Oklahoma vs. West Virginia: Hard to Say Which Sooner Team Will Show Up?
By Chip Rouse
A week ago, Oklahoma vs. West Virginia would have been a battle for first place in the Big 12.
That was before the Kansas Jayhawks disposed of No. 10 West Virginia and No. 3 Oklahoma in the same week. The Sooners followed up the loss to Kansas with a second-straight poor-shooting effort and another defeat, this time at Texas Tech. As a result, OU finds itself two games behind the league-leading Jayhawks (what else is new?), and a game back of West Virginia in the conference standings.
Earlier in the Big 12 season, it looked like this veteran Sooner basketball team was going to be difficult for any team to stop, let alone slow down. But that is what makes college basketball so much fun to watch, because things can turn around – for the good and for the bad – very quickly. And things have definitely changed for OU in the last couple of weeks.
The team that leads the nation in three-point shooting percentage has gone stone cold in three of its last four games. In losses to Kansas State, Kansas and West Virginia earlier this week, Oklahoma went a combined 22 for 69. That almost 15 percentage points below the Sooners’ season average.
Buddy Hield is shooting almost 50 percent behind the three-point line, but in Oklahoma’s three recent losses, the All-American is 11 for 29 shooting the three-ball.
Guarding Hield and forcing him to make contested shots will be a key strategy for West Virginia on Saturday.
The Sooners have been struggling on the offensive end. Averaging 83 points a game for the season, No. 2 in the Big 12 in that department, OU has reached 70 points just once in the last four games. To beat 10th-ranked West Virginia on its home floor, which has happened just once all season (by Texas), Oklahoma is going to have to be able to score some points and protect the ball against the Mountaineers’ vaunted defensive pressure.
The last thing the OU offense wants to see when it is struggling is West Virginia, which leads the Big 12 in scoring defense, limiting opponents this season to just 65.6 points per game.
The Mountaineers are led in scoring by junior Devin Williams and senior Jaysean Paige, both averaging 13.5 points a game. Sophomore Daxter Miles, Jr. averages just over 10 points a game.
Miles and Paige are both suffering from injuries. Just effective they will be, or if they will even play on Saturday, remains to be seen.
Williams has a double-double to his credit in the Mountaineers’ last two games and in four of the past six.
Over the full season, Oklahoma is holding opponents to a shooting percentage of .402 and an average of 71 points per game. In their three losses in the last two weeks, however, the Sooners have fallen off in the defensive department and have given up more than a point per possession.
The last time these two teams met, on Jan. 16 in Norman, the Sooners played catchup a good part of the game. The Sooners finally moved ahead just under the 10-minute mark in the second half, but it remained close until the end, when OU’s Khadeem Latttin tipped in the winning shot with one second left on the clock as the Sooners escaped with a two-point victory.
Three Keys to Watch for in the Game
- Can Oklahoma handle the heavy full-court pressure that West Virginia is going to throw at the Sooners?. In the last game between these two teams, OU committed 18 turnovers that led to 21 Mountaineer points.
- Buddy Hield is averaging 25.2 points per game, best in the Big 12. In the previous meeting in Norman, Hield scored 17 points. He recorded a season-low 16 points in his last game, at Texas Tech on Wednesday. Hield is due for a big game. If he reaches the 30-point level, which he has eight times this season, it could easily open up scoring opportunities for Isaiah Cousins, Jordan Woodard and/or Ryan Spangler, which would put the Sooners in a very good position to pull off their sixth road win of the season and fourth in the Big 12.
- Rebounding. West Virginia is the best rebounding team in the Big 12 and has a plus-9 rebounding margin on its opponents. OU gave up 36 points in the paint to West Virginia the first time around. The Sooners must defend the offensive glass, which is a Mountaineer strength.
My pick: Oklahoma 80, West Virginia 75 – My heart is telling me one thing, but my head can’t get over the fact that this Oklahoma team has managed to drop three of its last four games. The Sooners appeared tired and not as quick to the ball at Texas Tech, and the fatigue from a long season and a lot of extra practice time could be paying its toll. The Last place you want to go to get your step and your shot back is West Virginia. Despite all of this, I believe West Virginia will be the turning point in the Sooners’ season. This team is fully capable of a bust-out game, and I believe we will see that on Saturday. Good things happen when you keep your head down and continue to work hard and together as a team, which is what this Oklahoma team has done all season long.