Hield, No. 3 Oklahoma beat No. 10 West Virginia 76-62

Oklahoma trailed by six early in the second half, and after a Ryan Spangler technical foul, it gave up a game-tying 9-0 run, but it responded with a 9-0 run of its own in the game’s next few minutes to keep the Mountaineers at arm’s length down the stretch. Hield was held to a season-low 16 points at Texas Tech on Wednesday, but Woodard came through with a game-high 25.

But the No. 3 Sooners beat No. 10 West Virginia 76-62 on Saturday afternoon at WVU Coliseum, relying on tough interior defense, strong rebounding and yet another big day from Buddy Hield.

At 21-5 overall but just 9-5 in the Big 12, Oklahoma is still squarely in the mix for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament but will need a lot of help to even earn a share of the Big 12 title.

Buddy Hield led all scorers with 29 points, but West Virginia did a great job making the Player of the Year candidate battle for every bucket. Devin Williams leads the Mountaineers averaging 13.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

It took four and a half games, but the Sooners seemingly have snapped out of their slump.

Hield often got ahead of West Virginia’s defense for layups, and nifty passing in the halfcourt enabled him to get open outside for shots. West Virginia was not as sharp on the defensive end against Texas, which shot 48.1 percent from the field and buried 10 3-pointers in Tuesday’s 85-78 decision. West Virginia has beaten both Baylor and Kansas in Morgantown this season and the crowd should be ready to go for this one.

But the Sooners would battle back hitting four straight from the free throw line as Huggins substituted the starting five for nearly an entirely new cast of characters early into the second frame. If the Sooners are going to avoid that happening, they are probably going to have to find a way to get their 3-point shots to start falling more frequently. The Mountaineers were able to claw back within four points with just over three minutes left in the game, but Isaiah Cousins faked right at the top of the key, crossed back over to his left and drained a clutch 3-pointer which put the game away for good. But Oklahoma would move into a tie for second place with a win and could also sweep its season series with the Mountaineers. And from there the Sooners would take control for the road win. The Sooners still won by two, 70-68 on a late tip-in by Khadeem Lattin. It may not have made a difference, but it certainly would have given West Virginia a glimmer of hope.