The No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners and the No. 14 West Virginia Mountaineers will cross paths for the second time this season on Saturday – this time in Morgantown. Will the Sooners go 2-0 straight up against West Virginia this season? Or will the Mountaineers avenge that loss? Check out our preview of this game below.
After getting ambushed in Lubbock by the Texas Tech Red Raiders that resulted in a 57-52 loss, the Sooners rebounding in a big way, and that’s by defeating the Iowa State Cyclones last Saturday, 79-72. Oklahoma took full advantage of Iowa State’s subpar defense, as the Sooners shot 54.7 percent from the field, though they went just 6 of 19 from behind the arc. Elijah Harkless pumped out 19 points to lead the Sooners, while Umoja Gibson and Austin Reeves had 18 and 16 points, respectively. The Sooners did commit 15 turnovers against Iowa State, which was out of character. The Sooners are averaging just 10.8 turnovers per game — 15th in the nation — so the sloppiness over the weekend was just a mere aberration. When Oklahoma defeated the Mountaineers at home on Jan. 2, the Sooners went 11 of 35 from deep and outrebounded West Virginia, 36-30. Gibson came off the bench in that game and scattered 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field.
Oklahoma, which is averaging 76.6 points per game, is 8-2 against the spread in its last 10 contests overall.
The Mountaineers’ outside shooting was on point in their January loss to Oklahoma, as they went 14 of 24 from deep. However, West Virginia was horrible inside the arc, going just 10 of 26 on their 2-point shots – and yet the Mountaineers lost by only four points. Jalen Bridge stood out in that game among West Virginia players, as he finished with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and shot 5 of 6 from deep. Miles McBride had 15 points, while Emmitt Matthews Jr. chipped in 11 points. Defensively, the Mountaineers forced Oklahoma into committing 13 turnovers and held them to only 42.2 field goal shooting percentage. It would be nice for West Virginia if Taz Sherman or someone else from the bench can provide ample scoring support in the rematch with the Sooners. Sherman scored all 19 of the Mountaineers’ second unit points in the loss to Oklahoma.
West Virginia is 3-2 against the spread in its last five home games.
