SUNDAY’S GAME BASICS
Oklahoma plays for third place in the eight-team Old Spice Classic on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. CT when it faces new Big 12 member West Virginia in Orlando, Fla. The 3-1 Sooners beat UTEP (68-61) on Thursday before losing to No. 17/16 Gonzaga (72-47) on Friday.
The 1-2 Mountaineers beat Marist (87-44) on Thursday before losing to Davidson (63-60) on Friday. Sunday’s contest, the third over a four-day span for OU in Orlando, will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa) with Ed Murray and Mike Houck announcing.
The game will be televised by ESPNU with Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla calling the action.
PREVIEWING WEST VIRGINIA
In its first year as a member of the Big 12 Conference,West Virginia enters Sunday’s third-place game with a 1-2 overall record. It started the season with an 84-50 loss at Gonzaga and split its two games this week in Orlando — an 87-44 win over Marist on Thurs- day and a 63-60 loss to Davidson on Friday.
The Mountaineers are shooting .410 from the field, .250 (12-for-48) from 3-point range and .625 from the free throw line. They are allowing opponents to shoot .424 from the field and .423 (22-for-52) from behind the 3-point line. WVU is outrebounding its foes by 5.7 a contest and has 35 steals to its opponents’ 15.
Junior center Aaric Murray is averaging a team-high 10.0 points per game as well as 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 20.7 minutes per outing. The La Salle transfer is shooting .619 from the field. Eight of his 17 rebounds have been offensive.
Sophomore guard Jabarie Hinds, a high school teammate of OU’s Isaiah Cousins, is averaging 9.3 points per game on .500 shooting. Fellow sophomore guard Gary Brown has come off the bench to supply 8.0 points in 19.0 minutes an outing. Senior forward Denis Kilicli averages 7.0 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game.
The Mountaineers are under the direction of sixth-year head coach Bob Huggins, who owns a 121-58 record at West Virginia. The 1977 WVU graduate is in his 31st season overall and owns a 711-269 career record.
OU-WEST VIRGINIA HISTORY
Oklahoma and West Virginia have met two times, with each program posting a victory. The Sooners won an 88-82 double-overtime affair in the most recent meeting on Dec.29,2007,in Charleston,W.Va.,under head coach Jeff Capel. OU’s win was its first against a ranked team (the Mountaineers were No. 23) in a road game since the 2000-01 season. Longar Longar scored all of his game-high 22 points after halftime, and Blake Griffin registered 18 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out in overtime. David Godbold played all 50 minutes and finished with 18 points, while Austin Johnson played 48 minutes and contributed 13 points and nine assists. Tony Crocker’s 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left in overtime forced a second extra session.
The first meeting occurred on Dec. 21, 2005, in Oklahoma City as part of the All-College Classic and resulted in a 92-68 West Virginia vic- tory. Taj Gray scored a game-high 31 points and pulled down 8 rebounds for Kelvin Sampson’s Sooners, but the Mountaineers shot a sizzling .667 from the field and committed just 6 turnovers in a near flawless offensive performance. Kevin Pittsnogle led four West Virginia players in double figures with 25 points, while Johannes Herber netted 21.
