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Following a heartbreaking 82-81 loss to No. 20 Texas on Saturday, West Virginia will be tasked with a road challenge against the Oklahoma Sooners on Tuesday night.
West Virginia (14-15, 3-13 Big 12), played a very good game in front of a sold out WVU Coliseum crowd, but couldn’t pull out the win late against the Longhorns.
The Mountaineers have now lost 13 of their last 14 games and are on their second six-game losing streak of the season. At this point, WVU needs to win the last two on the schedule and then win a couple of games in the Big 12 Tournament to even have a chance at the NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma (15-14, 5-11 Big 12) has struggled this season in conference play, but they are coming off a home victory against rival Oklahoma State on Saturday.
The Mountaineers and Sooners have already met once this season, when Oklahoma came into Morgantown and beat the Mountaineers 72-62 on January 26th. The home loss to Oklahoma was one of the low points of the season for the Mountaineers, as they played lackluster for the majority of a game they were expected to win.
In the first matchup, Tanner Groves stepped up and took control early in the game. Groves scored 21 points while shooting 9-for-11 from the field. WVU shot just 9-for-24 from the field as a team in the first half and was left playing catch up the rest of the game.
WVU has just one road victory this season, and that came on December 18th at UAB. In conference play, the Mountaineers are 0-9 on the road. The Mountaineers do not do well in the Lloyd Noble Center, as they have just a 3-8 record all time in the venue, so the key will be to block out the noise and focus on the task at hand.
For WVU, the scouting report should be to dial in on forward Tanner Groves and guard Umoja Gibson. The Mountaineers should have plenty of tape of these two seniors, as they have both had their way in previous matchups.
Gibson, a transfer from North Texas, has not been stopped by WVU since coming into the Big 12. In three games against the Mountaineers, Gibson is averaging 20 points per game while shooting 57% from three-point range.
Groves, a 6-foot-10 graduate transfer from Eastern Washington, has been leading the Sooners all season. Groves is averaging 12 points and five rebounds per game and can also shoot the ball from the outside if needed.
As for West Virginia, the Mountaineers saw Malik Curry take over on Saturday. Curry scored a game-high 27 points while shooting 7-for-15 from the field. The Mountaineers also saw Taz Sherman score 13 points and Gabe Osabuohien score 12 points in the loss.
With an inconsistent offense, it’s hard to expect WVU will match its 81-point performance from Saturday. The key for the Mountaineers will be getting stops and keeping the Sooners off the foul line down the stretch. Along with that, WVU will need to have a second straight game where someone helps take the offensive load off of Taz Sherman, whether that be Malik Curry again or someone else.
The Mountaineers and Sooners will meet again on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma. The action will be televised on ESPN 2.
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