Oklahoma basketball: Takeaways from Senior Night win over West Virginia

Believe it or not, the men’s Oklahoma basketball season is still alive.

Despite the Sooners’ struggles throughout Big 12 play, there’s still a crack in the door, although very, very slight, for an NCAA tournament bid. Oklahoma (16-14, 6-11) defeated West Virginia by a score of 72-59 on Senior Night at the Lloyd Noble Center.

With the win, the Sooners swept the regular-season series with the Mountaineers (14-16, 3-14)

It was a big night for the Oklahoma team leaders. Senior forward Tanner Groves tallied 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting for the Sooners. The Sooner big man had 21 points in OU’s earlier win over West Virgina.

Groves has been guilty of very inconsistent performances from game to game during the conference season, but the Eastern Washington transfer has shown up in force in back-to-back Oklahoma wins in the last week.

Another senior, Jordan Goldwire, who played the past four seasons at Duke, turned in his sixth double-digit scoring effort in the last seven games with 16 points against the Mountaineers.

Here are three takeaways from the home finale vs. West Virginia:

Sooners’ defense was suffocated the Mountaineers

The Sooners didn’t allow Bob Huggins’ crew to get in any offensive rhythm. Despite the Sooners not being overly efficient in the first half, Oklahoma was getting it done on the defense end of the floor. Other than the 10-0 run West Virginia made at the end of the first half, the Sooners held West Virginia to 17 total points with just over four minutes left in the first half.

"“Overall, I was really pleased with how we guarded and did some things,” Moser said in his postgame comments.“We got some key stops. I thought they really hurt us on the boards early in the first half, but that’s what they do, and I thought we were better in the second half.”"

The Brent Venables motto, “Suffocating defense,” was in full form against a West Virginia team that has made its mark playing high-pressure, lockdown defense in recent seasons. The Sooners held West Virginia’s leading scorer, Taz Sherman, to just 11 points, and only five points in the second half.

Oklahoma has been playing eminent defense all season long and hope to continue so against Kansas State on Saturday in Manhattan, Kansas.

The elite play of Tanner Groves

Before Big 12 play, Tanner Groves showed us why he was one of the top players to come through the transfer portal this season. We’re seeing that Groves on full display late in this season’s Big 12 schedule. In the Sooners’ win last weekend against Oklahoma State, Groves finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and he nearly matched that Tuesday night with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

We’ve seen Groves’ ability to stretch the floor, but he’s also stepped up his game on the defensive end. In back-to-back games, Groves has grabbed double-digit rebounds, giving Oklahoma a better chance to be in the game, and not allow teams to bully them on the offensive glass. Simply put: Groves has been more physically lately in Big 12 contests.

The 6=foot, 10-inch Sooner forward is embracing his physicality in the last three or four games,” Moser said of Groves.

"“You’re just seeing the physicality. He’s embracing it. He’s not shying away from it. He’s not worried about it. It’s just not affecting him.”"

Sooooo you’re telling me there’s a chance

Yes, the Oklahoma Sooners still have a shot to earn an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. But for that to happen, OU MUST win at Kansas State, a place where historically the Sooners have not played well. They call K-State’s Bramlage Coliseum the “Octagon of Doom,” and for Oklahoma it has been just that.

It’s been 10 years since the Sooners defeated K-State in Manhattan. The Sooners are trying to get over the curse of the Wildcats.

If the Sooners find a way in Manhattan, they will finish as a No. 7 seed for the Big 12 tournament, which will put them up against Baylor or Kansas, both of which swept the two games with OU this season. If Oklahoma loses in Manhattan, the Sooners will have the No. 8 seed and have to play a play-in game against No. 9-seed West Virginia.

The winner of the 8- vs. 9-seed game, will play the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament. We’ve seen mayhem occur in college basketball, which means the Sooners still have a chance to keep their season alive.