Young scores 21 points as OU routs Auckland in exhibition

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — It took Oklahoma a bit to get going, but the Sooners rolled over New Zealand Select 133-91 in the opener of their basketball trip to New Zealand and Australia on Sunday.

Five-star freshman Trae Young made his college debut with 21 points and four assists in 19 minutes. Another in-state freshman, Brady Manek, had 17 points.

Playing in his hometown, sophomore forward Matt Freeman got the start and had eight points and a pair of rebounds in front of a large group of family and friends.

“It was really special,” Freeman said. “From the moment the game started, it just felt so at home. It was really emotional and meaningful for me that I got to play in front of my family and against guys I used to play with in front of pretty much my whole family.

“I had a lot of people come out who probably will never be able to make it over to Oklahoma and see us play over there.”

Select jumped to a quick 14-2 lead before the Sooners clawed back to take a 33-30 advantage after one quarter.

Oklahoma, which lost 20 games last season in a disappointing campaign after making the Final Four the year before, scored at least 30 points in every quarter.

Manek, from Harrah, had 15 of his 17 points before halftime.

The Sooners turned up the heat defensively in the first half after New Zealand shot nearly 60 percent from the floor before the break. Select was just 41.9 percent from the floor after halftime.

New Zealand Select scored just 36 points after halftime.

“Always good to get a first game under your belt,” Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. “Opened the ballgame not transferring very well from practice to a game situation, but we learned a lot from it and I think overall from the 40 minutes there was progress from throughout the game. Defensively, obviously a long way to go. Offensively, really shared the ball well and made good plays for each other.”

The Sooners had 23 assists, with 11 coming from sophomore point guard Jordan Shepherd.

Young, the phenom from Norman North, was 8 of 15 from the field, including 5 of 8 from inside the 3-point arc.

Every player on Oklahoma’s roster who entered the game outside of sophomore Kristian Doolittle finished with at least eight points.

Khadeem Lattin had 16 points, seven rebounds and five steals.

The Sooners have three games remaining on the trip, the next coming at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday (Oklahoma time), when they take on the Sutherland Sharks in Sydney. The game will be streamed on Facebook Live at http:// www.facebook.com/ OUMensBasketball.