MORGANTOWN — Save for one hot shooting night against Baylor, Brandon Knapper was nearly 0-for-January.
“Really, the whole season, I’ve had my ups and downs,” the former South Charleston standout said.
Knapper’s February got off to one heck of a start Saturday, as the freshman guard nearly single-handedly ended West Virginia’s three-game losing streak with a 79-71 victory against Oklahoma, in front of a reported 11,611 fans inside the WVU Coliseum.
In setting a career-high with 25 points, Knapper scored 10 of the Mountaineers’ final 12 points over the final 1:46 after the Sooners pulled within two points.
The Mountaineers (10-12, 2-7 Big 12) earned their second conference win of the season heading into Monday’s road game against No. 16 Texas Tech. It was also WVU’s fourth straight win against the Sooners (15-7, 3-6), who are 4-6 since starting the season 11-1.
Knapper’s 3 gave the Mountaineers a more-comfortable 68-63 lead in the final two minutes.
“I always knew I could play a game like this,” Knapper said. “I feel like I could go out there and do this all the time. We needed it. Today was my day.”
It was his day nearly from the moment he got into the game. His first shot was a 3-pointer that helped cut Oklahoma’s early lead to 17-16 and he gave WVU the lead seconds later when he drove to the foul line and got a little leaner to fall.
“When that first shot went in, I just felt like the rest of the shots were going to fall,” Knapper said. “I just had to go out there and play with confidence. The coaches put me in for a reason. They believe in me. I just had to believe in myself.”
That, Knapper admitted, has been easier said than done this season.
Held out this summer over blood clot issues, which followed being held out during the 2017-18 season after knee surgery, the redshirt freshman has struggled with turnovers and consistency.
“What I learned about this game is that it’s more mental than physical,” Knapper said. “That’s what I’m doing now, I’m getting over the mental part. I’m getting better at it. It’s just my first year playing, so this experience will only help me for next year.”
Those inconsistencies were not there against the Sooners.
“I think we’ve all been waiting on it,” Huggins said. “His problem has been ball security. He’s thrown the ball everywhere. He did a good job today under some tough circumstances.”
Knapper’s momentum carried into the final minutes. He followed his 3-pointer in the corner by helping to break Oklahoma’s full-court pressure and getting fouled, where he went 7-of-8 down the stretch.
“As soon as that first shot went in, I felt like the rest of them were going to go in,” Knapper said. “Oklahoma had a good team, but I had a feeling that no one was going to be able to stop me.”
West Virginia did not stop itself, either. The Mountaineers held a 46-30 advantage on the glass, with Harris, Esa Ahmad and Derek Culver combining for 30 rebounds.
Culver recorded his fourth double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds, while Ahmad also went for a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
“It’s pretty clear that the boards were the biggest difference,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. “They had their way us inside. I thought their big guys did a great job. We have to be much more physical. We have to get after the ball more on the boards and try to limit them to one shot.”
The Sooners were held to just 42 percent shooting (21-of-50) against mostly a 3-2 zone utilized by the Mountaineers. It was the first time in the last four games that WVU held an opponent to under 45 percent shooting from the floor.
“That zone is something we’ve been working on for a while,” Culver said. “We played hard and fought through screens. We disguised the 3-2 a little bit, which put them in a funk a little bit.”
Oklahoma leading scorer, Christian James, made only 1-of-10 and finished with 10 points, more than six below his average. Brady Manek led the Sooners with 18 points and Kristan Doolittle added seven points and 12 rebounds.
But, the day belonged to Knapper, who said his confidence continues to grow with each passing day.
“This is what I wanted to do all my life,” Knapper said. “Now, my dream has come true, so I have to take advantage of it.”
