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Two Top 10 Teams to Meet on Saturday
February 19, 2016 04:17 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Two teams looking to hang with Kansas at the top of the Big 12 men’s basketball standings will meet in Morgantown on Saturday afternoon when No. 10 West Virginia plays host to third-ranked Oklahoma.
It’s the first matchup of top 10-ranked teams at the Coliseum in six years when fifth-ranked West Virginia lost to fourth-ranked Villanova, 82-75, before 15,593 fans on February 8, 2010.
On Saturday, WVU (20-6, 9-4) is again facing a cornered basketball team looking to snap a two-game conference losing streak. On Tuesday night in Austin, Texas, WVU was unsuccessful in pinning a third straight loss on Texas, the Longhorns coming away with an 85-78 triumph to sweep the season series from the Mountaineers.
In order for West Virginia to defeat Oklahoma (20-5, 8-5), the Mountaineers are going to have to figure out a way to slow down one of the best backcourts in college basketball.
Despite struggling to make shots in a 65-63 loss at Texas Tech on Wednesday night, the Sooners’ backcourt trio of Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodard are still averaging a combined 52.5 points per game, with 25.2 of those coming from national player of the year favorite Buddy Hield.
The Sooner senior is shooting 50.5 percent overall from the floor, including a sizzling 48.8 percent from three. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said it’s imperative that his players know where Hield is on the floor at all times.
“You’ve got to be there on the catch,” said Huggins. “He’s got a really quick release and you know where he’s going to be. He’s going to be on the left side of the floor. We’ve got to try and stay close to him and make everything hard.”
Exactly who will be out on the floor doing that is the big question heading into Saturday’s game.
Huggins indicated before Tuesday’s practice he’s not sure if injured guards Daxter Miles Jr. and Jaysean Paige will be ready for Saturday’s game against the Sooners. Miles Jr. went down with a hamstring injury late in last weekend’s win at TCU and did not make the trip to Texas on Tuesday night.
Then, midway through the first half against the Longhorns, Paige went down with an ankle injury. He returned to the floor briefly in the second half before shutting it down for the rest of the game.
If both cannot play on Saturday, that means the guard position will have to be handled by Jevon Carter, Tarik Phillip and Teyvon Meyers.
“It’s hard to play the way we play without depth,” admitted Huggins.
West Virginia fell behind by as many as 16 points in the second half against Texas before making a late run to reduce the Longhorns’ lead to five with less than a minute to play.
The fact that the Mountaineers continued to fight is a good sign. Another good sign is seeing the Sooners shoot just 38.2 percent during Wednesday night’s road loss to Texas Tech, including 26.1 percent from three.
Will that happen again on Saturday? Huggins is certainly not counting on it, so he’s encouraging whoever he has out there playing on the perimeter to stick as close to Hield, Cousins and Woodard as possible.
“From what I understand Cousins has a chance to play in the league, Buddy Hield will definitely play in the league and Woodard is having a terrific year,” he said. “Are there three better guards anywhere? If there are, I don’t know where they are. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
The first time these two teams met in Norman, Oklahoma, back on January 16, Oklahoma came away with a 70-68 victory on a late basket by Khadeem Lattin.
Saturday’s game will tip off at 4 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN. Two hours prior to tip off, West Virginia will officially dedicate Hot Rod Hundley’s statue that will be located in front of the Coliseum Blue Gate.
West Virginia University play-by-play man Tony Caridi will preside over the dedication; those making remarks on Saturday include West Virginia University benefactor and Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, NBA hall of famer Jerry West, WVU director of athletics Shane Lyons, Huggins, and Hundley’s daughter Kimberly.
A statue of West already resides on the other side of the Blue Gate.
Briefly: Saturday’s game against Oklahoma will be the eighth contest this season against a nationally ranked team, and West Virginia’s fifth against a top-10-ranked opponent … Last year, West Virginia played 15 games against nationally ranked teams … Since joining the Big 12, Saturday’s game against Oklahoma will be the 40th game the Mountaineers have played against nationally ranked teams … Saturday’s game has been a sellout for weeks now and will be the third sellout for the Mountaineers this season … Hield is currently the second leading scorer in college basketball, the 6-foot-4-inch guard trailing Howard’s James Daniel, who leads the country with an average of 27.9 points per game … Hield leads the country in three-point field goals per game and total made three-point field goals … West Virginia forward Devin Williams had his 12th double-double game of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds during Tuesday’s loss at Texas … Williams recently topped 1,000 points for his career and is currently 47th in WVU history in career scoring with 1,020 points … Williams and Paige are leading the Mountaineers in scoring with averages of 13.5 points per game … Miles Jr. is the only other player averaging double figures right now at 10.1 points per game … Oklahoma leads the overall series against West Virginia 7-3.
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Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
