Crystal Ball on the Cowboys Shows Biggest Concern is Consistency
STILLWATER – I have to admit that I’ve been watching the last month or so of Oklahoma State basketball as if I’m looking into a crystal ball. Looking into the future, because the future is what is most important at this point. I totally get and appreciate head coach Mike Boynton talking the game of playing everything for this current team and the known guys that won’t be back in Bryce Williams and Isaac Likekele. The NCAA destroyed the ultimate goal for this team back last November when they upheld the penalty of a one-year ban from March Madness. Until recently, I’ve shared Boynton’s attitude of playing for the present, but that has changed.
The Cowboys lose to Oklahoma in the second Bedlam game 66-62 in Norman. It blows a four-game win streak in Bedlam and six of the last eight. That stinks, but what is worrisome in my crystal ball is the habit this Cowboys team has of playing to the competition. A sure sign of that habit is that OSU has played nine games that have either gone to overtime or been decided by a single possession. Six of those have been overtime games and as of Saturday that was the third in a row. Oklahoma State’s record in those games 4-5, so the habit of playing close hasn’t been good for the standings. Close games are good for selling tickets and making television partners happy, but not so good for the overall record and developing a clear resume’ that will get you in the NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma State went to overtime with Baylor on Big Monday, but that is much better Baylor team and the Cowboys played much better to get to the extra five minutes. To get to overtime against the Sooners the Cowboys played a first half with 12 turnovers and shot a measly 25 percent. The second half they played much better, shot 50 percent and cut down the turnovers.
Avery Anderson caught fire from beyond the arch and inside as well on his way to 25 points. He was three-of-five from three-point range and he was a perfect eight-of-eight from the free throw line. Moussa Cisse fouled out in overtime, but before he did, he had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
No player is a greater example of the inconsistency of this team, an inconsistency they need to work to change for the future than Anderson. He was what his team needed in the second half. He had knifed through the left side of the frontcourt for a huge basket to help send the game to overtime. Then in overtime when the Cowboys needed to score, he inbounded the ball, and didn’t read the defender and through it where Oklahoma’s Marvin Johnson was able to pick it and he went coast to coast with the basket to give the Sooners the lead.
“We had the ball and a chance to win the game and didn’t convert,” Boynton told the Cowboy Network’s John Holcomb. “Marvin Johnson was a big player for them. He came off the bench and brought them energy. He was a big factor for them.
“We showed a competitive response and we needed to,” Boynton said of the second half. “I was worried about where we (as a team) were going. They were down 10 points but played better the second half. We just didn’t make enough plays in overtime to win.”
You can go back throughout the schedule and find other examples. Down in Florida the first half in that Big 12-SEC Challenge game may have been the best of the season and the second half was likely the worst. It was comparable to the first half Saturday in the Lloyd Noble Center with OU. Other games have been more complete such as the overall strong game at home with West Virginia in an 81-58 win and then the 76-62 game at Allen Fieldhouse with Kansas, an opponent and venue where they have done well.
“Lack of energy and lack of focus. It has kind of been a story all year,” guard Isaac Likekele told Holcomb after the game. You admire the fifth-year senior’s honesty.
“Rough first half and they came out making shots,” added Bryce Thompson on the radio postgame. “We were juiced up in the locker room, but we came out and had some miscommunications and they took advantage.”
“We can play,” added Likekele, who is now in that melancholy countdown of two games left for him as a Cowboy. “That is one thing we can do great. We need to come out and play like we can from the beginning, and we need to maintain it for the whole 40.”
For Likekele it would be nice for his finish as a Cowboy, for the ones that will be back for next season it would be nice to establish that consistency. The crystal ball would look much better.