MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — At some point Wednesday, Mike Carey said he kept waiting for the veil of stench that surrounded West Virginia to be lifted and the real 17th-ranked Mountaineers would arrive.
“I kept thinking we were missing easy shots that first quarter and we would get it going,” he said.
It didn’t happen. Not even close.
Oklahoma sophomore Taylor Robertson — the nation’s leader in 3-pointers — added on to what has already been a terrific individual season with 31 points and was 8 of 18 from behind the arc to lead the Sooners to an easy 73-49 victory in front of 1,566 fans inside the WVU Coliseum.
As to the type of shooting zone Robertson was in, one of her threes was a contested Hail Mary banked one to beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter.
“It was just a lucky bounce,” she said afterward. “I was just throwing it up there. I was trying to get fouled. When those go in, you just like to see it.”
Well, at least Oklahoma (10-6, 3-1 Big 12) did, anyway.
The Sooners saw just about everything go in the basket on this night, from Robertson’s threes, to wide open backdoor lay-ups to drives from Madi Williams, who added 15 points and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, WVU (13-2, 3-1) had its worst shooting game of the season, finishing 14 of 59 (23.7%) from the floor and its lone 3-pointer came with 1:47 remaining in the game.
Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale had no real explanation for how one team could be so good, while the other be so bad at the same time.
After taking a moment to think about it, she shrugged her shoulders, “What is the saying?” she began. “Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug.”
The Mountaineers, who saw their nine-game winning streak come to a screeching halt, were definitely the bug.
What bugged Carey the most with the loss, though, wasn’t the lack of offense, but the inability to stand up and play with energy on defense.
“We quit playing,” Carey said. “Our emphasis was on their shooter, believe it or not. I’ve never had a team where I emphasize a shooter and then they get 18 threes off. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.
“I haven’t seen that in a lot of years. No energy. None. Granted, we’re a little banged up, but you still have to play hard. You have to have heart. We just went through the motions.”
Robertson’s eight 3-pointers tied for the most threes ever made against the Mountaineers by one player in school history.
“This kid is unbelievable,” Coale said of Robertson. “The way she scores the basketball, I don’t have any words for that.”
The Mountaineers didn’t have any answers for her, either.
“You’re playing against the best 3-point shooter in the country, so she’s going to get her shots off,” WVU guard Tynice Martin. “The best thing we could do was try to run her off the 3-point line. She had 31. Like I said, we’ll learn and we’ll play them again at their house. Hopefully by then, we can execute better.”
Martin and Kysre Gondrezick — WVU’s two leading scorers — combined to shoot 4 of 25 from the floor and the Mountaineers had no one reach double figures.
“It happens and apparently it happened to me and Kysre,” Martin said. “None of our shots were going down, not even the lay-ups. They were going in and out. Everything was going in and out, and I’m sure it was frustrating for everyone.”
WVU’s 49 points was its lowest since scoring 47 in a loss at Baylor last season.
On cue, that’s where the Mountaineers will head Saturday, in facing the second-ranked Bears.
“It’s a shame,” Carey said. “We are so much better than that. I give Oklahoma all the credit. They just came in here and kicked out butt. They kicked our butt.”
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