Previous Saturdays during the 2023-24 college basketball season have been full of matchups of ranked teams. That’s not the case on Feb. 17, 2024, however, as the slate boasts only one such matchup for bettors to consider.
The No. 23 Oklahoma Sooners visit the 24th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers in a Big 12 clash that could either elevate Oklahoma’s ascent to the conference’s regular-season title or put that fate into serious doubt. Bettors should expect a tight spread on the contest.
Oklahoma at West Virginia details
This is the first and only meeting of these programs on the 2023-24 regular season. Both teams come into the game relatively healthy for this point in the season although the Sooners have been without Liz Scott all season long.
- Tip-off: 1 p.m. ET, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024
- Venue: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia
- Broadcast: ESPN+
- Previous matchup: Feb. 4, 2023, in Norman, 93-68 Sooners win
- Last 5 games: Oklahoma WWWWW, West Virginia WWWLW
- Average points for: Oklahoma 77, West Virginia 77.7
- Average points against: Oklahoma 68, West Virginia 56.2
- West Virginia record: 21-3 overall, 12-1 at home, 10-3 Big 12
- Oklahoma record: 18-6 overall, 7-1 on the road, 12-1 Big 12
Oklahoma leads the all-time series between these teams 16-9 and averages outscoring West Virginia by 1.8 points per game in those contests. The Sooners have also won six out of 11 games in the series in Morgantown. Furthermore, Oklahoma is 8-2 in the past 10 games in the series regardless of venue, including each of the past five.
The statistics support the narrow gap in the rankings between these teams as each has a clear path to victory in this game that the opposition will have to disrupt.
Handicapping Sooners at Mountaineers
The Mountaineers have played their way to being a potential threat to win the Big 12 conference this season with a simple but effective strategy; convert turnovers into easy offense. West Virginia is the best in the nation when it comes to turnover margin and second in steals on a per-game average.
In a similar fashion, the Sooners sit atop the conference because of their rebounding efficiency. Oklahoma is ninth in the country in total rebounds per game and field goal attempts per game, showing how they turn those boards into scoring chances.
Both of these strengths have the same effect; limiting opponents’ scoring opportunities. Thus, the spread on this game should come down to which team is slightly better at doing that on Saturday. As far as the total goes, the under is in play because of both teams’ focus on depriving the opposition rather than simply outscoring them.
