Field Level Media
Feb 24, 2018
Trae Young hit yet another long 3-pointer and flashed a big smile as he made his way down the court.
Young, Oklahoma's star freshman, broke out of a shooting funk and helped the Sooners snap a six-game losing streak with an 86-77 win over Kansas State on Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.
With that 3-pointer, which came with about 15 minutes left in the game, the pressure that appeared to pile up on Young and the Sooners over the past month seemed to fade away.
Young finished with 28 points, seven assists and five rebounds. He hit 7 of 10 from the field and made six of his nine 3-pointers.
Barry Brown led the Wildcats with 28 points.
During the Sooners' losing streak, Young was less than 20 percent from behind the 3-point line (11 of 56).
But he got off to a hot start Saturday, hitting a 3-pointer from well beyond the top of the key on Oklahoma's first possession.
Two minutes later, he hit another on his next shot from long distance, and all of a sudden, Young looked like the player who took college basketball by storm during the season's first two and a half months.
Young hit six 3-pointers in the game, his most since Jan. 30 against Baylor -- which was also the Sooners' last win.
Sooners coach Lon Kruger stuck with a made-over starting lineup that he first used in a 30-point loss to Kansas on Monday.
While the change didn't work against the Jayhawks, it paid dividends against Kansas State.
Not only did the Sooners get off to a solid start, but freshman Brady Manek seemed to find his footing coming off the bench for just the second time this season.
Manek, the Sooners' second-leading scorer for much of the season, was 4-of-7 with 10 points. Christian James finished with 15 points for the Sooners (17-11, 7-9 Big 12), and Jamuni McNeace added 10.
Dean Wade added 15 points for Kansas State (20-9, 9-7), while Xavier Sneed had 12.
Oklahoma shot 52.7 percent from the field and 61.5 percent after halftime. The Sooners are 9-1 when shooting better than 50 percent.
--Field Level Media