Score Predictions for West Virginia vs. Oklahoma State
The West Virginia Mountaineers (12-2, 1-1) welcome in the Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-5, 1-1) Tuesday night at 9:00 EST, and the game will be televised on ESPN2. The series between the two programs is knotted up at 10, with the Cowboys winning five of the last eight meetings.
Schuyler Callihan: West Virginia 65, Oklahoma State 61
The Cowboys are coming off of a very impressive 14-point win against No. 14 Texas and are looking to continue that momentum Tuesday night in Morgantown.
With Cade Cunningham no longer in the fold, Oklahoma State has struggled on the offensive end, particularly from the perimeter where they shoot 29.4% as a team. The other big issue for them is coughing the ball up. They turn it over an average of 15.5 times per game and against a team like West Virginia who likes to play suffocating defense, that doesn't bode well for the orange and black.
This should be a low-scoring, ugly game that comes down to the final minutes. Both teams are very poor at the free throw line so having the lead late may not mean much in this one. I'll side with the Mountaineers in a well-earned, hard-fought victory.
Christopher Hall: West Virginia 71 Oklahoma State 68
West Virginia has struggled in this series lately, including losing back-to-back games to Oklahoma State at home in the season finale and in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament last year.
Oklahoma State brings four of its five starters back from last season. They knocked off a top 15 Texas team at home on Saturday after losing four of its five previous games, with the only win coming in overtime over Cleveland State.
The Cowboys are led by a pair of guards, Avery Anderson III (11.6 ppg) and Bryce Williams (11.5 ppg), along with the veteran savviness of Isaac Likekele.
However, West Virginia brings in one of the best scorers in the country in Taz Sherman, who is averaging 20.4 points per game, and his counterpart, Sean McNeil, has averaged 20.3 ppg in the last three games.
An x-factor for Tuesday's matchup is WVU forward Pauly Paulicap. He only played three minutes in the last outing after seeing his minutes increase in games prior. Head coach Bob Huggins said that the two were not on the same page after the game, but it has been cleared up since then, and I suspect Paulicap may have a career night.
This game will undoubtedly be another battle, but I have the Mountaineers taking care of business at home 71-68.
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