How OU basketball leaned on guards Grant Sherfield, Milos Uzan to beat West Virginia

NORMAN — Porter Moser was the happiest guy in the room.

OU had just survived a late scare by West Virginia to earn a 77-76 win Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center, and Moser began his postgame press conference by talking about how good it felt to close one out.

But one question killed Moser's high. The Sooners' head coach was asked about the backcourt duo of Milos Uzan and Grant Sherfield, who racked up 38 and 35 minutes, respectively, in the winning effort.

"I know," Moser said while holding his hands to his face in frustration. "I can't believe that. I've got to find a way to give (Uzan and Sherfield) a rest."

In Moser's defense, it was hard to take either guard off the court Saturday.

Sherfield racked up a game-high 22 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds. Uzan also stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, nine boards and five assists.

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It was a strong performance from OU's starting backcourt duo, which isn't complaining about the high volume of playing time.

“I like it," Uzan said with a grin. "I’m in pretty good shape, so I don’t mind it at all, actually."

Sherfield and Uzan form one of the more versatile starting backcourts in the Big 12, and that showed against the Mountaineers.

The duo made its mark on the glass against a West Virginia (10-7, 0-5 Big 12) team that entered Saturday with the 40th-best offensive rebound percentage in the nation (34%). OU dominated the rebounding battle 29-19 thanks in part to Sherfield and Uzan, who combined for 13 boards.

"We challenged the guards to go rebound, and they did," Moser said. "For us to outrebound West Virginia in a one-point game... I thought our guys showed some toughness blocking out and going to get the rebound."

Sherfield and Uzan also displayed their passing abilities Saturday. The duo combined for 10 of OU's 14 assists, which has become a trend this season.

Uzan and Sherfield rank 10th and 13th in the Big 12 in assist rate, respectively. They've accounted for 117 of the Sooners' 235 assists this season (49.8%).

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"I just think you’re better with multiple (facilitating) guys at this level," Moser said. "You have great defenses in the Big 12. You need to have multiple guys that can handle the ball and handle this kind of grit defense."

Sherfield and Uzan can also create for themselves.

Despite going 5-for-15 from the floor Saturday, Sherfield still recorded a game-high 22 points by being aggressive on his drives. The senior went 9-for-11 from the free throw line (81.8%) as a result.

Sherfield has found a way to put points on the board all season. He has scored double-digit points in all but one of OU's 17 games.

“He was big," Moser said of Sherfield. "I know he missed some shots that he wished he had back... The bottom line is he wants to get to that foul line at the end... Getting to that line is a big thing for him because he's good at the end of the game to give us all confidence."

Meanwhile, Uzan got his 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor (71.4%).

The freshman has been highly efficient this season. He's shooting 55.6% from the floor and 40.9% from deep.

Despite being a guard who shoots it from all three levels, Uzan ranks second on the team in effective field goal percentage (61.1%).

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"They've got confidence in me, so I've got to produce," Uzan said of his teammates. "I’m playing a lot of minutes — 30-plus minutes a game. I’ve got to do something out there... I’ve worked on my game, and it’s showing."

If Moser does decide to Sherfield and Uzan some extra rest moving forward, he can take comfort in knowing he has options.

Sophomore guards Bijan Cortes and C.J. Noland have given the Sooners good production as of late. Cortes recorded 10 points and 4 rebounds against Iowa State on Jan. 4, while Noland tallied 6 points and an assist against West Virginia.

Deciding which guard to play is a good problem to have for the Sooners (11-6, 2-3 Big 12), who have now won two of their last three conference games.

"We’re just trying to continue to just stack wins," Uzan said. "Big 12’s a tough conference... We’ve got to win home games. That was the focus today.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU basketball: Grant Sherfield, Milos Uzan shine vs. West Virginia