Bedlam Preview: OSU Must Contain Trae Young to Win Third Straight

Oklahoma State heads to Norman on Wednesday night in the first Bedlam showdown of the season, and the first under the Boynton regime. After sweeping the series last season under the guidance of Brad Underwood, OSU is seeking its third-straight win over the rival Sooners.

Unfortunately for OSU, though, this Sooners team is a far cry from the one that went 11-20 in 2016. Winners of nine straight, the Sooners are streaking like they got a jump-start on the land rush coming into Wednesday and have shown no signs of slowing behind POY frontrunner Trae Young.

Let’s get into the three keys for the game.

OSU must slow Trae Young

Stopping true freshman point guard Trae Young is a nearly impossible ask, so merely (merely!) containing him should be the goal. The Norman native is averaging an NCAA-leading 29.6 points per game and 10.7 assists — accounting for a possession rate that ranks first in the NCAA according to KenPom.

In other words, he’s the most used player for any team in the country — and he’s doing it for a top-10 Oklahoma team that doesn’t have many weaknesses.

Young didn’t score less than 26 points in any of OU’s games in December, and is coming off a career-high 39 against TCU in the Big 12 opener. I’m not sure how Boynton will opt to defend him, but running him off the 3-point line and forcing the ball out of his hands seems to be the only option. That might mean OSU takes a more physical approach with him to push him out of his comfort zone early.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tnuVQTwnd4&t=2s

Mucking up the game

If OSU gets into a track meet, it has no shot of topping the Sooners. OU likes to get out in transition with Young and get points in a hurry, as evidenced by its fifth-quickest adjusted tempo in the NCAA and third-shortest average possession length according to KenPom.com.

Behind Young, OU likes to run and gun, score quick in transition, and get buckets in a hurry — that can come in the form of layups or even transition 3s behind a sneaky good supporting cast.

OSU won’t be able to limit those opportunities completely, but mucking up the game by reducing 3-point attempts and, thus, limiting long rebounds and fast-break chances, will likely be the strategy. That means the 30-second shot clock will likely get quite the workout when OSU’s on offense tonight.

Winning the rebound battle

Neither team is particularly elite at rebounding, but OSU has a slight edge here in offensive rebounding with a top-60 national rank. OU’s not an elite offensive rebounding team (it ranks 200th nationally), so keeping OU off the boards when they are on offense will be crucial.

Stopping Trae Young and OU’s offense is as difficult a task OSU can draw as is, and stopping it twice in the same possession is the same as waving the white flag. So I expect a heavy dosage of OSU’s jumbo lineup — perhaps with Solomon at the 4 and Sima at the 5 to limit second-chance opportunities by Jamuni McNeace and the lethal Brady Manek.