Freshman phenom Young, Sooners face stiff W.Va. task (Jan 06, 2018)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Oklahoma freshman Trae Young is pretty clearly the top offensive player in college basketball right now.
Young leads the nation not only in scoring (29.4 points per game) but assists as well (10.6).
Saturday, Young and the No. 7 Sooners meet perhaps their stiffest challenge yet when they travel to face No. 6 West Virginia.
The Mountaineers have quite possibly the best perimeter defender in the country in senior Jevon Carter.
It's a matchup Young is looking forward to.
"He's a very physical guard, likes to get up in you, but those are the type of guards I like to go up against. It's going to be a fun challenge," Young said. "Everybody knows that he's going to probably win defensive player of the year in the country so it's going to be a fun challenge. I'm ready to go up there and it's going to be a hostile crowd so it's going to be good."
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said it can't be just Carter who has the responsibility of slowing down Young.
"He obviously needs help," Huggins said. "That's a given with everybody, but when J.C.'s right, he's very valuable to us on both ends. You don't want to wear him out to where at the end of the game, he can't make plays. He's not going to be the only one guarding him."
Huggins has been around the game for a long time, and mentioned two players who could take over a game the way Young can.
Jason Kidd averaged 16.7 points and 9.1 assists during his second year at Cal before leaving for the NBA. Kevin Durant averaged 25.8 points during his lone year at Texas.
"That was different," Huggins said of Durant. "This guy's so good because he gets other people shots. Those two bigs (Khadeem Lattin and Jamuni McNeace) live right around the rim. He throws it up there. He can really, really pass the ball. In our game, that's the thing that has deteriorated the most is the ability to pass the ball and he's terrific. He's not good, he's terrific."
Young believes he's got the advantage.
"I just try to be smarter than my defender," Young said. "I know in college basketball, I know every rule. I know every rule in college basketball. I know you can't -- as soon as you put two hands on a (player) it's a foul and you can't stop anybody with your body so I don't see how you can guard anybody in college basketball."
Oklahoma has been much more than Young recently, although the phenom has had a hand in more than 60 percent of the Sooners' scoring recently.
Oklahoma has topped 100 points in three of its last four games and leads the nation with an average offensive output of nearly 96 points per game. West Virginia allows fewer than 65 points per game and has yet to allow greater than 79 in a win this season. The Sooners have yet to score fewer than 82 points in any game this year.
