No. 15 Oklahoma Dominates Second Half, WVU Falls 77-63

WVU Basketball traveled to Norman, Oklahoma on Wednesday night, falling to No. 15 Oklahoma 77-63.

Oklahoma (14-3, 2-2 Big 12) bullied West Virginia (6-11, 1-3 Big 12) in the second half, out-rebounding the Mountaineers 17-6 and by 14 rebounds overall.

The Mountaineers had a nice, slow start to the game leading at one point 18-12. Oklahoma looked flat early on but got an 8-0 run within three minutes to retake the lead heading into halftime. RaeQuan Battle struggled the majority of the first half, starting 0-for-5 from the field. Battle did get going with back-to-back baskets towards the end of the first frame.

Battle finished with 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

Midway through the second half, Noah Farrakhan threw down a dunk on Oklahoma F John Hugley. In the process, Farrakhan received a technical foul.

Farrakhan led the way in scoring for West Virginia on Wednesday with 14 points.

Watch: WVU’s Noah Farrakhan Dunks Over OU’s Hugley

WVU F Pat Suemnick ended up starting the game after interim HC Josh Eilert mentioned that Suemnick woke up with an illness on Tuesday morning. Suemnick has been on a roll over his last four games, averaging 9.8 points and 5.0 rebounds. The junior forward ended the game with nine points and seven rebounds.

Heading into the game, Oklahoma was 9-2 against West Virginia in Norman. Unless the two meet in the conference tournament, Wednesday will be the last time that West Virginia and Oklahoma matchup together in the Big 12. Since WVU entered the Big 12, OU leads the series 15-9. At one point, the Sooners won seven games in a row between February 2020 and February 2023.

This upcoming summer, Oklahoma and Texas will join the SEC as the Big 12 welcomes four departing Pac-12 schools in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.

West Virginia will travel back home before hosting No. 3 Kansas on Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum. The Mountaineers and Jayhawks will tipoff at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.