Buddy Hield had a rare off day, but it wasn’t the OU star’s shooting struggles that ended the Sooners’ Big 12 Tournament run on Friday night.
Credit West Virginia’s defensive game plan to deny Hield the ball and take away open looks for the Big 12 scoring leader, but it was much more than limiting Hield’s scoring chances that cost Oklahoma in a semifinals loss to higher-seeded West Virginia.
The bottom line in Friday night’s game between the Sooners and the Mountaineers was not Hield’s season-low six points, almost 20 below his season average. Oklahoma’s dramatic late-game comeback that ended in an even more dramatic two-point loss to West Virginia can be succinctly summed up by the simple stat line 21 for 24.
That represents the number of forced turnovers committed by the Sooners that led to 24 West Virginia points. The Mountaineers are well known for their pressure defense, and the Sooners simply couldn’t handle it.
“West Virginia had us on our heels with their press,” OU head coach Lon Kruger acknowledged in his postgame interview session. “We didn’t handle that well at all. They (West Virginia) dictated for the most part.
“When you play West Virginia and you don’t handle the pressure very well, don’t rebound very well, you’re going to dig yourself a hole, which we did.”
Give the Sooners credit for continuing to play hard, despite being down by 11 points with under seven to go in the game. Somehow, the OU players dug down deep and found a way to overcome the steady West Virginia pressure and mount a 12-0 run to forge a one-point advantage. And during that run, none of the points came from their leading scorer, Hield.
“When you play West Virginia and you don’t handle the pressure very well, don’t rebound well, you’re going to dig yourself a hole, which we did.” —Lon Kruger, OU head coach
The way the game ended – with Hield seemingly sinking an unbelievable contested half-court shot that appeared to have won the game for the Sooners – was symptomatic of Hield’s struggles all game long to produce points.
The Oklahoma All-American was off the mark on seven of the eight shots he managed to take in the game, and on that final shot, he was just a fraction of a second off from completing one of the most unbelievable finishes in Big 12 Tournament history.
That dramatic ending will be talked about and replayed over and over in video highlights, but the fact remains that Oklahoma lost and now must regroup and await the decision of the NCAA Basketball Selection Committee on Sunday to see how the Sooners are seeded, where they will go (in all probability to Oklahoma City for the second and third rounds) and who their opponent will be.
The big question that is on the minds of Oklahoma basketball fans on the eve of the unveiling of the NCAA Tournament brackets is: Will the Sooners remain on the two line, as one of the top-eight teams, heading into the Big Dance.
If you believe in the wisdom of “Bracketology” dean Joe Lunardi of ESPN, OU remains a projected No. 2 seed, despite the Big 12 Tournament loss to West Virginia, which, incidentally, Lunardi also now has as an NCAA two seed.
I don’t know about you, but I’m putting my trust in Joe Lunardi’s vision.