Sooners Open Postseason With West Virginia

Oklahoma

²² West Virginia

Thursday, March 12 / 8 p.m. CT / Kansas City, Mo.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Oklahoma (19-12, 9-9 Big 12) opens postseason play against 22/23 West Virginia (21-10, 9-9 Big 12) on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship. The matchup will be played at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

As the second game of Thursday's second session, it will tip no earlier than 8 p.m. CT.

The Sooners and Mountaineers are two of four Big 12 teams with equal 9-9 conference records, but Oklahoma won the group's tiebreaker and enters the matchup as the No. 3 seed. Oklahoma swept the Mountaineers with a pair of double-digit wins in the regular season, but WVU has gained recent momentum by closing the regular season with a road win at Iowa State and 12-point victory over No. 4 Baylor on Saturday.

The Sooners head to Kansas City after a roller-coaster week of suffering a last-second bucket against rival Texas followed by a comeback for the ages to win at TCU.

The arena will have limited access. The Big 12's statement can be found here.

ON THE AIR

The quarterfinals matchup will air on the Sooner Radio Network (107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Tune In Radio App) with Tom Dore and Kevin Henry announcing.

ESPN2 will carry the television broadcast with Rich Hollenberg, Chris Spatola and Kris Budden on the call. Fans with proper cable verification can stream the game using the Watch ESPN app.

THREE POINTERS

• After being predicted to finish eighth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, Oklahoma heads to Kansas City as the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Championship. Despite tempered external expectations and losing a 2019 senior class of seven letterwinners, Lon Kruger has guided the Sooners to their best seed in the conference tournament since 2016. Oklahoma arrives at Sprint Center as winners of three of its last four games, with the only loss being a one-point defeat at the buzzer.

• Oklahoma boasts the top scoring trio in the Big 12 and one of the best in the country in senior forward Kristian Doolittle (15.8 points per game), junior guard Austin Reaves (14.7) and junior forward Brady Manek (14.4). All three Sooners rank in the top eight of the Big 12's scoring race. Oklahoma joins Alabama and Arkansas as the only major-conference teams with three players averaging at least 14 points. The Sooners are 10-3 in games that all three players reach double-digit scoring.

• The Big 12 announced its annual awards and honors earlier this week, naming Kristian Doolittle to the All-Big 12 First Team, Brady Manek to the All-Big 12 Third Team and Austin Reaves to the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team and list of All-Big 12 Honorable Mentions. The honors further prove OU's surpassing external expectations. In the league's official preseason poll, Doolittle was the only Sooner to receive projected honors as a Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.

SERIES HISTORY VS. WEST VIRGINIA

• Oklahoma holds a narrow 12-9 lead in the all-time series with West Virginia. The Sooners have won three of the last four matchups, including both regular-season matchups this season. This year marked OU's first regular-season sweep of WVU since 2016.

• The Sooners won the first meeting of the season, 69-59, on Feb. 8 in Norman. Oklahoma then went on the road to defeat West Virginia, 73-62, on Feb. 29. OU and Kansas are the only two teams to beat WVU in Morgantown this season.

• Thursday will be the third time in the last five seasons that the Sooners and Mountaineers have met in the Big 12 Championship. Both previous postseason matchups could only be described as March Madness with both games ending in an official's review at the final buzzer.

• In the semifinals of the 2016 Big 12 Championship, Oklahoma fought back from a 12-point deficit late in the second half to trail 69-67 with 1.8 seconds remaining. With the length of the floor to go, the ball was inbounded to Buddy Hield who chucked up a halfcourt heave at the buzzer. Hield's Hail Mary went in and pandemonium ensued. Upon review, the officials determined the ball was not released from Hield's hand before the game clock expired and the bucket was called off. The Sooners bounced back from the heartbreaking loss with a run to the Final Four over the following weeks.

