'Next Game Mentality': No. 15 Oklahoma Hosts West Virginia, Sooners Look To Get Back In The Win Column

Coming off two straight losses, the Sooners look to bounce back against West Virginia at Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday.

Oklahoma is undefeated at home this year and Coach Moser said he's been diagnosing what went wrong in these last two games.

The biggest area of focus moving forward? Toughness, not just physical toughness but mental too. Coach Moser said the mental toughness comes from not letting a bad offensive possession turn into a bad defensive possession on the other end.

Right now, that includes not letting back-to-back conference losses snowball into three, four, or more consecutive losses.

"You got to stick together obviously losing two in a row. Nobody's gonna be honest, nobody's happy," said Sooners forward Sam Goodwin, who is averaging 8 points and 6 rebounds a game this year for Oklahoma. "We're kind of kind of frustrated a little bit. But just you got to come together like coaches said, get back to what we do get back to our principles, and stick to the game plan and we should be able to come out with a win."

The Big 12 is a no-days-off league, with eight teams being ranked in the latest AP Top 25 and upsets happening on a nightly basis.

"Well, we have quick turnarounds. We have two games a week so we can't hang our heads on the last game," said Sooners guard Otega Oweh. "So just being on to the next game mentality, really."

---

West Virginia Mountaineers (6-10, 1-2 Big 12) at Oklahoma Sooners (13-3, 1-2 Big 12)

Norman, Oklahoma; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EST

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Sooners -12.5; over/under is 145

BOTTOM LINE: West Virginia will aim to stop its three-game road losing streak when the Mountaineers play No. 15 Oklahoma.

The Sooners have gone 10-0 at home. Oklahoma ranks fifth in the Big 12 with 38.5 points per game in the paint led by Otega Oweh averaging 7.9.

The Mountaineers are 1-2 against conference opponents. West Virginia is 3-2 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 11.1 turnovers per game.

Oklahoma’s average of 7.9 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.5 fewer made shots on average than the 8.4 per game West Virginia allows. West Virginia averages 67.9 points per game, 2.7 more than the 65.2 Oklahoma allows to opponents.

The Sooners and Mountaineers square off Wednesday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jalon Moore is averaging nine points and 5.7 rebounds for the Sooners. Javian McCollum is averaging 2.8 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Oklahoma.

Quinn Slazinski is shooting 31.6% from beyond the arc with 1.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Mountaineers, while averaging 14.4 points. Raequan Battle is shooting 42.7% and averaging 12.1 points over the past 10 games for West Virginia.

LAST 10 GAMES: Sooners: 7-3, averaging 77.6 points, 36.8 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 48.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.4 points per game.

Mountaineers: 3-7, averaging 71.0 points, 34.1 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 4.7 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 42.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.4 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.