West Virginia returned to Morgantown for its first home game since dismantling the then-No. 1 Baylor Bears last week. However, this was not the homecoming that the Mountaineers were hoping for, as they were stunned by the young, high-flying Sooner team. If you missed the game, we have 10 bullet points that will help you understand what happened in Oklahoma’s 89-87 overtime win.
- Lloyd Noble Center is now the Lob Noble Center (even though the game was in Morgantown), as Jordan Woodard managed to connect multiple times with Jamuni McNeace and Khadeem Lattin for alley-oop dunks.
- The Sooners’ defense was stout throughout the first half and made WVU shoot 32 percent from the floor while OU shot 48 percent.
- McNeace and Kameron McGusty lead the team with 12 points at the half, and OU happily walked into the locker room with a 3-point lead.
- OU opened the 2nd half with five fouls in the first 2 minutes. West Virginia acquired 5 fouls in the first five minutes. The Sooners entered the bonus with 14:00 to go in the second half.
- West Virginia went on an 8-1 run early in the second half, and OU had a field goal drought for more than four minutes.
- After trailing 52-51, the Sooners allowed West Virginia to go on a 14-0 run. This run coincided with Woodard being subbed out for a breather.
- The Sooners went on a 11-2 run to cut the lead to six points with 6:07 left in the game.
- After knotting up the game 69-69 with 4:18 to go in the game, West Virginia responded with a 4-0 run to go into the final media timeout.
- Woodard had two game-tying shots down the stretch of this game. One occurring with 44.7 seconds left in the game, and one with 3.1 seconds left in the game.
- Despite missing the potential game-winning free throw with 3.1 seconds left in regulation, Woodard made the game-winning layup with 2.2 seconds left in OT, which gave the Sooners an 89-87 victory.
3 Takeaways
1. Woodard is back
In only his third game back from injury, Woodard put together one of the best games of his career. Despite only scoring two points at the first half, Woodard managed to put the team on his back and score a total of 20 points to end the game. He tacked on four rebounds and five assists, as well.
2. Paint domination
Early into this contest, it appeared the Sooners were going to face a long night of trying to get points. The Mountaineers suffocated the Sooners with their full-court, trap defense, and managed to block multiple shots against OU. However, the Sooners kept their head down and kept driving to the bucket, and scored 48 points in the paint. They outscored WVU by 12 points in the paint, and many of the dagger shots down the stretch occurred in this area.
3. Young guns
The weakness of this team so far this season is the young, inexperienced factor. However, these young athletes have been stepping up in these past two victories. Red-Shirt Sophomore McNeace scored 14 points with five rebounds, and McGusty put up 17 points and five rebounds. Kristian Doolittle did a lot, scoring 12 points and grabbing seven rebounds. The future is bright for this team, and they are starting to live up to some of that potential.
Oklahoma extended its winning streak to two games, and will next face Iowa State at home in Norman. Tipoff will be at 1:00 PM CT, and the contest will be televised on ESPN2.
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