Oklahoma basketball: Three-pointers from country-road thriller

Oklahoma basketball headed out to the country roads of West Virginia for a Saturday showdown against another ranked team.

The Sooners have made a feast of ranked teams since Jan. 2, and on Saturday they had a chance to make it five wins over teams ranked in the top 15 in country, facing No. 14 West Virginia on the Mountaineers’ home floor.

All five Oklahoma starters reached double figures in points, led by 29 from senior point guard Austin Reaves, and the 12th-ranked Sooners (13-5, 8-4) withstood a 28-point, 14-rebound effort by West Virginia’s Derek Culver and double overtime to pick up a giant 91-90 road win over the Mountaineers.

The score was tied at 31 after West Virginia’s Miles McBride sunk a three-point shot from half court as time expired in the first half.

The Sooners opened up a nine-point advantage, the largest lead in the game by either team, with just under six minutes remaining in regulation. The Mountaineers scored 11 of the next 13 points, however, to draw even at 70 and had the ball with a chance to win it in regulation. But McBride came up empty on two shot attempts as time ran out, sending the game to overtime all deadlocked at 72.

Reaves missed a three-point attempt that would have won the game for the Sooners at the end of the first overtime, and the teams headed to a second overtime session tied at 79.

Culver scored seven of West Virginia’s first eight points in the second overtime as the Mountaineers opened up a three-point lead, 88-85, with 2:12 to go. De’Vion Harmon made a mid-range jumper and Reaves made a couple of free throws to put the Sooners ahead 89-88.

McBride responded with a field goal at the other end as West Virginia regained the lead by a single point. On the ensuing Oklahoma possession, reaves drove into the lane a hit a two-point floater that proved to be the game winner.

OU’s 6-foot, 10-inch Kur Kuath blocked a point blank shot by Culver with :07 left. The Mountaineers had two more shot attempts in the final three seconds, but couldn’t get either to drop, and the Sooners survived 91-90, sweeping the season series over West Virginia for a second straight year.

Austin Reaves is a big-time, big-game player

Oklahoma’s scoring leader for the season shot 50 percent from the field (10 of 20) and made all seven of his free throws in a 28-point performance, his second highest scoring game of the season. Most of his points came at key junctures in the second half and in overtime. Harmon had a 32-point game in the Big 12 opener against TCU. Reaves has averaged 22.6 points in two games back after missing a couple of games because of COVID-19 tracing.

The Sooners put the ball in Reaves’ hand for most of the final two minutes of the second overtime as he directed the OU offense.

Poor free-throw shooting lost the game for the Mountaineers

The Sooners had 11 free-throw attempts the entire game as West Virginia was foul averse, committing  just 14 personal fouls over 50 minutes of basketball. The Mountaineers, on the other hand, had 21 foul shots and made only 11 of them. Had they made one or two more, we could have been looking at a much different outcome in this top-15 matchup.

Another top-15 team is on tap for the Sooners on Tuesday

It seems like every game Oklahoma plays this season is against a top-15 team. The fact is, the Sooners have played nine teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 15, and they have won an impressive five of those. That schedule trend continues on Tuesday at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

Two of the Sooners’ last three games have been against then-No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 14 West Virginia and next comes No. 13 Texas.

The Longhorns (13-5, 7-4) defeated TCU 70-55 on Saturday and come to Oklahoma sporting a two-game winning streak. Oklahoma won the earlier game in this year’s Red River hoops rivalry, defeating Texas 80-79 in Austin, The Longhorns were missing a couple of key players plus their head coach, Shaka Smart, in that came because of COVID-19 issues.

Just as the winner of Saturday’s Oklahoma-West Virginia game was for sole possession of second place in the Big 12 standings, that will also be the case in the OU-Texas matchup on Tuesday.