The Oklahoma Sooners will take on the Villanova Wildcats on Monday night in the Pearl Harbor Invitational. The matchup between two top ten teams will take place near Honolulu on the 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Oklahoma comes into this game at 5-0 and ranked seventh in the nation while Villanova comes in 7-0 and ranked ninth in the nation.
Oklahoma has played a relatively easy schedule so far for the most part but they did pass their toughest test of the season with flying colors against Wisconsin. The Sooners dominated the Badgers in that game as they only allowed 48 points and won by 17. That win over Wisconsin was a good one but this game against Villanova represents their toughest test of the season so far.
Oklahoma is led by former Big 12 Player of the Year Buddy Hield who is having another great season so far. Through the first five games Hield is averaging 21.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while making 50 percent of his threes, 47 percent of his field goals and 87 percent of his free throws. Hield is one of the very best players in the nation and Villanova will need to at least limit him in this game.
Junior guard Jordan Woodard is a player to watch for the Sooners as he is coming off his best game of the season against Central Arkansas last week. In that game Woodard had 24 points and added four rebounds and four steals while making six of seven from beyond the arc. For the season Woodard is averaging 12.4 points per game and making 55 percent of his threes so his long range marksmanship is a huge threat.
Villanova too has played a relatively easy schedule up to this point and have therefore won every game by at least 14 points. The Wildcats have played against some major conference schools including Stanford, Nebraska and Georgia Tech but none of those teams are expected to be all that good and Oklahoma will be their biggest test of the early season.
Villanova is led by senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono who was co-Big East Player of the Year last season with Kris Dunn. Arcidiacono doesn't put up huge numbers like Hield does but he is still having a very good season as he is averaging 12.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while also being extremely steady as he only has six turnovers through seven games.
Another player to watch for Villanova is junior guard Josh Hart as he leads the team with 15.3 points per game. Hart shot 46 percent from three a season ago but that is down to 33 percent so far this season and the three ball has been a problem for the Wildcats as a team as they are shooting a lot of them (31.4 per game) but not making too many of them (31 percent.)
This will be the first meeting between these two schools since 2006 a game that Villanova won by 15 points. Overall Villanova has won two of the three meetings all-time including a 2005 game where both teams were ranked in the top five.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 P.M. Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Oklahoma radio broadcast go here and for the Villanova radio broadcast go here.
