Anderson and Boynton Both See the Advantage of Playing WVU But for Different Reasons
STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State Cowboys have settled into their hotel in Kansas City and according to guard Avery Anderson III had an energized practice this morning preparing for their first-round game on Thursday against the same team that Anderson broke out and scored 31 points against last Saturday in No. 10 West Virginia.
The Cowboys, playing without both Isaac Likekele and Big 12 Player/Freshman/Newcomer of the Year Cade Cunningham, beat the Mountaineers on their home floor in the WVU Coliseum 85-80 to finish that rugged run in the final five games against all Top 20 competition with a 4-1 record. Now, in Kansas City they open with West Virginia and both Anderson and Boynton feel it is an advantage for different reasons.
Anderson was the star in the upset over the Mountaineers, but the 6-3, 170-pound second-year freshman is no fool. He knows that his team is better with Cade Cunningham and Isaac Likekele and that the WVU players will see a different team with different options on Thursday morning than the team they remember from Saturday and that is a good thing.
“I would say it is a big advantage because in practice today we were looking real electric,” said the star from Justin Northwest High School in Texas. “Anybody can grab the ball now and we don’t have a set point guard and we are just getting out and running and it is looking pretty well. It is going to be a different OSU basketball team.”
I know what you’re thinking, “Why would we want a different OSU basketball team?”
Fair question, but this will be the third meeting between the two teams and as head coach Mike Boynton pointed out the Cowboys had Cunningham and Likekele starting in the first meeting with the Mountaineers in Stillwater and while they lost after WVU had that massive 19-point comeback in the second half, it was one of the best starts in a game this season.
Boynton looks at it from a confidence and a mental standpoint more than physical. The team will have all of it’s players and weapons back and that will make them even more confident after beating the same team without them last Saturday.
“When I talk about an opportunity within a challenge this is how it manifests itself,” Boynton explained. “We went through that stretch and for the most part we did it without Ice (Likekele). Ice really only played in the Tech game in those five games we are talking about and then we played that last game coming off a loss without Cade. So what everybody looked at as a devastating moment I looked at as we can get better here because we can see what are some ways we’d have to play. What if the injury were longer like a week or 10 days or whatever? We have to figure out how to play without them while we still have the responsibility of trying to win. I think coming out of that game our guys do have confidence. Maybe it’s foul trouble or maybe something freakish happens and Ice isn’t available. Whatever and who isn’t available then the guys that we do have available can get the job done. I think we can carry that into the next couple of games and try to finish the season strong.”
Then there is just the magical feeling. It’s the feeling a football player gets when his team is chosen for the College Football Playoff or a baseball player sees his team qualify for Omaha and the College World Series. It’s March Madness and it is magical.
“It is a very big step and it is exciting like you said, but you still have to stay in tune with the idea of one game at a time,” Anderson added. “You know that you have to give it all up in the game because if you lose then you go home. Everybody has to be in tune to that one game and give it everything they’ve got and move on.”
Reminded that even a loss in Kansas City doesn’t mean going home, just flying to Indianapolis and starting the NCAA Tournament bubble experience, Anderson was ready.
“We’ve been working on it to win the Big 12 and then move on to March Madness,” he said showing the Cowboys aren’t satisfied. “We’re hungry.”