Young gets a breather
NORMAN — After Saturday’s loss at Texas, Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said he wanted to make sure he gave Trae Young a bit of a breather moving forward.
Monday night against West Virginia, Kruger stuck to that plan, removing Young in favor of sophomore Jordan Shepherd just past the midpoint of the first half in the Mountaineers’ eventual 75-73 win.
Young stayed on the bench for nearly four minutes of clock time, but there were two timeouts during that stretch, with the Sooners taking one and also benefiting from the undereight media timeout.
With Young on the bench, the Sooners outscored the Mountaineers by two.
Against the Longhorns, Young played all 40 minutes for the second time this season.
When Young returned to the court, he gave the Sooners an immediate burst of energy, attacking the basket and then hitting his first 3-pointer during the three OU possessions after he entered.
The three cut the deficit to five and then it shrunk to two on three Brady Manek 3-pointers a few moments later, but West Virginia pushed the lead to 10 by halftime, 50-40.
Mountaineers come out firing from 3
Coming into the game, West Virginia was shooting just 33.9 percent from behind the 3-point line and just a touch better than that during Big 12 play.
But in the first half, the Mountaineers were 8 of 13 from behind the 3-point line, with Lamont West hitting five from behind the arc.
In the earlier meeting between the teams, West Virginia was just 7 of 26 from behind the 3-point line.
In the second half, the Mountaineers were just 1 of 12 on 3-pointers.
Up next: At Iowa State
The Sooners return to the road Saturday when they play Iowa State in Ames, Iowa (1 p.m., ESPN).
The Cyclones have won six consecutive games over Oklahoma at Hilton Coliseum, with OU’s last win coming in 2011.
The Sooners have struggled on the road of late, losing five consecutive games away from Lloyd Noble Center.
Oklahoma is 115-87 alltime against the Cyclones but just 51-37 in Ames.
Lattin moving closer to blocks record
For the second time in three games, Khadeem Lattin had four blocks.
Lattin’s total moved him just five blocks behind Al Beal’s Oklahoma career record of 230 and three behind Stacey King for No. 2 on the list.
Three of Lattin’s blocks came in the final eight minutes to help the Sooners get closer before they ultimately fell short.
Lattin also added 13 rebounds.
Tip-ins
The teams combined to end the first half 12 of 12 from the field, but started the second just 1 of 19 from the floor . ... West Virginia attempted no free throws in the first half while the Sooners were 11 of 12 . ...
With his nine free-throw attempts, Young moved into the No. 9 spot overall in free-throw attempts in a season at OU, passing Wayman Tisdale . ... He also passed Buddy Hield and Don Sidle and tied Tisdale for made free throws in a season for No. 7 in OU history . ... With his first basket of the season half, Young moved past Tim McCalister for No. 13 on OU’s season scoring list.