Oklahoma Sooners Basketball: Trae Young scores 48, but Sooners fall short in OT

It was definitely Bedlam, folks. The Oklahoma Sooners battled back in Stillwater after being down by 19 points in the first half, but the furious comeback ultimately fell incomplete in a 83-81 overtime loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Trae Young scored a career-high 48 points, but it wasn’t enough to secure the victory.

Oklahoma had a three-point lead with just seconds remaining, but Oklahoma failed to stop the ball on Oklahoma State’s final possession, which resulted in a game-tying three. With a two-point deficit at the end of OT, Young was covered the length of the court and was unable to get a good attempt.

The Sooners have to start playing more sound defense for the entirety of the game, and not just when it’s absolutely necessary to get back in a game. The loss today makes it two in a row after falling to Kansas State in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Three takeaways

• Every Sooner not named Trae Young failed to score more than eight points in Bedlam. Even with Young’s career high 48 points, it’s imperative that other players contribute more in the points category to take some of the pressure off of Young. Part of that blame ultimately falls on Young (the same as it falls on someone like Russell Westbrook), and production from guys like Brady Manek, Christian James and Kameron McGusty is a requirement if the Sooners want to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

• Young cut down on his turnovers (from 12 last time to seven today), but he still made a number of questionable decisions throughout the contest. Everybody watching knows Young has the ability to shoot three-pointers from Steph Curry range, but when those shots aren’t falling, and the defense is playing both physically and aggressively, that’s when Trae needs to drive to the basket more often and try to create more opportunities for his teammates. To his credit, did a good job getting to the basket after halftime and cut down on those long threes to an extent.
• The Sooners began the game with another sluggish start. While this team isn’t necessarily stock full of veteran players, it’s still concerning that Oklahoma hasn’t been able to match the opposition’s level of energy out of the gate for the past couple outings. It’s nice to see the Sooners battle back in a rowdy environment and in a rivalry game, but at some point Oklahoma needs to play a full 40 minutes (or close to it) of dialed-in, high-energy basketball.

What’s next?

All eyes will be watching when the Oklahoma Sooners return to Lloyd Noble Center to host the Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday, January 23rd. KU has been the standard of the Big 12 for what seems like forever. The Jayhawks entered the season having won the last 13 outright Big 12 Conference titles, and are in position to extend their streak to 14 with yet another talent laden team led by future Hall of Fame coach Bill Self. The Sooners have lost the last four meetings against the Jayhawks, so with all things considered, this one should have Oklahoma’s undivided attention.

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