Instacap: Cowboys Outlast Sooners in OT 83–81

The Cowboys survived a record game and a late barrage of 3s from the country’s best player and split the Bedlam series with Oklahoma for the first time in six seasons.

Kendall Smith found his mojo in his third-straight game off the bench, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot and helping the Cowboys secure their third conference win of the season.

Smith scored 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting (3 of 7 from 3). Jeffrey Carroll led OSU with 23 points on 22 shots and grabbed 13 rebounds. Tavarius Shine had 16, going 6 of 14 (4 of 9 from 3) and four assists before fouling out late.

The Trae Young Show lived up to its billing. The freshman scored a Big 12 record 48 points on 38 shots and dished out eight assists.

Oklahoma State came out of the locker room with its hair on fire. Every bounce and loose ball went OSU’s way early. The Cowboys forced three Sooner turnovers in the first four minutes (two by Young).

After building a 25-6 on a 16-0 run, the old girl was rocking. After spending an extended stat on the pine, Trae Young calmed down Gallagher-Iba Arean with a 5-0 burst with led to 8-straight Sooner points.

The Cowboys did a good job of sending multiple bodies at Trae Young but Tavarius Shine got the brunt of the load and performed well. Young went 4 of 15 (2 of 8 from 3) and scored 14 points

The Sooners pulled to within 8 before a strange turn of events saw the Cowboys take a 12-point lead into the half.

Trae Young tries a one-handed crosscourt pass that Mitchell Solomon steals. Young jumps on top of somebody's head and gets a foul called. Kendall Smith buries a 3. That's how the 1st half ended. 42-30 #okstate. Someone fan me.

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) January 20, 2018

The Sooners came out swinging in the second frame with a 7-0 run to start and would edge to within striking distance for the first 12 minutes after the break. But it was a Trae Young 3-pointer that gave the Sooners their first lead of the game with 7:49 left on the clock.

In crunch time, it was the Trae Young show. The nation’s leading scorer did his best Steph Curry impression knocking down clutch shot after clutch shot. But the Cowboys didn’t roll over and hung with the Sooners.

When Young went to the basket a little out of control, former teammate Lindy Waters rejected his shot at the rim but a controversial foul call sent Young to the line. He made both free throws, putting his team in the driver’s seat.

Poor call on Lindy Waters’ block of Trae Young’s shot. All contact was made by Young’s off arm, and Waters went straight up. Clean block, refs missed it. Unfortunate for OSU.

— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) January 20, 2018

But Kendall Smith wanted more basketball and he got it forcing overtime with his equalizing 3-pointer off the dribble.

Jeffrey Carroll, who missed a couple of free throws earlier in the second half, stepped up and knocked down two clutch free ones to give the Cowboys an 83-81 lead with 39.5 seconds remaining. But on the next possession, Carroll gave up what would have been a costly turnover after the in-bounds pass. OSU would get the ball back with Carroll coming up empty on the front side of a one-and-one.

The Cowboys move to 13-6 (3-4 in Big 12) and heads to Lubbock to face Texas Tech on Tuesday at 6 p.m.