Trae Young scores 32 as Sooners pull off win over North Texas
NORMAN — Trae Young’s streak was bound to end.
Oklahoma’s sensational freshman wasn’t going to keep upping his point total every game.
Thursday night against North Texas, Young kept the hype machine fueled, though, scoring 32 points — 21 in the second half — with 10 assists as the Sooners struggled with North Texas for much of the game before pulling away late for an 82-72 win at Lloyd Noble Center.
Young’s flashiest play, though, wasn’t any of those points.
It came on his eighth assist, when Young attacked a passing lane in the backcourt, sprinting up court off the steal.
Right at the 3-point line on the other end, Young flung a behind-the-back pass to Christian James, who took it just inside the freethrow line and elevated for the finishing dunk to put Oklahoma (5-1) up by 10.
“I was just thinking on how I wanted to give it to him — whether it was to continue to go and throw it in the air or throw it behind my back,” Young said. “But I saw him about to run through my dribble so instead of me taking the extra dribble and making it a little bit hard for me to pass in the air, I just wanted to give it to him early and let him finish it
off and show something.”
Young was 7 of 10 from the field in the second half.
In each of Oklahoma’s first five games, Young’s scoring output had risen, capped off with Sunday’s 43-point performance in a win over Oregon.
Scoring didn’t come easy to him early against the Mean Green. Young missed his first three shots and didn’t score until hitting a 3-pointer nearly 13 minutes into the game. Less than 30 seconds later, Young hit another one and by halftime, he’d scored 11.
Young’s streak of 30-plus point performances is something not even Buddy Hield accomplished during his Sooners career. The last Sooner to score 30-plus points in three consecutive games was Jeff Webster in 1994.
Still, there are things Young wasn’t happy about with his game.
“No, I haven’t,” Young said when asked if he’s met his own expectations through six games. “I had three turnovers tonight. That’s not good. I don’t feel like I’ve played my best yet. I feel like I’ve played OK, but not my best.” Lattin calls to fill up LNC After Young’s pass to James, the crowd estimated at 5,143 roared after a timeout seconds later.
Khadeem Lattin, one of the few players around for the Hield-led Final Four run in 2016, said it reminded him of games early that season.
Then Lattin issued a challenge to OU fans.
“Sooners fans, we love you and need you,” Lattin said. “We know you’re coming so come on out.”
Up next: Texas-San Antonio
Oklahoma host TexasSan Antonio at 7 p.m. Monday at Lloyd Noble Center. The Roadrunners are coached by longtime Sooners assistant Steve Henson, who is in his second season in San Antonio after getting the head coaching job in the wake of Oklahoma’s 2016 Final Four run.
Scott Thompson, who was with Henson in Norman as a video coordinator under Lon Kruger, is a UTSA assistant.
Former Sooners forward Dante Buford is sitting out the season there after transferring following last season.