Oklahoma State @ Oklahoma preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 18, 2017 ) Oklahoma 92, Oklahoma State 96

No. 7 Oklahoma has already matched its 11-win total for the entire 2016-17 season after opening Big 12 play with a 90-89 road win at then-No. 8 TCU. And a big reason for the big turnaround for Lon Kruger's squad, which hosts in-state rival Oklahoma State on Wednesday night, is the outstanding play of true freshman guard Trae Young.

The 6-2 Young, a five-star recruit from Norman High School just a five-minute drive from the OU campus, will enter his first Bedlam rivalry game leading the nation in both scoring (29.6 points per game) and assists (10.7) while shooting 41.3 percent from 3-point range, and is battling Arizona's Kevin Garnett clone, 7-foot forward Deandre Ayton, for national freshman of the year honors. Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton, who coached against Steph Curry three times when he was an associate head coach at Wofford in 2007-08, compares Young favorably to two-time NBA Most Valuable Player. "I think he may be the best college basketball player since Steph Curry," Boynton told the Tulsa World. "Those guys, at 35 feet, you're not safe. So that changes the entire way you think about defensive schemes because you're not used to having to guard somebody at the 35-foot mark."

TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT OKLAHOMA STATE (10-3, 0-1 Big 12): All three of the Cowboys' losses have come at the hands of teams currently ranked No. 11 or better including No. 5 West Virginia, which defeated them 85-79 in their Big 12 opener on Friday. Oklahoma State, which entered that contest ranked No. 2 in the nation in free throw shooting (80.5 percent), made just 11-of-19 at the line in the second half hampering its chance at pulling off an upset. Senior guard Jeffrey Carroll (15.2 points) leads the team in scoring while junior swingman Tavarius Shine (11.2) and senior guard Kendall Smith (10.8), a graduate transfer from Cal State Northridge who began his career at UNLV, also are averaging in double digits.

ABOUT OKLAHOMA (11-1, 1-0): Young had 39 points, including a pair of free throws with 7.9 seconds left that proved to be the game-winners, at TCU where the Sooners rallied from a 13-point second half deficit for their ninth straight win. Sophomore guard Kameron McGusty, who is averaging 9.5 points, scored 22 points against the Horned Frogs, including a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left that gave the Sooners their first lead (88-87) in the second half. Junior guard Christian James (13.1) and 6-9 freshman forward Brady Manek (10.5) also are averaging in double figures for OU, which has scored at least 90 points in nine of its 12 games and has hit triple digits four times.

TIP-INS

1. Oklahoma State has forced at least 18 turnovers in six of their last seven games and rank 18th nationally forcing 17.1 turnovers per contest.

2. Oklahoma leads the nation in scoring (94.7) and also ranks ninth in assists (19.1) and 12th in 3-pointers (11.2).

3. The Cowboys swept the Bedlam series last season but Oklahoma has won 17 of the last 26 meetings and 15 of the last 17 games played in Norman.

PREDICTION: Oklahoma 92, Oklahoma State 84