Tale of the Tape: Virginia vs. Oklahoma

Virginia is through to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after a first-half scare from 16-seed Gardner-Webb Friday. Next up for the top-seeded Cavaliers is a Sunday matchup with No. 9 seed Oklahoma, with the winner moving onto the Sweet 16 next week in Louisville.

Tip time will be approximately 7:45 p.m., or about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Duke-UCF game.

With the first-round W, UVA (30-3) achieved the 30-win mark for the fifth time in school history, and fourth time in the last six seasons. De’Andre Hunter played savior against Gardner-Webb, scoring 17 points in the second half to lead the comeback effort. The Cavaliers also got a lift off the bench from Mamadi Diakite, who was 8 for 10 on the day with 17 points, and hauled down a team-high 9 boards.

Oklahoma, ranked 34th overall by KenPom (25th AdjD, 58th AdjO) and 37th in the NET ratings, have had a roller-coaster ride season. The Sooners (20-13) started the season 11-1 but had dropped three of their last five games and eight of their last 12 before a convincing 95-72 win over No. 8 seed Ole Miss on Friday.

Oklahoma struggled in Big 12 play, winning just 7 of its 18 conference games. The Sooners posted three wins against teams that qualified for the Big Dance — Wofford, Florida (both in November) and Kansas.

Senior guard Christian James leads the Sooners with 14.6 points a game to go with his 6.2 rebounds a night. Sophomore Brady Manek, a 6-foot-9, 222-pound forward, is one of the team’s best perimeter shooters and has posted double-figures scoring totals in 10 of his last 12 games.

“I think just moving the ball, finding the open guy, finding a possible mismatch here and there, just doing small things correctly and hopefully getting better results,” Manek said when asked about going up against UVA’s Pack-Line defense.

Junior forward Kristian Doolittle (6-7, 232 pounds) is a force to be reckoned with on the inside, averaging 11.4 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds a game, while another senior guard, 6-6 Rashard Odomes, struggled down the stretch (only scored double figures twice in his last 12 prior to the NCAA Tournament), but had a huge 20-point performance Friday. Doolittle put up a double-double against the Rebels (19 points, 15 rebounds).

The Sooners will have three other senior contributors off the bench in guards Aaron Calixte and Miles Reynolds, along with 6-10 big man Jamuni McNeace.

Oklahoma, a team that likes to get up and down the floor, will likely try to push the pace against the ‘Hoos. They have scored in the 90s three times this season, and put up 80 points or more seven other times.

“We just want to take it one game at a time, lock in and focus,” said James. “When the lights come on, we just want to show up.”

Along with Ole Miss’ early exit from the Big Dance, the South Region also lost three other higher seeds as No. 4 seed Kansas State, No. 5 seed Wisconsin and No. 7 seed Cincinnati were all eliminated in the opening round.

With a win over Oklahoma Sunday, Virginia would get the winner between No. 12 Oregon and No. 13 UC Irvine in the Sweet 16 in Louisville.