Oklahoma State Prepares for Lubbock Showdown With No. 13 Texas Tech
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State hoops is back after a two-week hiatus due to Christmas break and are gearing up for their second-straight top-15 road matchup, this time against No. 13 Texas Tech.
Tip-off for Saturday’s game is slated for 3 p.m. CT and will be streamed on ESPN+.
Tech enters this game riding a two-game winning streak and 8-2 on the season. The Cowboys currently hold a 45-23 series lead of the Red Raiders, but Tech currently owns a 15-10 edge in Lubbock and will be looking to extend that to 16 games.
For the Red Raiders, there’s five guys that can hurt you at any given moment, guards Mac McClung, Terrence Shannon Jr., Kevin McClullar and Kyler Edwards. The fifth guy to watch out for is forward Marcus Santos-Silva.
"There's a lot of times, I think close to half the game they play without a true 5-man,” said head coach Mike Boynton. “[Marcus] Santos-Silva obviously plays a lot, but when they take him out, they don't always put Tyreek Smith in. It's not like they automatically have a big guy on the court. Sometimes Terrence Shannon is the five, or Kevin McCullar's the five, or Kyler Edwards. They play five guards a lot. What you know, if you play them like that, you have to have a level of toughness to rebound. They're still a really, really good rebounding team because those guys have embraced, it's not about size, it's about heart, it's about tenacity. I'm sure they get that from [Chris Beard,] the head coach who's done a tremendous job of building that culture and mindset with those guys. And it's the reason they've been one of the elite programs in the country for the last four years."
McClung, who OSU is familiar with as he dropped 33-points on the Pokes last year when Georgetown came to Stillwater, is averaging 14.4 points and 3.0 assists per game per game. He’s a dynamic guard that can hit from anywhere.
"We saw it up close and personal. He's averaging 33 [points] against Oklahoma State, in case you weren't aware,” said coach Boynton. “We know very well about Mac McClung, his explosiveness. Mac McClung is the type of player, and you see guys like this all over the country. He thinks he's the best player on the court every game. No matter who the other nine guys are out there. When you have that level of confidence, you can start a game 0-8 and still end up with 25 (points). You're going to want the ball in your hands for the last play and you can tell he brings that edge to him. He's a guy that we're going to have to find a way to slow down, or at least make him less efficient, because he's going to be really, really aggressive no matter what."
Tech’s also a really solid defensive team. The media got to speak with Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe on Thursday and when asked about Tech, he went straight to defense.
"They're a great defensive team. They're a team that likes to take a lot of chargers and their help-defense is great. This whole week we've just been preparing for that, playing on two feet, stuff like that. We're really expecting them to play a great defensive game, but we're prepared for it."
Tech is holding their opponents this season to an average of 53.7 points on just 36% shooting from the field. They’re also holding opponents to just 27% shooting from beyond the 3-point line, an area with the Cowboys have really struggled this season.
"It's just getting in the gym and getting more reps up,” said guard Avery Anderson III. “Everybody's a good shooter, we just haven't been hitting and y'all could see.” But throughout the year, sometimes you may be hitting, sometimes you aren't, you just got to stay the course and that's what I tell myself and that's what I'm telling everybody else. We just got to stay the course and shots are going to fall, you just got to keep putting reps up."
On the other side of things, the Red Raiders are averaging 33% shooting from beyond the arc, an area where the Cowboys have also really struggled and allowed teams and opposing players to score season and career highs.
"It usually starts with defending the ball, like giving up a dribble penetration and therefore having to over-help,” said coach Boynton. “Then you're making a decision on whether you're going to give up layups, which will always look bad until the 3-point shot goes in. And then when they make all of their 3-point shots, which Oakland did when they came in here, then it looks like you should just be giving up layups. But what we did, we just decided we're going to try to put, which is why Avery Anderson helps us, right? He's another really good on-ball defender. He can stop guys from penetrating against us. [Isaac Likekele] is really good on the ball and so if you've got really good perimeter defenders, guys that can guard the ball at the point of attack, you can stop yourself from being in a rotation and giving up open 3's. That's one of the areas where we've emphasized, just being much better defending at the point of attack on the ball."
Tip-off for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT and will be streamed on ESPN+.