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West Virginia did not bring their best in a game that needed to be won, losing to the Oklahoma Sooners by the score of 72-59.
After scoring 81 points against Texas on Saturday, the Mountaineers struggled offensively all night, and could never get going in the loss.
West Virginia (14-16, 3-12 Big 12) had three scorers in double figures, but did not get much production from the rest of the team. Malik Curry and Pauly Paulicap both reached double digit points off the bench, but the WVU starting lineup only scored a combined 27 points, 11 of those coming from Taz Sherman.
Oklahoma (16-14, 6-11 Big 12) led for most of the game and did not give up that lead in the second half. The Sooners had three scorers in double figures and shot 53% from the field, while WVU shot a mere 38% from the field.
Coach Huggins started guard Kedrian Johnson despite being a game-time decision. Johnson swished an early three-pointer but was in pain with his lingering hip injury just a few possessions later. Johnson played just nine minutes in the game.
WVU got off to an early 8-4 lead when Sean McNeil made his first three–point attempt, but Oklahoma quickly matched that with an 11-2 run to grab the lead. After a Malik Curry layup with 14:36 left in the first half, the Mountaineers went on a field goal drought that lasted over 10 minutes.
In that time, Oklahoma’s Jacob Groves made two three-pointers as Oklahoma extended its lead to as many as 14 points in the first half.
West Virginia struggled offensively during the first half, as the Mountaineers had a period where they shot 1-for-18 from the field. However, the Mountaineers finished the first half on a 10-0 run that was capped off by a Taz Sherman three-pointer with six seconds left.
Oklahoma took a 28-24 lead into halftime, with Groves leading all scorers with six points.
WVU head coach Bob Huggins spoke on the first half performance.
“It was a very poorly played first half by both teams,” Huggins said. “We were down four at halftime. I wouldn’t say we were out of it in the first half.”
WVU came out of halftime with a quick bucket by Paluicap to cut the lead to two points. Groves answered with his third three-pointer of the day, and with a couple Oklahoma layups, the Sooners extended their lead back to nine points.
Paulicap and Sherman helped get the Mountaineers within four points around the halfway point of the second half. With just over 11 minutes to play, Paulicap led the interior scorers with eight points, while Sherman made two three-pointers to keep WVU in the game.
Oklahoma found buckets by consistently back-cutting West Virginia for easy buckets. Because of this, WVU was left playing catch up for much of the second half.
With just under seven minutes left, WVU guard Kobe Johnson made a three-pointer to cut the lead to four points. On the ensuing possession, Oklahoma’s Tanner Groves threw down a hard and-one dunk to extend the lead to seven points. Not long after, Jalen Bridges made a three-pointer to cut the Oklahoma lead back to four points.
Over the next two minutes, Oklahoma made four free throws to go up by eight, but Malik Curry answered with a made jumper to make it a six-point game.
After two Oklahoma free throws, Tanner Groves delivered a sequence of daggers to West Virginia. Leading by seven with just over three minutes left, he stepped up and made a three-pointer to extend the lead to 10 points.
After a stop on defense, Groves went down and made a reverse layup to extend the lead to 12 points with 2:32 left to play. After a made layup by Malik Curry , Groves made yet another three-pointer, giving the Sooners a 13-point lead with 1:54 to play. Groves scored eight straight points in the late push to victory.Â
The Sooners won the game by the score of 72-59. Tanner Groves led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds, with Jordan Goldwire adding 16 points on his senior night.
As for West Virginia, Malik Curry led the way offensively for the second straight game, this time scoring 17 points off the bench.
“I think it was a lot of things,” Huggins said. “It was our offense- we didn’t do what we were supposed to do to get open, so they stole the ball a few times and got layups because our offense, because of our laziness offensively.”
West Virginia has one game remaining in the regular season before Big 12 Tournament play starts. The Mountaineers will welcome TCU to the WVU Coliseum on Saturday for senior day. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. with the action being televised on ESPN+.
Photo by Ty Russell
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