Young sparks OU to win, 75-65
Trae Young lost the ball in the lane, flung his arms in frustration and looked at the official for relief. Sure enough, it came. A whistle. Foul on Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver, who had grabbed Young’s arm.
Eighth-ranked OU led ninth-ranked Texas Tech by just two points early in the second half, and the Sooners were lucky to be in such good shape, considering the ball was going in the hoop about as often as it would have gone in the hole if they were trying to putt it on the 18th green.
Young was starting to realize that despite a nonconference lineup of Arkansas, Oregon, Southern Cal, Wichita State and Northwestern, Big 12 basketball is a different animal. Teams don’t play all that nice. Aren’t all that content to let 19-year-old upstarts rewrite history. Defenders are no respecters of persons. They will scratch and claw and muscle to derail talented players.
And Young was derailed. The nation’s leading scorer had five points at halftime, on 1-of-12 shooting. Tech gave him scarce few 3-point openings, and Young’s forays into the lane were met with multiple bodies, sporting long limbs, and body shots.
But after that whistle early in the second half, OU inbounded the ball, Young drifted over to the left wing, took a pass from Rashard Odomes and drilled a 3-pointer. The lid came off the Lloyd Noble Center crowd, and Young himself seemed to exhale. Over a four-minute span, Young scored 13 points, the Sooners spurted to a cushion and won this top10 showdown 75-65.
It wasn’t easy, and it’s rarely going to be the rest of the season. Young finished with 27 points and nine assists, but on 7-of-23 shooting. There will be more games like this— and like Saturday at West Virginia, where Young made just eight of 22 shots. Young must learn to play through dark alleys and cunning coaches who devise intricate game plans meant to frustrate him.
“That’s how it’s going to be the rest of the way out,” Young said. “But I gotta get better. I didn’t shoot the ball well tonight. There’s going to be nights I shoot the ball well. But I’ll learn, get better. Coach (Chris) Beard and them had a great defensive plan. Hats off to them.”
Tech has soared into the top 10 by playing rugged defense, and the Red Raiders roughed up Young with a variety of defenders and double teams. He’s been so sensational in a half season, leading the nation in scoring and assists, we’ve come to expect the spectacular every night. But that’s not possible, even for a transcendent player. Not in this conference.
“We had multiple ideas,” Beard said. “You can’t have a one-layer game plan against him.”
At times, Tech was determined to not let Young shoot. Then the Red Raiders would go all in on not letting Young pass. Beard has assembled an intriguing roster of athletes that can chase all over the floor and man up when need be.
But OU has a coach, too. Beard joked that if his current gig doesn’t work out, he would like to be Lon Kruger’s agent. Kruger spread the Sooner offense more in the second half, opening driving lanes and passing lanes. OU missed its first 11 3-point shots in the game before Christian James’ swish just before the halftime buzzer, then the Sooners made six of 10 in the second half, led by Young’s four of seven.
“Went in at halftime, we knew he was going to try to take over the game,” said Tech’s Keenan Evans. “He’s a great player. We just tried to make it tough any way possible. Make him uncomfortable. Make him take tough shots. The second half, we kind of lost focus, lost track of where he was. Put him on the free throw line. Let him get going.”
Yes, 22 second-half points qualifies as getting going.
Young said the emotions of the game — his dad, Rayford, was a Texas Tech star two decades ago — threw him off early, but it appeared the Red Raiders were mostly responsible for that. Then a whistle blew, a shot fell and the nation’s best college basketball player settled down. Young found a way to be productive even though it wasn’t easy, and there’s going to be nothing easy about it the rest of this magical season.