• OU faced West Virginia again in the first round of the 2019 Big 12 Championship. The Sooners, trailing by three, pulled down a defensive rebound after a missed Mountaineer free throw with seven seconds remaining. Senior guard Christian James sunk what appeared to be a game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime as the buzzer sounded. The officials overturned the call after using a video review to determine that James' toe was on the line, leaving him with a 2-point basket and the Sooners one point short. OU vs WVU

OU'S BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

• Oklahoma swept West Virginia during the regular season. OU is facing a team in the postseason that it swept in the regular season for the fourth time since the Big 12 began its double-round-robin scheduling in 2011. OU is 1-2 in previous Big 12 Championship matchups against teams it swept, defeating Oklahoma State three times in 2015 and falling in the third meeting to Baylor in 2014 and West Virginia in 2016.

• The Sooners are in pursuit of their seventh NCAA Tournament bid in the last eight years. OU has reached the Big Dance six times since 2013 – all under Lon Kruger. Duke, Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina and Villanova are the only major-conference schools who have made it to more NCAA Tournaments in that span.

• The Sooners head to Kansas City coming off a momentum-changing road win at TCU. Trailing by 18 at halftime in the last game of the season, the Sooners were staring at a loss which would send them down the Big 12 standings into the No. 7 seed. Instead, Oklahoma fought back for the largest halftime deficit ever overcome by a road team in Big 12 history. The win secured OU's No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.

• Oklahoma's win at TCU was the fifth time this season OU won a game in which it trailed by double digits. OU's five double-digit comebacks are the most by a Big 12 school this season. Maryland, Seton Hall and Texas A&M are the only major-conference schools with more (six).

• OU's comeback win was fueled by Austin Reaves' 41-point performance. The career-high showing marks the most points scored by a Big 12 player since Trae Young (also from OU) in 2018. Reaves is the latest Sooner to go off during the Lon Kruger era. In the last five seasons, OU players have produced eight of the top 10 scoring performances by Big 12 players - including six of the top seven.

• Any member of OU's "Big Three" could go off on any night. Kristian Doolittle (seven), Austin Reaves (seven) and Brady Manek (four) all boast at least four games of scoring over 20 points. Manek is the only Big 12 player to reach 30 points in multiple games this season while Reaves is the only Big 12 player to score over 32 points.

• OU boasts a pair of players from Oklahoma who have etched their names into OU's 1,000-point club. Senior forward Kristian Doolittle is the 47th Sooner to score 1,000 points in an OU uniform, eclipsing the milestone in a win over Oklahoma State on Feb. 1. He joins teammate Brady Manek in the premier circle of Sooner scorers with Manek reaching his 1,000 points on Jan. 18 against TCU. The duo is tied on OU's all-time scoring list with 1,188 total points. Both players are quickly approaching the top 30 in OU's record book.

• Sometimes the key to victory is as simple as making shots. The Sooners are 16-1 this season when they have a better field goal percentage than their opponents. Their only loss when owning a better field goal percentage was on the road at then-No. 1 Baylor.

• The Sooners have shown discipline in keeping their opponents off the charity stripe. Oklahoma commits only 13.4 personal fouls per game – the third fewest in the country. OU opponents are shooting an average of 12.4 foul shots per game, compared to OU's 18.2 free throw attempts.

• OU leads the Big 12 in free throw percentage, making 76.6% of its shots from the foul stripe. The Sooners, who shot free throws at a 69.7% rate in 2018-19, rank 19th in the country in 2019-20 (fifth among major-conference teams).

• The Sooners discipline is on display on the offensive end as well. Oklahoma is turning the ball over just 11.1 times per game, which ranks seventh in the nation among major-conference teams.

• OU is 18-7 when holding its opponents to under 80 points.

• The Sooners are 4-1 in games decided by two or fewer points.

• Oklahoma is 12-1 when it outrebounds its opponent.

• Oklahoma is 6-1 this season when sophomore guard Jamal Bieniemy scores at least 10 points.

UP NEXT

• Should Oklahoma advance, the Sooners will face Baylor, TCU or Kansas State on Friday night in the semifinals.