Oklahoma basketball: Sooners steal huge road win over West Virginia
By Chip Rouse
The winning formula for men’s Oklahoma basketball is pretty simple. Get big games from your Big Three and play solid defense.
That’s what happed at No. 20 West Virginia on Saturday as the Sooners went into the game wanting it more and came out with a convincing 11-point, 73-62 upset over the favored Mountaineers.
West Virginia and Oklahoma are two teams headed in opposite directions as the college basketball season winds down with one week of the regular season remaining and teams vying for seeds and bids to the 2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.
The win gives the Sooners consecutive victories over ranked teams and the sweep of the season series with West Virginia. Oklahoma beat the Mountaineers by 10 points earlier in Norman when West Virginia was ranked 13th in the nation.
West Virginia (17-12, 7-9) has now lost six of its last seven games and is in real danger of falling out of the top-25 rankings. The Sooners are only the second team to beat the Mountaineers this season at the WVU Coliseum, where the Mountaineers are 13-2.
Four Sooner starters scored in double figures, led by Kristian Doolittle’s 19 points. All season long, the knock against Oklahoma has been its inconsistency in making shots. That was not the case on Saturday at West Virginia as OU shot nearly 50 percent from the field, making 26 of 53 shots (49.1 percent).
The other two big guns for Oklahoma were Brady Manek with 15 points, including three made three-balls, and Austin Reaves with 13. Sophomore Jamal Bieniemy wielded the hot hand early, scoring eight of his 12 points in the first half.
It wasn’t just good shooting that won this game for the Sooners. They complemented their play on the offensive end with a solid defensive performance, holding West Virginia to a 34.3 shooting percentage, even with a 20-8 Mountaineer advantage in offensive rebounds.
The Mountaineers put up a total of 70 shots, 17 more than Oklahoma, and ended up with two fewer field goals.
If the home win over 22nd-ranked Texas Tech earlier in the week failed to give Oklahoma the boost it expected insofar as the Sooners’ case for making the NCAA Tournament. this one definitely should.
Oklahoma improves to 18-11 overall and 8-8 in the Big 12 and tied with Texas, the Sooners’ home opponent on Tuesday, for fourth place in the conference standings.