“Best player I’ve seen in college basketball”, Wade said.
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ABOUT OKLAHOMA (26-7): This matchup could quickly evolve into a long-range shooting contest and the Sooners should be well prepared for that scenario, as Hield, Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodard are each shooting over 42 percent from 3-point distance this season.
“We gotta come out and compete and with a team like VCU”, said Sooners’ guard Buddy Hield.
More reason for Oklahoma not to get comfortable with any lead and be prepared and committed to keep attacking for the full 40 minutes. If the Rams try and take away Hield, they may or may not be successful and they may open the door for either Cousins or Woodard.
Melvin Johnson led the Rams with 23 points while JeQuan Lewis totaled 22 points.
“It was special, but I couldn’t do it all without my teammates”, Hield said. As a senior leader on a veteran team seeking to take Oklahoma back to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2009, Hield said he feels a heightened sense of urgency in his last appearance in March Madness.
Sitting courtside with longtime pal and colleague Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com’s Senior Columnist, I mentioned and tweeted that after about twelve second half minutes in OU’s second-round NCAA game against VCU, that what Buddy Hield did and what OU did from that point on, probably would determine the Wooden National Player of the Year. Still, Oklahoma led 44-31 at halftime. It was a lack of depth that cost them in the ACC Tournament, when the Blue Devils watched a 16-point second-half lead evaporate against Notre Dame, dropping the quarterfinal game in overtime.
Hield might have been spurred on when VCU guard Daniel Brooks talked a little trash.
During a furious Rams rally down the stretch in the second half, the Sooners’ All-American kept answering.
Sooners forward Ryan Spangler threw a pair of alley-oops to Lattin during Oklahoma’s early run to ignite the heavily partisan crowd.
Along the same lines, good teams can get lulled into believing they are unbeatable and often don’t take teams outside of the Power 5 conferences as worthy opponents. “They’re not really an upset”.
Can VCU cool down Hield’s Sooners?
The No. 2 seeded Oklahoma Sooners are going to ruin the fun, and here’s why.
Did you catch the Buddy Hield Show in the second half of the Sooners’ 85-81 second-round win over VCU?
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“I think this is the best one because it means a lot, because it’s the NCAA Tournament, big stage, win or go home”. The Ducks are an offensive-minded group that struggles occassionally to string together stops. Only two of the top four scorers in history in a single NCAA Tournament played for a championship team and ironically it happened in back-to-back seasons – Danny Manning (fourth on the list with 163 points) for Kansas in 1988 and Glenn Rice (first on the list with 184, 30.6 per game) for MI in 1989.
