Observations from OU’s Oregon victory
Trae Young keeps doing bigger and bigger things for Oklahoma.
Sunday against Oregon in the PK80 Invitational in Portland, Young scored 43 points in a 90-80 win.
Here are three observations from the win:
Trae, Trae, Trae
It's broken-record time but once again, freshman point guard Young was phenomenal.
Young finished with 43 points, going 11 of 22 from the field, 4 of 11 from behind the arc and 17 of 18 from the free-throw line.
He's upped his scoring output in every one of Oklahoma's five games so far. That has to stop sometime, doesn't it?
In the second half, Young scored 30 of the Sooners' 42 points. In the final 8:49, he scored 23 of OU's 27 points. Twelve of those points came from the free-throw line. Young's ability to get to the free-throw line consistently has helped the Sooners so far this season.
Rashard's return
Rashard Odomes returned to the lineup after missing a game after turning his ankle in the PK80 opener against Arkansas.
Odomes had eight points and five rebounds in 29 minutes. He helped slow down Ducks point guard Payton Pritchard, who was held to 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting (0 of 5 on 3-pointers).
Pritchard was committed to Oklahoma at one point and his father,Terry, is from Moore and played football for the Sooners.
Getting Odomes back to 100 percent is crucial to the Sooners defensive effort. Oklahoma figures to score on pretty much everyone this year, but their defense is a question mark. If they were without Odomes for any length of time, it would be a major loss.
Successful trip
Going 2-1 in the PK80, with the loss to Arkansas and wins over Portland and Oregon, gives the Sooners a successful trip to the Pacific Northwest.
The young team went to Portland trying to figure out where they stood, and what they learned is that Young can score with anybody in the country and they have room to improve on the defensive end.
The Sooners return to action at 7 p.m. Thursday against North Texas at Lloyd Noble Center.