Abysmal First Half Too Much to Overcome Against Sooners
Norman, OK – The No. 9 West Virginia Mountaineers found themselves trailing by 18 at halftime after only posting 20 first half points against the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday evening. The Mountaineers came storming back behind 19 second half points from Taz Sherman to tie the game but fell short in the final moments as the Sooners pulled off the upset 75-71.
West Virginia guards Miles "Deuce" McBride and Sean McNeil hit a pair of threes to give the Mountaineers an early 10-6 lead but was followed by a 4:51 scoring drought as the Sooners grabbed the 14-10 advantage.
Redshirt freshman Jalen Bridges made the most of his first career start for the Mountaineers for the recently departed Oscar Tshiebwe. He ended the scoring drought with a three and ended a quick 5-0 Oklahoma spurt, hitting a deep straightaway three as he finished the first half going 4-5 from the field, including 3-4 from behind the arc and 11 points.
However, the rest of the Mountaineers struggled to find good shots, often forcing the ball into the paint. As a result, the Sooners put together a 13-1 run, building a 32-17 lead before Huggins called for a timeout as Oklahoma held a 38-20 advantage at halftime.
Coming out of the break, Bridges continued to make plays forcing a turnover, and followed it with a corner three on the other end to get the Mountaineers rolling. Then on the ensuing possession, Bridges pumped faked at the top of the key, drove down the lane, and dished it off to Emmitt Matthews Jr. for the slam to ignite a 9-0 run, capped off by a steal and dunk by McBride.
“We played a lot harder in the second half. We executed what we were running better in the second half, and we actually tried to take some things away defensively, and we did a better job of stopping their dribble penetration.”
West Virginia guard Taz Sherman got hot from the outside, burying four threes and posting 15 points in just over five minutes of play to tie the game at 49 at the midway point of the second half.
After leading all-scores at the half with 14 points, Oklahoma guard Umoja Gibson was a Mountaineer killer scoring 11 straight, hitting three consecutive threes and a little jumper off an offensive rebound after Matthews and McBride answered with threes of their own but the Sooners still led by five. Gibson finished the game with 29 points, shooting 10-14, including 8-11 from three-point range.
“I know it’s hard for you to believe, but I did tell them don’t leave him,” said Huggins. “We were not as mentally prepared as we needed to be.”
The Mountaineers quickly tied the game with a bucket from Sherman, and then Bridges buried a three from the corner, off a McBride steal, but again Oklahoma answered, this time off a jumper from Reaves.
West Virginia guard Miles "Deuce" McBride defending Oklahoma guard Austin Reaves.
Joshua Gateley - OKlahoma University Basketball
A pivotal moment came one on the Sooners' next possession and up by two, forward Brady Manek grabbed two offensive rebounds and kicked it out to Reaves, and he buried a three.
“We tried to go a little bit bigger to prevent that, and it didn’t work,” said Huggins. “You just can’t continue to give your opposition as many shots as they want. Especially when you’re getting pretty much one and done.”
Taz Sherman responded with an incredible reverse layup, but Manek came up big again, drilling a three, his first of the game, to put the Sooners up six with 1:48 left to play in the game.
West Virginia was able to get back within three twice in the final minute, but slow rotation led to an easy layup for the Sooners, and Oklahoma finished the game out on the free throw line, going 4-4 and hold on for the 75-71 win.
“I want us to play the way everybody is used to seeing us play and what other teams fear when they play us that we're going to take things away and we’re going to play harder than our opposition – we didn’t do that, said Huggins. We went about as deep on the bench as we could go in the first half, just trying to find somebody that would play. Our effort in the first half not good enough.”
West Virginia will remain in the State of Oklahoma as the Mountaineers have a quick turnaround and face Oklahoma State Monday night at 9:00 EST on ESPN2.
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