West Virginia and Oklahoma came into Saturday night’s game both in the same spot in the Big 12 Conference standings and both in the bubble conversation regarding the NCAA Tournament.
40 minutes of basketball later, it looked like two teams who did not belong in the same breath. West Virginia’s offense flexed its muscle, while the Mountaineer defense responded from a lackluster performance Wednesday night in their 93-61 thrashing of Oklahoma.
Last time West Virginia (14-9, 3-7 Big 12) stepped foot on the floor of the WVU Coliseum, Stevenson scored a career-high 31 points against Auburn. Seven days later, Stevenson broke that mark scoring 34 points in the win on Saturday.
“It’s the same answer, I got to give you from the Auburn game. I just got credit to my teammates,” Stevenson said. “They keep just instilling confidence in me. It’s a different feeling when your teammates are telling you to go get 40.”
“Obviously, he was really good,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “Erik was terrific and I thought he did a great job of leading and helping our guys.”
Stevenson started out the game scoring eight of West Virginia’s first 10 points of the game, including connecting on a pair of three-pointers. Within the first 2:03, the Mountaineers led 10-2, forced an Oklahoma (12-11, 2-8) timeout, while the Sooners’ Tanner Groves was back on the bench with two personal fouls.
Credit to Stevenson right out of the gate,” Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser said. “You combine their physicality on defense to them making shots and then rebounding the way they rebounded.”
Trailing by 13, Oklahoma’s leading scorer Grant Sherfield willed the Sooners back into the game. Sherfield hit back-to-back three-pointers, while Jalen Hill added a layup to put Oklahoma down three with 9:16 to play.
That would be the last punch thrown from Oklahoma though as the Mountaineers would soon go on a 9-0 run to lead by 13, before going on a 13-0 run to deliver the knockout blow with 2:41 to play in the first half.
“We cut it to five and we were in deep foul trouble and then they opened it up in the last minutes of the half,” Moser said.
In a span which lasted 4:19, the Mountaineers’ lead ballooned from four to 26. Kedrian Johnson scored nine points, Stevenson scored five, while Seth Wilson pitched in two three-pointers. West Virginia would carry the 26-point lead into halftime, as they led Oklahoma 56-30.
The Sooners would try to get back into the game in the second half, but Stevenson would keep West Virginia well in front. Stevenson scored the first eight points of the second half for West Virginia while the Sooners kept pace with Stevenson before going on a 9-0 run to cut the West Virginia lead to 20.
The Mountaineers would score four straight points from Joe Toussaint and then led by 32 as they went on a 9-0 run of their own.
Down the stretch, West Virginia turned to their bench, including sophomore James Okonkwo. Okonkwo scored a career-high 10 points and matched his career-high in rebounds with 10.
“He’s a guy who could end up being a force in college basketball if he continues to improve, if he continues to work at it, if he continues to grow and understand,” Huggins said.
Groves would end up fouling out for the Sooners, playing just 11:27, and scoring two points, while not securing any rebounds.
“We tried. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t. We tried to put him in situations that were difficult,” Huggins said of going after Groves to put him in foul trouble.
West Virginia shot 46.9 percent from the field and matched their season-high with nine three-pointers made. Oklahoma made 37.3 percent of their shots, while going 5 for 21 from deep.
“We had out moments, but we were way better,” Huggins said of his team’s defensive performance.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
