Oklahoma vs. West Virginia: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2016 Regular Season

No. 3 Oklahoma outscored No. 10 West Virginia 24-10 in the final seven minutes of Saturday afternoon's game to come away with a 76-62 victory in Morgantown. 

With the game tied at 52, Oklahoma found a way to win as West Virginia's defense zeroed in on star guard Buddy Hield. The Sooners had five different scorers record points in the game's final seven minutes.

On paper, Saturday's affair provided quite a matchup. Hield, one of the best scorers in the nation, had to guide the Sooners offense through West Virginia's aggressive press defense. 

It was no easy task, but Hield still scored 29 points on 9-of-21 shooting.

The Mountaineers, though, were not able to get set into the press early on, as Oklahoma jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Because West Virginia didn't hit its early shots, the Sooners built a lead thanks to the transition game.

Hield took a while to heat up, but his first points of the game were historic ones, as ESPN College Basketball pointed out:

"

Buddy Hield has officially joined the 2,000 points club. pic.twitter.com/Rlro9SY1Dz

— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) February 20, 2016"

Once West Virginia got going from the field, the game became much closer, as the Mountaineers cut the deficit to just two at halftime. They managed to do so despite Hield scoring nine points in the last four minutes of the first half. 

West Virginia's consistent efforts to pound the ball down low were finally paying off after a slow start, as the school showed:

The Mountaineers took their first lead since 2-0 at the beginning of the second half off a steal on an Oklahoma inbounds pass. The Sooners' frustration began to show via guard Jordan Woodard, as WVSports.com's Greg Madia pointed out:

West Virginia continued to attack down low and used the strength Nathan Adrian and Devin Williams created against the smaller Oklahoma frontcourt, which helped build a lead as large as six points. 

Williams, one of West Virginia's leading scorers, was held without a point in the first half. In the second, he managed to pour in 10, but many of his struggles had to do with Oklahoma's Khadeem Lattin, who frustrated Williams and hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds.

The Mountaineers' lead didn't last long, though. A cold spell saw them go almost seven minutes without a field goal, which allowed Oklahoma to get back out in transition and go on an 8-0 run to retake the lead. 

The Sooners managed to build a nine-point lead with 9:23 left, but after a technical foul on Ryan Spangler, their offense produced next to nothing. Oklahoma went away from its game plan and resorted to offensive sets that relied on one-on-one scenarios from the outside, as CBS Sports' Seth Davis noted:

Against West Virginia's aggressive defense, that didn't cut it for Oklahoma, and WVU tied the game two minutes later at 52. However, the Sooners took back control of the game and emerged with the hard-fought victory.

Oklahoma still has some tough contests ahead before it can focus on the Big 12 tournament. Two of its last three games will come against No. 24 Texas and No. 25 Baylor.

West Virginia's path is just as tough, and it will have little time to rest. On Monday, it hosts No. 13 Iowa State and still has to take on Baylor later in the season.

Postgame Reaction

While Hield will dominate the storylines, Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger made it known that Lattin played a big role in the Sooners' win, via KWTV's Dean Blevins:

After two straight losses to Kansas and Texas Tech, it was an important victory for Oklahoma, as Hield noted to the media after the game via John Shinn of the Norman Transcript:

Even with the pressure of a losing skid along with the conference tournament looming, Hield managed to keep things loose, per Shinn:

They'll need to keep that mentality as the season progresses. The deeper into February Oklahoma gets, the more the pressure will build before conference and NCAA tournament play.

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins noted it might be time to re-evaluate his roster, via West Virginia Illustrated's Geoff Coyle:

Huggins was looking for players with the same mentality that he had after the game, via the Daily Athenaeum's David Statman:

West Virginia only has a handful of games to straighten things out before the postseason begins. The Mountaineers have lost three of their last four, but they haven't come against easy opponents. West Virginia lost to No. 6 Kansas, No. 24 Texas and now Oklahoma. 

If it wants any hopes of succeeding in March, it'll have to find a way to beat these solid conference opponents and ranked teams. 

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com