Cowboys Have a Different Feel in 2022

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State kicks off its 2022-23 campaign on Thursday, November 3, as they play host to Ouachita Baptist in the lone exhibition on the schedule. This team, however, will have a much different look to it than last year’s.

It features two transfers in John-Michael Wright and Caleb Asberry, as well as true freshman Quion Williams. Three key contributors from last year’s team transferred out during the offseason, so there was some concern about cohesiveness going into this year, especially coming off a rather disappointing year that didn’t feature a postseason due to an NCAA ban.

While each player we’ve talked to over the past four weeks have expressed joy in being able to play in the postseason this year, they’ve all talked about how they’ve used last season as a springboard into this year.

“It’s good because we went through a lot last year; we had some high moments, some low moments, so we kind of know what the experience is like to play with each other,” Bryce Thompson said. “We can use that going forward for this next season, kind of build on that and allow all the new players to kind of mesh in with that and make everything smooth.”

Another thing we’ve heard is this team is rather close, that it has a completely different feel from last year’s team. Two of the ‘Big Three’, Moussa Cisse and Bryce Thompson, with Avery Anderson III being the third, each hit on the topic. You read what Thompson had to say in the paragraph above. Here’s Cisse.

“I feel like it’s our connection, the way we created different bonds,” said Moussa Cisse. “I didn’t think we’d be this connected because we had a lot of guys coming from different places and when we got here, it was so smooth. That first week when we got back, it was a random team. We created good bonds, everybody cared about each other, and we pushed each other. Still now, we have that good bond, even on the court and off the court, we good.”

An aspect of last year’s team that was a huge point of emphasis going into 2022 was three-point shooting. One of the worst teams from three-point range, the Cowboys have worked quite hard on the outside shot. So much so that Thompson feels it’s helped in bringing this time a different feel from last year.

“It definitely has a different feel to it, and I think our three-point shooting will be a lot better,” said Thompson. “Me, John-Michael [Wright], really all the way down the line, we’ve shown in practice that we can knock it down and in turn, it opens up for Moussa and KB [Kalib Boone] and Reek [Tyreek Smith] inside. So, just being able to play off each other and play off each other’s strengths I think will help us.”