STILLWATER – There’s a good reason that Zach Lancaster is the beat writer for us with Oklahoma State basketball. Zach has a good feel for this basketball team. We were having a discussion on Friday night about the opener with Kansas. I was skeptical and felt like Oklahoma State really didn’t have a shot for just their third win inside Allen Fieldhouse in the past 20 seasons and the first since 2018. Kansas also had won 31 conference openers in a row dating back to the third season that Roy Williams was KU’s head coach.
I said Kansas would control the game and win comfortably. Zach countered me and kind of shoved it back at me. He thought the Cowboys would surge early with three-point shooting. He even threw out the names of Bryce Thompson and John-Michael Wright being the guys that would stick the threes for the Pokes. He predicted the Cowboys would lead, but that in the second half scoring droughts that often have frustrated the Pokes and their fans would happen again. Kansas would gather itself and get a close win.
Next time I accuse Zach of not knowing what he’s talking about he needs to jam this last Saturday of 2022 in my face. He couldn’t have described the whole scenario better with a crystal ball or sitting next to Pythagoras. Look that one up. Let’s just say Zach nailed it.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Thompson was deadly from three in the first half.
The first half was probably even better than he imagined in his mystic mind as the Cowboys surged to a 45-30 halftime lead hitting 9-of-18 from three point range with Bryce Thompson and John-Michael Wright leading the way. Oklahoma State used second chance three-pointers from Thompson on the win for a 19-13 lead about midway through the half and then Thompson, the former Jayhawk again with a second chance to go up 26-18 with 5:40 to go.
“I was locked in and put a lot of work in with my guys and our coaches,” Thompson said of preparing and coming off the break for a chance to win the conference opener on the road against the league favorite and defending national champion. “It was a tough game. We got up early in the first half. They came out and hit shots (in the second half) and the crowd got into it. We hung in there, but we didn’t have a good flow in the second half. We got out of our flow.”
Wright sandwiched a Moussa Cisse slam dunk with a pair of threes, the second with a Jayhawk defender in his face and that took it to halftime.
Now, I’m hoping that Zach only got his prediction of the game half right, but I had that sinking feeling. The second half started with a heaping dose of Jayhawk intensity and the scoring drought that Lancaster predicted but that has also become habitual for the Cowboys. The out-of-flow effect that Thompson described to John Holcomb of the Cowboys Radio Network from Learfield.
A second chance three by Thompson, before he collected his fourth foul and had to sit out, was the only Oklahoma State bucket in a Kansas run. KU used a 16-3 run to start the second half and make it basically an even game. The run expanded to 22-5 resulting in a 52-50 Kansas lead, their first since early in the game. Oklahoma State had a drought of 4:30. In the second half the Cowboys were only 4-of-11 from three-point range and 7-of-25 from the field.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Adams late basket game Kansas the last hoorah in a very close Big 12 opener.
The rest of the way the two teams played pretty even. With 16 second left Thompson hit another three to tie the game at 67. K.J. Adams hit a layup down the middle on a nice pass from Dajuan Harris Jr. to give Kansas a 69-67 lead with three seconds to go. Here came the Cowboys with no time out and the ball Thompson got it low and his shot was blocked from behind by former Tech starter now at Kansas Kevin McCullar. Even the Clark Kellogg on CBS called it a four, but not inside Allen Fieldhouse with seconds left. The Cowboys turned it over and it was over 69-67.
“They let us play, those are calls and maybe we get that at home but we’re away,” Thompson said likely holding his tongue. “We’re a great team and we have to come out play. We can beat anybody.”
They’ll get another chance in what is really becoming a must win at home on Monday at six against a nationally ranked West Virginia team. Damn that Zach Lancaster for being spot on
