The Oklahoma Sooners will host the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday afternoon in a matchup of two contenders to win the Big 12 Championship. Oklahoma comes into this game at 14-1 (3-1) and ranked second in the nation while West Virginia comes in at 15-1 (4-0) and ranked 11th in the nation.
Oklahoma's only loss this season came in the triple overtime thriller against Kansas but they face another tough test on Saturday. Oklahoma recovered from that loss with two consecutive wins the last of which, against Oklahoma State, was extremely hard fought. If the Sooners can win this game they will likely be the number one team next week.
Oklahoma is led by All-American guard Buddy Hield who is having a tremendous season. Hield is averaging 26.6 points per game on 52 percent shooting from the field and 52 percent shooting from three on the season. The senior guard is coming off a rough game against Oklahoma State though as he had 10 turnovers and will be facing a ton of pressure from West Virginia and their pressing style on Saturday.
Another player to watch for Oklahoma is junior guard Jordan Woodard who is second on the team with his 15.3 points per game. Woodard is the definition of a marksmen as he is making 55 percent of his three point attempts on the season. Woodard has been playing particularly well recently as he is averaging 21 points and 4.4 assists in his last five games.
While Kansas couldn't finish off Kansas last week, West Virginia dominated them earlier this week in what was their best and most impressive win this season so far. West Virginia's only loss came against Virginia about a month ago but since then they have rattled off eight straight wins and are one of the hottest teams in the nation.
The Mountaineers don't play a pretty style of basketball, as they only shot 33 percent against Kansas, but they get a ton of offensive rebounds and force a lot of turnovers. Junior forward Devin Williams is the teams leading scorer and rebounder as he averages 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Williams is the perfect embodiment of the Mountaineers offensive rebounding prowess as he almost has as many offensive rebounds as he does defensive rebounds.
A player to keep your eye on for the Mountaineers is senior guard Jaysean Paige. Paige is second on the team with his 13.4 points per game and has been playing extremely well lately. Paige has topped 20 points in three of his last four games including a 26 point performance against the number one ranked Jayhawks earlier this week.
West Virginia has a chance to accomplish the rare feat of beating the number one and number two team's in back-to-back games but this one is on the road so it won't be easy. These two teams split their two meetings a year ago with each team winning on their home court. Overall Oklahoma has won five of the seven meetings between the schools since West Virginia joined the Big 12 back in 2012.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 4 P.M. Eastern time on ESPN 2 and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Oklahoma radio broadcast go here and for the West Virginia radio broadcast go here.
