Oklahoma game-thread

The Villanova Wildcats travel to Norman, Okla., to try to break the Sooners' nation-leading 49-game non-conference home winning streak. This will be the biggest test for Villanova so far this year.

[update @ 8:51 p.m.] Villanova wins, 67-51, to improve to 6-1 (7-1) on the year. This win may well place Wildcats into the top 25 come Monday.

Player performance grades will be up by tomorrow morning. All the live in-game updates are below the fold.

[update @ 8:48 p.m.] Though the game is won, we just had a 5-second violation and a shot-clock violation. Those shouldn't happen. Thank goodness the game wasn't close at the end.

[update @ 8:47 p.m.] The game looks in hand with Nova up 19 and under 2 minutes to play.

[update @ 8:43 p.m.] Nardi's perfect free-throw streak is over at 19. Nardi missed the front end of two technical foul free throws before making the second. Nardi just hit a huge falling away three to put Nova ahead 65-48 with 2:30 to play.

[update @ 8:38 p.m.] Curt hit two threes to end our 5-minute scoring drought. Nova is now up 61-45 with 3:50 in the game.

[update @ 8:29 p.m.] This game is difficult to watch. Neither team can get anything going right now, and it's a stalemate of incompetence. Jay just put in Reggie Redding to try to spark the offense.

[update @ 8:26 p.m.] Turnovers abound on both ends of the floor. Nova leads 55-42 with 9:36 remaining in the game.

[update @ 8:19 p.m.] Nardi and the offense look great, but we need to tighten up the defense. Too many easy looks for the Sooners. Nova up 53-40. Majerus is still calling Reynolds "Robinson."

[update @ 8:12 p.m.] Scottie has been called for a carry and a double-dribble on consecutive possessions. He also had a double-dribble in the first-half.

[update @ 8:07 p.m.] Nardi is looking great creating his own shot in the half-court, something we didn't see a lot of last year. Nardi's offensive game looks to have really improved. Nova leads 48-36.

[update @ 7:55 p.m.] Halftime. We are up 36-25. The game looked pretty sloppy the last few minutes of the half. Unnecessary fouls and turnovers were committed by both sides. I expect Nova to come out of the locker room looking a little crisper as Jay will no doubt emphasize playing less sloppily.

Scoring is pretty balanced for the Wildcats. Nardi has 9, Reynolds has 8, Cunningham 6, Sumpter 5. Sheridan and Clark have 3 each, and even Benn has scored 2.

[update @ 7:37 p.m.] Sheridan just airballed a three, leading to a Sooner fast break and score. Considering Will had missed his last shot, a wide-open 5-footer, why does he need to take a guarded three-pointer with 30 seconds on the shot clock? We also need to work on getting back on D. Oklahoma just scored twice on run-outs when we should have gotten back.

[update @ 7:34 p.m.] Villanova is up 28-18 at the under-4 break, but we are not taking advantage of all our opportunities. We have some pointless turnovers and have missed some shots we should have made. The defense has been solid, though. The press and constant on-ball pressure seems to be unnerving the Sooners. Hopefully we can keep up this pace in the second half.

[update @ 7:30 p.m.] Reynolds looked spectacular on a coast-to-coast steal and layup. He was so impressive Majerus even realized he wasn't Kyle Lowry.

[update @ 7:23 p.m.] Finally a drive-and-kick for a three! Nardi made a nice kick-out to Clark in the corner, who drained it. Nardi also hit a three of his own, and a left-handed runner. 'Nova leads 19-14 with 9:00 to go. Dwayne Anderson comes in for the first time.

[update @ 7:18 p.m.] Tied at 11 at the under-12 break. It's a close, physical game, as expected. Scottie was aggressive early on offense, which is a good sign. He needs to keep that up. Our offense seems a little disoriented at the early stages of this game.

[update @ 7:10 p.m.] Rick Majerus just criticized Lowry for not stopping a two-on-one Oklahmoma fast break that resulted in an alley-oop. Come on, coach, Kyle's with his team in Boston, and he has a broken wrist, and you still expect him to stop the Oklahoma break? Of course, Rick meant Reynolds, who is wearing Kyle's old number-one jersey.

[update @ 7:03 p.m.] The game is now underway on ESPN. I'll be making more opinion updates than play-by-play tonight, since most of you will be able to watch the game.