STILLWATER – Head coach Mike Boynton said it best after Oklahoma State’s 77-76 loss to TCU to open Big 12 play: “Welcome to Big 12 basketball.” The Cowboys had an up and down night against the Horned Frogs and gave up an eight-point lead with two minutes left to go in the game.
"Welcome to Big 12 basketball. This is every night out, it's a fight for 40 full minutes,” said head coach Mike Boynton. “We did some good things, but we didn't do enough to win and, in this league, you've got to go win the game. You have to make the plays down the stretch. You've got to secure the ball, you've got to get stops, you've got to rebound and obviously we did a really poor job at the free throw line, and you can't do that at home or [on the] road. Tonight, credit to TCU, they had their backs against the wall. They had lost a home game in league play to start and you could tell they played with a great sense of urgency feeling like this is one they had to try and get back, and they did so. So, credit to Jamie Dixon and his staff and his guys, but I hope this is learning opportunity for our young guys and understand the sense of urgency that you've got to play with every possession in this league."
The Cowboys played well at times, especially when they took an eight-point lead with Rondel Walker’s two made free throws with about two minutes left to go in the game, but free throws and missed 3’s were a killer.
They shot just 17.6% from 3-point range going 3-of-17 and they went 65% from the free throw line making just 17-26.
"I'll have to go back and look at the film, obviously [TCU] did a really good job of loading to the ball and trying to take away driving gaps for Cade Cunningham and Isaac Likekele getting into the paint,” said coach Boynton. “At some point we're going to make seven, eight or nine 3's and open up the floor a little bit, but it’s certainly not helping that we're not shooting the ball very consistently right now. Again, we had an 8-point lead with two minutes to go, we've got to find a way to close this game out. We need to go back and look at what things actually did happen. Was there bad communication defensively? Were we screening and executing or cutting as hard as we need to do on the offensive end? We've got tomorrow to figure that out and then we've got to turn our attention to get ready for a really good Texas team on the road."
Texas is going to be a tough out for the Pokes, especially on the road. The Longhorns are currently ranked No. 11 in the country and are getting really good play out of Courtney Ramey, Matt Coleman III and Greg Brown. They nearly beat a really good Villanova team and they beat North Carolina by two in the non-Maui Invitational back on Dec. 2.
If the Cowboys want to have a chance, they need to be able to consistently make free throws and start hitting at a more consistent mark from beyond the arc.
Tip-off for the Pokes’ game against Texas is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and will be televised on the Longhorn Network.
