Oklahoma basketball: Numbers that matter from OU’s narrow escape
By Chip Rouse
Trae Young did not score his first point in Tuesday night’s Oklahoma basketball game with Baylor until over five minutes had gone elapsed.
His first field goal didn’t come for another three minutes: a deep three-pointer that has become a Young “must see” specialty that put the Sooners up 22-19.
College basketball’s top scorer and assist leader finished the first half with 13 points and six assists. While that would be a very good night’s work for most college players, it was merely a warm up for the true-freshman Young, who clearly is not your typical college player.
Young came out in the second half and took over the game for Oklahoma, scoring 31 points in the second-half alone to finish his night’s work with a game-high 44 points. It was Young’s two clutch free throws with 23 seconds remaining in the game, his final two points of the evening, that put the Sooners ahead to say at 97-96.
It was the Sooner superman’s fourth game with over 40 points and his third such scoring output in the past six games.
It might have taken Young a while to get going in the scoring column against Baylor, but he assisted on OU’s first three field goals in the game.
Here are some more numbers that mattered in the OU-Baylor game:
.857 – Shooting percentage by Oklahoma freshman Brady Manek (six of seven field goal attempts, including four treys) vs. Baylor
4.7 – Time remaining in the game when Baylor’s Jake Lindsey was fouled and went to the free-throw line for a one-and-one opportunity and the Bears holding on to a 96-95 lead. He missed the front-end free throw, Oklahoma rebounded the missed shot and the rest is history.
9 – Oklahoma’s largest lead in Tuesday night’s win over Baylor. This occurred at the 5:35 mark in the opening half.
15-12 – Double-double performance (15 points and 12 rebounds) by OU senior Khadeem, Lattin against Baylor.
18 – Points by OU’s Rashard Odomes in the win over Baylor, a season high. Odomes has reached double digits just three previous times this season.
33 – Bench points by Baylor in the loss to the Sooners. In sad contrast, the Oklahoma bench produced 0 points in 34 minutes of action.
52 – Combine points scored by the Baylor pair of Manu Lecompte (29) and Nuni Omot (23).
53.6 – Oklahoma’s field goal percentage vs. Baylor. The Sooners also shot 54.5 percent from behind the three-point line.
97.5 – Oklahoma’s scoring average at home this season, where the Sooners are 11-0.
636 – Points scored by Trae Young through 21 games this season. He is one of just two Oklahoma players to have scored as many as 600 points in their freshman season (Wayman Tisdale is the other.