Oklahoma Sooners vs. West Virginia Mountaineers: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/4/2023

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Venue: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, WV

Where to watch: ESPNEWS

DraftKings: West Virginia -6

FanDuel: NL

BetMGM: West Virginia -5.5

Caesars: West Virginia -6

Oklahoma: 12-10 (2-7 Big 12)

West Virginia: 13-9 (2-7 Big 12)

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Oklahoma: lost 71-61 vs. Oklahoma State

West Virginia: lost 76-72 at No. 15 TCU

You know something? I was really pulling for the Oklahoma Sooners to make a run out of this. I really did. I wanted them to somehow take the absolute beating that they gave the Alabama Crimson Tide when they were ranked this second best team in the country and find a way to just make something positive out of it. Just make something meaningful in this horrendous season in which you are now 12-10 and you fail to gain any momentum off that game.

 

So of course the West Virginia Mountaineers would be favored by at least 6.5 heading into this game because who in the world is going to take a team that cannot for the life of anyone involved find a way to garner some momentum? It is truly absurd and what we are seeing from this program because somehow they have turned a dominant victory at home over the second best team in the country to losing to an in state rival at home in just baffling fashion.

 

Now, I'm not saying West Virginia is any better right now. The Mountaineers are also 2-7 in conference play just like Oklahoma is. West Virginia is coming off a 76-72 loss two TCU, one of the best teams in the country and one of the top teams in the Big 12. It's not like they're getting off the hook either. This has been a horrendous season for both programs involved and somehow no one is talking about the fact that they have just been abysmal this year.

 

At least when I look at Texas Tech, who is dead last in the conference with just one conference win, at least I am looking at them from a broader lens and thinking that they have this perceived reality that they can build off something because recent weeks have shown that they absolutely can. I am more inclined to think that West Virginia will have more to gain over what they have done over the last five games than they will ever have at any point this season. You look at the win over Auburn and you look at the win over TCU on January 18th and you start to see some sort of relevancy and some sort of decency that you think can be put forth in this program.

 

When I look at Oklahoma and I see them going from a 24 point win at home to losing at 10 to Oklahoma State, a team that is not any better this year, I'm just trying to figure out how in the world they beat Alabama. And I think that's probably the biggest confusing thing for me in this whole situation. I wanted to look at this game from a broader lens and believe that Alabama was either not as good as we thought they were or Oklahoma was much better than the record indicated and so far, that is not the case.

 

Did they empty all the bullets out of the chamber when they beat Alabama? Oklahoma was just five of 22 from behind the three-point line and somehow shot just 35% from the floor. Are we trying to imply that Alabama’s defense is just complete garbage? Perhaps maybe I don't know. But I don't have any faith in the bottom half of the Big 12 and I thought I was going to because of what happened the past few weeks. That has gone completely down the drain now.

 

by default, because they were at home, West Virginia is probably going to win this game and it has nothing to do with anything good that West Virginia can do on the basketball court. It is that everything to do with how fraudulent Oklahoma is and apparently will continue to be for the remainder of this season. West Virginia 82, Oklahoma 65

Oklahoma is 25-13 ATS as an underdog the last 3 seasons.

Oklahoma is 26-22 ATS after a conference game the last 3 seasons.

West Virginia is 20-30 ATS after an over the last 3 seasons.

PG: Grant Sherfield

SG: Bijan Cortes

SF: Milos Uzan

PF: Jalen Hill

C: Tanner Groves

PG: Kedrian Johnson

SG: Erik Stevenson

SF: Emmitt Matthews Jr.

PF: Tre Mitchell

C: Jimmy Bell Jr.

Points: Grant Sherfield -- 16.9

Rebounds: Tanner Groves -- 7.4

Assists: Grant Sherfield -- 3.4

Points: Tre Mitchell – 13.6

Rebounds: Tre Mitchell – 5.9

Assists: Kedrian Johnson – 3.4