Oklahoma Pulls Away From WVU to Continue Road Dominance

The Sooners used a 14-0 run in Morgantown to break open their eighth consecutive road win and fifth in a row at WVU Coliseum.

John E. Hoover | Jan 19, 2022

Oklahoma Pulls Away From WVU to Continue Road Dominance /

Oklahoma continued its road wizardry on Wednesday night.

The surprising Sooners beat West Virginia 88-76 at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown and strengthened their grip on second place in the Big 12 Conference standings, but Iowa State's loss to Texas later in the evening pushed OU into a tie for first place with the Cyclones.

The game was back and forth for much of the first half, but No. 14-ranked Oklahoma outscored the Mountaineers 14-1 to end the third quarter to build a commanding 72-58 lead.

The Sooners (16-2 overall) improved to 5-1 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2016-17 and won its fifth straight in Morgantown, OU’s longest current streak against any Big 12 opponent. WVU fell to 8-7 and 1-4.

A 14-0 run allowed Oklahoma to build an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter, but WVU cut it to 81-72 in the final 2 1/2 minutes.

The Sooners’ next possession wound down, however, before Taylor Robertson drove the baseline and beat the shot clock with a reverse layup to make it 83-72 with 2:19 to play.

Madi Williams led Oklahoma with 23 points and nine rebounds and Robertson had 22 on five 3-pointers. But OU’s dynamic duo also committed 10 of the Sooners’ 20 turnovers to help keep the Mountaineers in the game.

Williams also had five assists, including a clincher to Emma Svoboda, who buried a jump shot for an 85-72 lead with 1:28 to play.

Robertson’s fifth 3-pointer was the 400th of her career, making her the 11th player in NCAA history to reach that milestone.

OU also won its eighth consecutive road game dating back to last season. The streak is good for fourth nationally and second among Power Five schools behind Indiana's 12 straight.

The Sooners have now won 13 of their last 14, the program’s best stretch since the 2008-09 team won 20 straight on its way to the Final Four.

Oklahoma, the reigning National Team of the Week according to the USBWA after landmark wins over Baylor and TCU last week, hopes to continue its road success on Sunday when the Sooners visit Kansas State in a 1 p.m. tipoff.

Published Jan 19, 2022

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.