Buddy Hield scored a season-low six points in the Sooners’ Big 12 Tournament semifinal game with West Virginia, but it was the three points he scored that didn’t count that made the difference in the game.
The Big 12’s leading scorer took just eight shots the entire game, making just one, a three-point shot, to go along with three made free-throws out of four attempts.
Only two times in his last 60 games has the Oklahoma First-Team All-American not scored in double digits.
But with 1.8 seconds remaining in the game and West Virginia holding a two-point lead, Hield received the inbound pass from Ryan Spangler, took a couple of dribbles and let fly a half-court shot that banked in for what appeared to be a winning, buzzer-beating three-point shot for the Sooners.
The Oklahoma bench went crazy and Hield leaped into the stands to celebrate the miracle finish. Only an official review revealed that the shot left Hield’s hands a fraction of a second too late, and the apparent OU victory was overturned and awarded to No. 2 seed West Virginia.
It was a heart-breaking finish in a hard-fought game between two top-10-ranked teams that appeared to be over at the 6:28 mark of the second half with West
A 12-0 run by Oklahoma over the next three and a half minutes turned an 11-point Mountaineer lead into a one-point Sooner advantage. The two teams exchanged the leads a couple of times down the stretch.
The Sooners took a three point lead, at 67-64, with 1:47 left on the clock on a pair of free throws by freshman Christian James, and had an opportunity to extend the lead when Ryan Spangler was fouled on the defensive end and was awarded two free throws with the Sooners in the double bonus. But Spangler missed both free-throw attempts after going four-for-four previously at the charity stripe, opening the door for the Mountaineers.
West Virginia’s Jaysean Paige was fouled by Spangler and made two free throws to bring the Mountaineers within a single point at 67-66. OU’s Isaiah Cousins missed a jump shot with 26 seconds left. Following a West Virginia time out, Paige hit a two-point shot to put the Mountaineers back in the lead by a point.
James missed a point-blank layup attempt on the Sooners’ subsequent possession. Jonathan Holton was fouled on the rebound and made one of two free throws for West Virginia, setting up Hield’s near-miracle shot at the buzzer.
So West Virginia moves on to play No. 1-ranked Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament title game, and Oklahoma goes home to await the decision of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee on its seeding for the Big Dance, which begins next week.
Given Oklahoma’s win over No. 21 Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals and the close encounter against No. 9-ranked West Virginia. the Sooners’ season resume should be strong enough to secure them a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which is what ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has been projecting for them since their loss at Texas a couple of weeks ago.
And as I wrote in this space several weeks back, there really isn’t a big difference between a No. 1 or No. 2 seed when you get to the NCAA Tournament. That’s what we say now. but the decision is out of Oklahoma’s hands, and there is a difference if between a No. 1 seed and a three or four seed.
Sooner fans can only hope that the controversy that ended the Oklahoma-West Virginia game doesn’t turn into another on Selection Sunday.