Oklahoma basketball: Sooners head into home final seeking consecutive Big 12 wins

The last time the men’s Oklahoma basketball team recorded back-to-back wins was in December.

The Sooners (15-14, 5-11) have a chance to break that string when they host West Virginia (14-15, 3-13) Tuesday night in the final home game of the regular season at Lloyd Noble Center. It also is Senior Night.

This is a game between the two bottom-feeders in the whack-a-mole Big 12 conference where the teams continue to beat up on each other, and the Sooners and Mountaineers have absorbed the brunt of it.

This is an important game for Oklahoma, who is still hopeful that with a strong finish in the final two games of the regular season and a win and mostly likely the need for a second win in the Big 12 Tournament could keep OU’s slim-to-none chances of a spot in the NCAA Tournament alive.

A loss to West Virginia, however, not only would slam that door shut perhaps for any and all OU postseason plans, but also would leave the Sooners vulnerable for last place finish in the Big 12 standings along with the Mountaineers, who cannot finish any higher than a tie for the bottom spot.

West Virginia has lost its last six games, most recently am 82-81 defeat at home to Texas on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Sooners snapped a four-game skid on Saturday with a 66-62 win in overtime in the Bedlam rivalry with Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma leads the all-time series with West Virginia15-9 and is 7-2 in games played in Norman, including each of the last three. The Sooners have swept the Mountaineers the past two seasons and won the earlier game this season 72-62 in Morgantown. Tanner Groves led all scorers in that game with 21 points.

Tuesday night’s game will be televised on ESPN2. Rich Hollenberg will do the play-by-play with Fran Fraschilla providing commentary.

What fans need to know about Oklahoma vs. West Virginia

• Taz Sherman is West Virginia’s leading scorer, averaging 18.3 points per game. Sean McNeil, one of Sherman’s backcourt mates, averages 12.5 a game.
• West Virginia fifth-year senior Gabe Osabuohien has scored a combined 31 points in his last two games. Teammate Malik Curry scored a career-high 27 points in WVU’s loss to Texas on Saturday and contributed 19 against Iowa State the game before. Curry also leads the Big 12 in free-throw percentage at 88 percent.
• The West Virginia defense is allowing opponents this season to shoot 44.2 percent from the field, which ranks 231st in the country. Big 12 opponents are averaging 45.7 percent and have scored an average of 74.4 points against the Mountaineers.
• West Virginia has been to the free-throw line more than any other Big 12 team this season and leads the conference shooting 78.3 percent from the charity stripe. The Mountaineers rank 14th in the nation in free-throw attempts and 21st in free throws made.
• Oklahoma’s Tanner Groves averages a team-high 12.1 points a game and led the Sooners with 14 points against Oklahoma State on Saturday.
• Two other OU starters average in double figures in scoring: Umoja Gibson is averaging 11.9 points and Jordan Goldwire 10.2. A fourth starter, Jalen Hill, averages 9.0.
• The Sooners rank fourth in the Big 12 in field-goal percentage (45.0). West Virginia is the worst shooting team in the conference (39.0).
• Oklahoma ranks 323rd in the country in turnovers. The Sooners average 14.9 per game, which could be a problem against Press West Virginia.

Prediction

The Sooners are slight favorites in the game and appeared to get some of the mojo and court confidence back in the Bedlam win on Saturday. They have not won consecutive Big 12 games this season. West Virginia is 0-8 away from home in the Big 12 and 0-9 overall this season. Make that 0-10. Sooners win by 5+