West Virginia Downs Trae Young And The Oklahoma Sooners

The No. 6 West Virginia Mountaineers (14-1, 3-0 Big 12) are STILL undefeated on US soil after knocking off Freshman phenom Trae Young and the No. 7 ranked Oklahoma Sooners, in a complete team win. Final score, 89-76.

West Virginia won the tip, but it was Oklahoma who struck first with a three from Christian James. The two teams traded shots, and a Maciej Bender layup off the assist from Jevon Carter tied the game at 9-9 with five minutes off the clock.

The Trae Young/Jevon Carter battle began to heat up midway through the first half, when Carter stole the ball from Young and dished it to Teddy Allen on the other end for the easy layup. Carter followed that up by blocking Young’s [horrible] attempt at a three, causing Young to hit the Frustration Event Horizon.

Coming out of the under 12:00 media timeout, Young went to the bench for a talking to by Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger. Young would eventually return and knock down two free throws to put the Sooners up 27-25, but the Mountaineers kicked it into high gear and closed the first half with a 44-36 lead off of nine straight points by Carter.

Trae Young and the Sooners would come out of the locker room swinging, and quickly went to work erasing West Virginia’s lead as the Mountaineers went ice cold. With five minutes off the clock, the Mountaineers were only up by one point, and the Sooners had all the momentum. A deep three by Young would give Oklahoma the lead.

With 13:30 left in the game, Jevon Carter took the bench after picking up his fourth foul. Sagaba Konate and Allen hit back-to-back jumpers to put the Mountaineers up 57-55 at the 12:00 media timeout.

With Carter still on the bench, West Virginia would manage to extend their lead back to 67-59 at the 8:00 TV timeout, after forcing Young into four turnovers in four minutes.

Konate hit a jump hook shot coming out of the timeout to put the Mountaineers up 10 points, and notching a double-double. West Virginia would hold that lead as the clock ticked away in the second half, taking a 76-68 lead at the 4:00 mark.

Jevon Carter returned to the game after the timeout, and added two points and two assists to his statline in just under a minute and a half. With 1:25 remaining in the game, the Mountaineers had the Sooners on the ropes. A pair of free throws from Daxter Miles with 50 seconds remaining would seal the win for West Virginia.

Teddy Allen led all scorers, for the third game in a row, with 20 points. Sagaba Konate had a huge game, finishing with a double-double of 16 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. Jevon Carter and Lamont West both finished with 17 points, with Carter adding 10 assists.

Trae Young finished with 29 points and a season high 8 turnovers.

West Virginia returns to action on Tuesday when they welcome the 11-4 (1-2 Big 12) Baylor Bears to Morgantown. That game tips off at 7:00PM ET and will be televised on ESPN2.