Oklahoma State Runs Away With 81-60 Win Over Iowa State
Despite a hot start by Iowa State and sloppy play at times on both ends, Oklahoma State kept the short-handed Cyclones at bay for the 81-60 win in Ames, IA.
With the win, the Cowboys move to 10-4 on the season and 4-4 in conference play.
“I’ve been a few of these games as we’ve tried to build this program to the point of being really competitive in this league, and we’ve been on the other side of some of these 20-point losses unfortunately,” said head coach Mike Boynton. “Tonight, was an example of us finding a way to do enough things to have success in still somewhat an adverse situation; still playing without Cade [Cunningham]. Got Rondel [Walker] back, but having not being able to practice much, but enough to be able to be able to go out there and play. It’s a strange season to say the least and I’m glad our kids are going out there and competing at a high level and learning one another and finding success.”
It was the second-straight game freshman phenom Cade Cunningham missed due to COVID-19 precautions, but fellow freshman Rondel Walker was back in the lineup after missing the Baylor game on Saturday.
It was freshmen Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe and Rondel Walker who led the way for the Pokes with season-highs. Moncrieffe posted his second career double-double in a row with 22-points and 12 rebounds and Walker finished with 20-points.
Iowa State, who played the game with just six scholarship players due to COVID-19 precautions and injuries, jumped out to a quick 13-2 lead and forced six Cowboy turnovers in the first six minutes of the game.
After the slow start, the Cowboys came roaring back with an 8-0 run to cut the Cyclones lead down to 13-10. It was a back-and-forth affair for the first 10 minutes of the first half, but the Cyclones’ roster issues began to set in, and the Cowboys took their first lead of the game at the 7:34 mark of the first half. That lead was earned by a 12-0 run by the Cowboys.
The Pokes would go into halftime with a 10-point lead, 41-31, but the story of the first half was turnovers for the Pokes, as well as rebounds. They turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, but they outrebounded the Cyclones 28-11, 19-9 on the defensive end and 9-2 on the offensive end.
The Cowboys finished the game outrebounding the Cyclones 49-19. They were also dominate in the paint as they’d outscore the Cyclones 58-22 down low.
While the Cyclones didn’t jump out to a big lead to start the second half, it was a sloppy start to the half for the Pokes. They committed five turnovers in the first four minutes, bringing their total up to 17 in the first 24 minutes of action. Turnovers would continue to be an issue for the Cowboys finished the game with season-high 24 turnovers, compared to just 12 by the Cyclones.
“I’m always pretty honest: it’s just immaturity,” coach Boynton said of the season-high 24 turnovers. “Part of my concern tonight was knowing [Iowa State] was short-handed, knowing they haven’t won a game in our league, knowing there wasn’t much of a crowd. There’s not a whole lot of things to point to get the guys to understand we’ve got to play at the same level of focus and energy that we played against Baylor on Saturday, and that’s hard to when you’ve got basically one experienced guy who’s been there before in [Isaac Likekele]. So, I knew it would be a struggle. I’m glad we survived the struggle and we put enough good possessions together at the end, stops-wise and scoring, to get some separation, but there’s certainly something we’ll look back on and say “hey, if we ever start this way or have this many turnovers against really anybody, we’re going to have a hard time winning,” and that’s going to be true moving forward against everybody we play.”
The Cyclones kept clawing away at the lead, but even with the sloppy play on both ends, the Cowboys had an answer for each ISU bucket. The Pokes turned up the pressure late in the second half as they jumped out to a 20-point lead, 77-57, with less than four minutes remaining and would finish the game making nine of their last 10 buckets to finish the game shooting a blistering 59% from the field.
Next on the schedule for the Cowboys is Arkansas in Stillwater this coming Saturday, Jan. 30. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2.