Trae Young rules. He leads all of NCAA Division 1 basketball in both scoring and assists, and his 9th-ranked Sooners lead the nation in points per game. Back in mid-December, Young, a freshman playing in his 10th official college game, tied an all-time record when he dished 22 assists in 29 minutes, against Northwestern State. He rules. I will entertain no arguments to the contrary.
The Sooners prevailed in an insanely fun overtime game against 16th-ranked TCU Saturday, in which Young exploded for 43 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists, on a dizzying selection of step-back threes and feathery floaters. This is already Young’s second 43-point game of the season, and the Sooners needed every last one of his buckets against the Horned Frogs:
Lots of ridiculous highlights in there, but the two threes Young splashed home in the last four minutes of regulation (at about 3:45 in the video, and again at about 3:55) are breathtaking: Young’s feet aren’t anywhere close to set for either shot; the guy who yells “OH MY GOD” while the second one arcs towards the basket expresses the thoughts of every person in the arena. Young’s 43 points came on 56 percent shooting from both the floor and the arc, and maybe one of his 10 made threes would be considered open by any reasonable standard.
TCU is good, and they gave the home team everything they could handle, all the way to the finish. This wasn’t an upperclassman eating up an out-of-conference bottom-feeder; this was a scrawny freshman throwing and landing heavy shots against as live an opponent as anyone could ask for. Trae Young is appointment television.