Kansas State Basketball: Wildcats provide blueprint for stopping OU

In one of the biggest wins in recent memory for Kansas State Basketball, the Wildcats slowed down Trae Young and defeated #4 Oklahoma at home

After a heart breaking loss in Lawrence, Bruce Webber and his Kansas State Basketball team could have easily folded against the crimson hot Trae Young and the Oklahoma Sooners. Instead, the Wildcats played their best basketball of the season, providing a blueprint of how to slow down Young and defeat the fourth ranked Sooners.

Lon Kruger has yet to win a game at his old alma mater. The Wildcats came out and stormed to a 14 point lead early on, and never really let up. The Sooners made a couple runs as good teams do, but the longer the game went on the wider the scoring gap became.

Young scored 20 points on 8-21 shooting, 2-10 from the arc. The big story here wasn’t his point total but his turnovers. The Wildcats forced Young to commit 12 turnovers on the night. That total is the most on the season for Young, and his point total was the lowest since the first game of the season.

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It is no secret that the Sooners operate through Young, the problem has been stopping the freshman point guard enough to not only beat the Sooners, but dominate in a way that makes them look beatable.

How did the Wildcats do it?

Shooting 56% on the night is definitely part of it, 53% from three is another. Shooting close to 75% in the second half is even more of the reason. The defense stole the show however.

Oklahoma couldn’t get easy shots no matter where they looked. Rashard Odomes was the only Sooner to make any type of impact other than Young, scoring 16 points. The whole team was overwhelmed as they seemed to be waiting for Young to take control.

Young, as well as his teammates appeared to lose a little bit of heart with every turnover. Eventually failing to even challenge the Wildcats for the loose ball.

Turnovers, especially for the presumed player of the year have become a trending issue. Young averages more turnovers per game than any other collegiate player. Part of that does come with how often Young has the ball in his hands.

The concern for Oklahoma is the fact that the rest of the major players in the Big12 have their eyes all over this game. There are better teams with better guard play that should cause even more issues for Lon Kruger and his Sooners.

Barry Brown led the Wildcats with 24 points and Dean Wade continued his fine season with 21 points and 7 rebounds to go along with 7 assists. Freshman Cartier Diarra continues to improve, as there was a stretch in the second half when he got to the rim at will with lay-up after lay-up.

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Trae Young continues to get the attention, even in defeat, even with a horrible game. Kansas State deserves all the credit as they forced themselves on Oklahoma against their will.