Watch: Cowboy Basketball Shows Resilience and Solidarity in Postgame Press Conference

STILLWATER –Friday’s exhibition game against UCO was an important step forward for Oklahoma State basketball. The game marked the first time on the court for the team following the NCAA’s announcement on Wednesday of a postseason ban for the 2021-22 season.

Even though it was an exhibition game that won’t count towards a record, nor the stats go into the record books, the game felt like a mid-season Big 12 game. The official attendance showed more than 8,300 strong in Gallagher-Iba Arena Friday evening, and it certainly had a mid-season energy to it.

In a moment of solidarity, the entire Oklahoma State basketball team, led by senior guard Isaac Likekele, showed up at the postgame press conference. They also wore special shooting shirts prior to the game which stated ‘UBUNTU’, meaning “I am because we all are.”

There’s been an overwhelming response and support for the program over the past couple of days, not just from the OSU fan base, but from national sources as well. In fact, Mike Boynton stated during the postgame press conference that Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione reached out to offer his support to the program.

“First thing I want to do is compliment two groups of people; one is our players,” Mike Boynton said following the exhibition against UCO. “Obviously, this isn’t a new story in the sense of the overall, but it was a difficult moment to have to deal with unexpectedly, really. We didn’t have a warning or anything like that, just kind of got a day’s notice that this is what was going to come out. Wednesday after my press conference, we’ve had the best practice that we’ve had all year. I was really concerned, as some of you guys know, I hadn’t seen them [since the announcement] and for them to come out with the energy and the focus and resilient attitude that they did, really shows a lot of their character. So, I’m really proud of them.

“I’ve also really thankful for our fans. I think we built this team up quite a bit also, I probably lead the charge in that, I’m a pretty positive person and I know that work that our staff has put in the last four years to get to the point where I feel like we have a really, really competitive team, nationally competitive. I think the news took some wind out of the sails of our fans as well, but I also think it motivated them to rally behind these kids and the response has been overwhelming positive, certainly from our fans, but also from people outside. Even some of the people from down south, to be perfectly honest. One of the people, and I don’t like to name drop at all, but I think it’s important to know, Joe Castiglione sent me a text message. I think he actually tried to call me, and I didn’t have his number, so I didn’t answer, so he sent me a text message to just offer support.”

The Cowboys officially open the season on Tuesday, November 9, as they host UT Arlington for a 7 p.m. tip on ESPN+.