Cade Cunningham Defers, Then Delivers; Pokes Beat WSU 67-64

Cade Cunningham played the unselfish card nearly to the end Saturday. Nearly too late.

Then he played his trump card.

Cunningham, OSU’s leading scorer and top star, but also the team’s great facilitator, didn’t attempt a second-half shot until the final 83 seconds at Wichita State.

Then he drilled the dagger, a 3-pointer from the left wing, to send the Cowboys to a 67-64 win.

“I knew I was going to take the last shot,” Cunningham said.

Knew, too, that he’d make it.

“I kind of struggled throughout the game,” he said, “but yeah, I have full confidence in my shot.

And it went down. Good team win.”

Another good team win.

The Cowboys remained unbeaten at 6-0, looking their age – incredibly young – at times, but also looking pretty good for a group still learning to navigate the floor together.

That’s the way it’s been through the opening nonconference run of this season, unsteady at times, spectacular at times, winning every time. And it’s hard to argue with that.

Now, the schedule gets real, well, more real, with the Big 12 portion set to commence.

The Cowboys face TCU in a conference opener Wednesday at Gallagher-Iba Arena, followed by trips to No. 13 Texas and No. 17 Texas Tech, and then a visit from No. 11 West Virginia.

Are these young Cowboys ready for that, and more?

Saturday on the road, against a program used to winning, provided good prep.

“Felt like a Big 12 game,” said Cowboys coach Mike Boynton. “The intensity, the physicality. So proud of our guys, heading into Big 12 play, to win a game like this on the road.”

This team will likely go as far as Cunningham takes them, not that it’s a one-man show. Isaac Likekele and Rondel Walker picked the Pokes up in the first half, each scoring 10 points, when Cunningham missed his first six shots from the floor and managed but seen points, although with four rebounds, three assists and a steal.

And Boynton has options galore, with 10 players on the floor for double-digit minutes at Wichita State.

“I love our team,” Boynton said. “I love the pieces individually. I love us even more collectively.”

The Cowboys won collectively Saturday, playing in front for much of the team, even with Cunningham often deferring, which he does at times in an effort to get everyone involved.

And that’s OK with Boynton, to an extent.

Cunningham deferred to teammates throughout the second half.

“There’s a delicate balance, a combination of things there,” Boynton said. “This is going to happen – their game plan was to stop him. They were sending a second and third man at him.

“A team like ours, the way we’re built… Isaac Likekele is still a damn good player.”

And Walker is a talent who continues to grow with each game. And there’s the Boone twins, and Avery Anderson, Bryce Williams, Ferron Flavors Jr., M.A. Moncrieffe and even Bernard Kouma, who earned his first career start against the Shockers.

Still, Cunningham is the key cog, although he downplayed his role after the game.

“I just shot the shots that they gave me,” Cunningham said. “There were a couple of times where I tried to force the issue and turned the ball over.

“I have confidence in my teammates to make shots.”

And when he’s needed, especially in the clutch, his confidence never wavers. So with the game tied heading toward the final seconds, everyone knew who was going to shoot the ball.

“We all knew what was going to happen,” Walker said. “And in our minds it’s a make.”

That’s the way Cunningham envisioned it.

“I just knew, come down and score,” he said.

The Big 12, always a gauntlet, may be better than ever. In the AP Top 25 teams, five league squads are ranked, with OSU and OU receiving votes.

The league looks even more daunting in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings, where five Big 12 squads are among the top nine – FIVE of the top NINE.

And TCU, arriving Wednesday, is 5-2 after a 73-55 win over Texas A&M Saturday.

The Cowboys have done all they can, going unbeaten into their conference opener.

“Our guys have faced that adversity every step of the way, continued to believe in each other and believed in our staff,” Boynton said.

“The nonconference, in my mind, is always to prepare you for the conference season. We’ve seen a little bit of everything. And we’ve answered the call.”