NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Trae Young has spent the first two months of his Oklahoma career doing what no Sooner has done before.
The freshman nearly pulled off his most improbable feat yet. He fell one rebound short of a triple-double to help No. 7 Oklahoma defeat Oklahoma State 109-89 on Wednesday night.
He might have been the only unimpressed person in the building.
“I got off to a slow start,” he said. “I picked it up in the second half. Still made some bad mistakes, bad turnovers that I need to fix and get better at. At the end of the day, I don’t even care about the stats. My main thing is winning at the end of the day.”
Even with an off shooting night — he made 7 of 17 shots from the field — the combination of tools Young brought was too much for Oklahoma State to handle.
“He’s going to score,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. “He’s going to make plays for other guys. Obviously, he’s a terrific talent. You’ve got to try to limit his efficiency. We didn’t do a great job of that throughout the game. He still had a really, really good game.”
Freshman forward Brady Manek scored a season-high 28 points and Kameron McGusty added 15 for Oklahoma (12-1, 2-0 Big 12), which won its 10th straight. Manek, Oklahoma’s No. 3 scorer for the season, made 6 of 8 3-pointers and 9 of 11 shots overall.
“Being able to knock down shots in big moments like that — it’s a great feeling,” Manek said. “Any way to help my team.”
It was the first time Oklahoma scored at least 100 points against Oklahoma State since 1990. The Sooners, who entered the night leading the nation in scoring, shot 54 percent from the field to improve on their 94.7-point average.
Oklahoma State entered the night allowing just 67.2 points per game but surrendered a season-high point total.
“It’s always frustrating when you feel like you’re playing pretty good defense and they still get the shot,” Oklahoma State guard Brandon Averette said. “That kind of wears on you after awhile, but they’re great shooters and great players. I give them the credit — they played great tonight.”
Thomas Dziagwa scored a career-high 19 points and Jeffrey Carroll added 15 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma State (10-4, 0-2). Tavarius Shine scored 16 points for Oklahoma State, but he fouled out with 13:29 remaining.
Young had 10 points and seven assists in the first half to help Oklahoma lead 50-42. Shine scored 14 points in the first half, and Oklahoma State had 11 offensive rebounds and 13 second-chance points before the break to stay in it.
Young drained a deep 3 over Shine just over 3 minutes into the second half to push Oklahoma’s lead to 62-46, and the ensuing conversation between the two drew double technical fouls. A breakaway dunk by Oklahoma’s Rashard Odomes pushed the Sooners’ lead to 20 just 5 minutes into the second half.
Young got his 10th assist with just under 10 minutes remaining. He had nine rebounds heading into the final minutes but couldn’t get a bounce to go his way.
“We got our tails kicked tonight,” Boynton said. “Obviously got our tails kicked by a really good team with a really dynamic player and a great coach. Hats off to them for performing the way they did.”
BIG PICTURE
Oklahoma State: The Cowboys hung tough before losing at home to then-No. 7 West Virginia 85-79 on Dec. 29, and they looked ready to compete against another Top 10 team before the Sooners overwhelmed them in the second half. Oklahoma State became the latest team to do a lot of things right and still fail to come up with enough answers against Oklahoma.
Oklahoma: It was another quality win for the Sooners, whose only loss was to now-No. 22 Arkansas. The Sooners have beaten Oregon, USC, Wichita State, Northwestern, TCU and now Oklahoma State.
STAT LINES
Oklahoma made 15 of 27 3-pointers. Christian James made 3 of 4, Kameron McGusty made 3 of 6 and Matt Freeman made 2 of 2 to lead the way. Young made just 1 of 6, but he made up for it by draining 12 of 13 free throws.
COINCIDENCE
Oklahoma made exactly 12 of 17 free throws in each half.
QUOTABLE
Boynton: “I don’t have any good things to say about our team’s performance tonight, other than I thought we did continue to compete when we got down big. But tonight is not good enough. Tonight is not good enough against anybody, certainly not against a Big 12 team that’s our rival in state.”
UP NEXT
Oklahoma State: Hosts Iowa State on Saturday.
Oklahoma: Travels to No. 6 West Virginia on Saturday.
Photo credit – Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press / Norman, OK