Oklahoma Sooners 70 - West Virginia Mountaineers 68 | Notes & Quotes

"Tough game, like all of them are going to be. It seemed like all the way through, little runs of five, seven points where we got the lead, they got the lead. It seemed like we were a little bit uphill much of the night. We had a little bit of a margin there that we didn't quite hang on to, but the guys kept battling. I thought they had some great stops at critical stages in the second half. Obviously, West Virginia's the best at rebounding the basketball, other guys battling really hard there. We have to have the chance to handle the ball decently in full court against their pressure because, again, West Virginia's the best at that. Proud for the guys. Just really proud for the guys. Jordan made a strong move there late, and of course Khadeem with the tap. Really happy for Khadeem with all he's done here lately and the progress he's making to have a feeling like that, that we can all share with him. Proud for the guys." - Lon Kruger on the game in general

"It's great. It's not something our guys focus on necessarily every day or think about or even have a lot of conversation about, but they're fans... we all are, and it's great. But, it's all about getting better tomorrow. The leadership of this group, the senior group, Jordan and those older guys, know that what it is today is okay, but it's nothing compared to what we have to keep doing in Big 12 play in terms of getting better and to keep challenging the opposition that lies ahead. Our guys think it's great, but they understand that it's not the most important thing." - Lon Kruger on potentially being ranked #1

"We play hard, and we try and we compete. They are good guys that want to win and try to win. We've just got to somehow start making free throws." - West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins on his team

"That's what happens when you let them penetrate. Penetration draws help, and any time you help that puts the opposing player underneath and gives them the offensive rebound advantage. We didn't do a good enough job containing the ball. But again, they are hard to do that to because they shoot the ball so well." - Huggins on Lattin's tip-in

"What Khadeem did was special. So I just knew I had to find him afterwards. I just tried to stay in the moment and make sure they didn't get a good shot off. But hats off to him because that was an all effort kind of play and saved us from overtime tonight. So I was really happy for him." - Buddy Hield on Lattin's tip-in

"It's kind of like a redemption for me. Having the opportunity to win the game for us was great, but we all contributed to that win. It was just my time at that moment." - Lattin on what the tip-in meant for him

"No. It was only a two-point game, and the ball can bounce either way. We played how we play, and we just got beat. No team would ever go undefeated in this league because it's a hard league to play in." - West Virginia forward Jonathan Holton on if he thought Oklahoma was the better team

"I was surprised, but I figured they were trying to penetrate and kick it to him for an open shot. I didn't think they were going to have him with the ball and try to clear it. That's not really what he does. So we were trying to keep the ball in one player's hand and try to force him to make a tough shot. It was a tough shot, but they came up with the tip-in. - West Virginia guard Jaysean Paige on Oklahoma's final play

Game Notes

• Saturday marked OU's second consecutive game where they won by two points.

• The Sooners improved to 15-1 on the season (4-1 in Big 12), their best start since the 2008-09 squad began 20-1.

• Oklahoma improved to 7-3 against West Virginia all-time and remained perfect at home against the Mountaineers.

• There were a total of 34 turnovers in the game (18 by OU, 16 by WVU).

• OU registered a season low .333 (18 of 54) field goal percentage, including a season-worst .292 (7 of 24) from beyond the arc.

• OU recorded a season-high 11 steals on the night, including four from Buddy Hield. Jordan Woodard and Isaiah Cousins each had two. It marked Hield's sixth game this season recording two or more steals.

• The Sooners outrebounded the Mountaineers by a 39-37 margin.

• Buddy Hield recorded a team-high 17 points (5-11 FG, 4-8 3FG, 3-3 FT) while adding four rebounds, four steals, two blocks and one assist.

• Ryan Spangler picked up his seventh double-double of the season (24th of career) with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. It marked his ninth double-digit rebounding performance of the season (including the fourth in the last five games).

• Khadeem Lattin finished with seven points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two assists in 24 minutes. It marked the ninth contest this season Lattin has recorded multiple blocks.

• Dante Buford came off the bench to score nine points, seven of them coming from the foul line. It marked the freshman's second-highest scoring output of the season (11 vs. Washington State).