He’ll get a chance to do just that Sunday, as the Rams will take on the No. 2-seeded Sooners for a berth in the Sweet 16.
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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”, Hield said. Everybody on Lon Kruger’s roster banded together to hand Cal State Bakersfield an 82-68 defeat.
“He has the ultimate green light”, said VCU’s Melvin Johnson, who like Hield is the top 3-point shooter in VCU history.
The Sooners return to the Sweet 16 for a second straight year after escaping with an 85-81 win over the No. 10 VCU Rams, but are now winless in their past seven ATS after failing to cover as six-point chalk. The Sooners’ Buddy Hield poured in 35 points – 28 in the final half – of Sunday’s win over VCU and former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Will Wade. The Sooners had lost a 13-point second half lead and trailed by two, 65-63.
Their first half performance was especially concerning because CSU Bakersfield actually led for a good portion of it. They failed to cover the first half spread (-7.5) and the full game (-14.5), which bodes well for bettors who like VCU.
Buddy Hield’s game-high 27 points was the 17th time this season he has scored at least 25 points and the 24th time he has hit the 20-point level in a game.
Cousins and Woodard picked up the offensive load as they scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the Sooners to a 44-31 lead at the break.
He scored all but 12 of OU’s second-half points, including 19 of the last 23.
Michael Gilmore provided an incredible second half and hit back-to-back three’s to give the Rams a 62-61 lead. Tenth-seeded VCU (25-11) came back relentlessly through the game’s first 35 minutes, but the Rams couldn’t survive Oklahoma’s last surge.
VCU rallied, and two threes by Gilmore put the Rams up 62-61.
Manyang’s status unknown: Akolda Manyang wasn’t at practice Saturday after learning about a death in his family. A team spokesman said Manyang flew back to Minnesota on Sunday morning.
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In other Sweet 16 betting matchups, the No. 1 Oregon Ducks face the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils as two-point favorites, the No. 2 Villanova Wildcats are favored by four points over the No. 3 Miami Hurricanes, the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks are 6 1/2-point chalk against the No. 5 Maryland Terrapins and the No. 11 Gonzaga Bulldogs get the nod as a 4 1/2-point favorite against the No. 10 Syracuse Orange. The senior shoots 55 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3-point range. At the under eight media timeout in the second half, Hield’s mother Jackie Swann left her seat for the concourse. Khadeem Lattin was a force in the paint early on, and his two alley-oop slams really set the tone of the game. The OU vs VCU game details, start time and more is ahead.
