Behind Hield’s heroics, second-seeded Oklahoma fended off pesky No. 10 Virginia Commonwealth 85-81 in an NCAA West Region game at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
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“Best player I’ve seen this season”, VCU coach Will Wade said. Even if the Aggies are down by a significant margin with 10 minutes to go, or five minutes to go, or two minutes to go, they will not give up because they know now that they can get back.
That would be the last bucket any Oklahoma player scored for more than 3 minutes.
The best player in college basketball? The Oklahoma Sooners are averaging 80.5 points on 46 percent shooting and allowing 70.4 points on 40.6 percent shooting.
Notre Dame 76, Stephen F. Austin 75: Rex Pflueger tapped in a miss with 1.5 seconds left, and the Irish (23-11) survived a valiant effort by the 14th-seeded Lumberjacks (28-6) in Brooklyn to reach the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season. The Sooners are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 neutral site games and 7-19 ATS in their last 26 games overall.
“We’ve just got to keep it within working margins”, he explained.
Woodard scored 17 points and Cousins had 15 as the guard trio once again drove the Oklahoma attack.
“To hear my name is special, but I couldn’t do it all”, Hield said. “I’m that guy for them when they need help”.
That set off a flurry of lead changes as the Sooners and Rams grappled for momentum heading in to crunch time.
In fact, Hield did not score for the first 10 minutes of the game and made only two of eight shots in the first half. Oklahoma is making its 10th appearance and second in as many seasons in the round of 16. Oklahoma looked puzzled, seeing its 13-point halftime lead seemed to evaporate into midair.
Sooners forward Ryan Spangler threw a pair of alley-oops to Lattin during Oklahoma’s early run to ignite the heavily partisan crowd.
“I mean, he has the ultimate green light”, VCU’s Melvin Johnson said.
During a furious Rams rally down the stretch in the second half, the Sooners’ All-American kept answering.
VCU fought back as Lewis made a jumper and Gilmore had a dunk to stop the Sooners’ surge. This is chart shows Hield’s three-point makes vs. his three-point efficiency over his four years at Oklahoma.
Texas A&M will follow West Virginia’s game plan of denying Buddy Hield the ball (Hield only got off eight shots in the game and scored just six points in a two-point loss to West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament). JeQuan Lewis scored 22 for the Rams. NCAA Tournament. Everybody is watching. The Rams’ first-round victory over Oregon State snapped a three-game losing streak in the opening round….
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Details for Sunday’s game are below. VCU and Oklahoma split four previous meetings, with the Rams winning the most recent matchup on November 21, 2009.
