in the right direction and people are seeing some of the things we’re doing even on the hard days. Today’s a hard day.”

After this season, OU makes the move to the SEC. That conference hosts its gymnastics championships at neutral sites instead of on-campus sites like in the Big 12.

Despite having to hit the road for the tournament, regardless of seed, Baranczyk pointed to the way her team bounced back from a dreadful December to win the Big 12 as evidence they would respond well regardless of circumstance.

“I feel good about the potential for the way this team is able to respond,” Baranczyk said. “Now, we’ve got some work to do clearly. We played a road game today essentially and we’re going to go play a road game again in the tournament. We’ve got to be able to respond better. Do we have the potential? Absolutely. But we’ve got some responding to do and we have a week to do it. I don’t know if that’s good or not good.

“But I have a feeling this team will respond.”

OU (22-9) has not lost back-to-back games since dropping its last three non-conference games in December.

The Sooners were a No. 5 seed last season, falling to No. 4 UCLA in the second round. A year before, OU hosted as a No. 4 seed, falling to Notre Dame in the second round.

The NCAA Tournament selection show begins at 7 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma women's basketball will not host any NCAA Tournament games