West Virginia used a blue collar effort and a gold-star performance in the paint to beat Oklahoma 79-71 on Saturday. It was a soul-searching effort, the Mountaineers digging deep to dominate the boards and ride a physical style to a second Big 12 win. We take it all in here with The Full 40.

HOT AND NOT

HOT

Rebounding. This had to leadoff the HOT spot, as West Virginia amassed a 46-30 advantage on the boards, including 18-7 at the offensive end. Esa Ahmad, Derek Culver and Wes Harris did the yeoman's work, the trio combining for 16 offensive rebounds and getting the bulk of WVU's 27 second-chance points. This was huge throughout the contest, but especially in the second half when Harris had a putback dunk, Culver secured a major rebound inside 40 seconds and hit a lay-in with a resulting foul and Ahmad continued to stay active and keep balls alive.

It was a controlling performance against a team that led the Big 12 in rebounding entering, and it was the crux of the victory in a game in which little else provided such a wide margin. With shooting percentage, free throws and points off turnovers all tight, offensive rebounds and second chance points via nine more total shots carried West Virginia.

Valuing the ball. This was specially true early, when WVU played more than six minutes at the start without a turnover. The Mountaineers committed 12 to OU's 15 overall (including just two over the first 12-plus minutes of play), and it was a massive turnaround from the 19-20-plus turnover games that plagued the team throughout January. No Mountaineer committed more than two turnovers, and West Virginia's final miscue came with 8:23 remaining. Oklahoma, meanwhile, committed three turnovers inside the final 5:30.