Kalib Boone and MA Moncrieffe Starting to Really Shine

STILLWATER – It’s been a moment we’ve been waiting for since the before the start of the 2020-21 basketball season for Oklahoma State. We heard multiple times throughout the offseason and through the start of practice of how Kalib Boone had taken a step forward and was primed for a huge sophomore season. However, that wasn’t the case…until the Baylor game.

The sophomore out of Tulsa Memorial had the best game of his short career in Stillwater as he posted as career-high 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting in a career-high 28 minutes. He also pulled in seven rebounds. The he put up 15-points on 7-of-7 shooting and eight rebounds against Iowa State on Monday night.

At the same time in those two games, Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe was rising up and putting together impressive back-to-back double-double performances. He posted 13 points and 10 rebounds against Baylor, then 22 points on 11-of-17 shooting, 12 rebounds, all career-highs against Iowa State on Monday.

"So, Saturday — and I'll have to go back and look at the numbers; I just haven't really had time to analyze it with the quick turnaround, I'm not sure how many possessions before Saturday [MA Moncrieffe] and [Ka. Boone] had played together,” said head coach Mike Boynton. “We played them obviously a lot the last two games and then they both played pretty well and then obviously helped us find some success in a loss against Baylor, but they both played well again tonight on the road in a win. I think that's something I'll dive deeper into here over the next couple days to see how once we start getting everybody kind of back into the fold, how much we can continue to rely on those guys, because they give us a difference. We talk about how good we can be playing five guards and maybe playing four guards and one of them, but if we're playing two of them, maybe it gives us a different look that we go to."

The games against Baylor and Iowa State were obviously two of the best games both MA and Boone have played since arriving in Stillwater. MA has been getting a little better each season, but this is a huge step for Kalib as he mentioned earlier in January, he wasn’t sure where his mind was or when he would be able to bounce back and play well.

Everyone knows that in the Big 12, you need to have a .500 or better conference record in order to make the NCAA tournament and the Cowboys are now back at .500 after the Iowa State win. However, they’ve got a pretty wicked stretch of basketball coming up. While it’s not conference play, Arkansas will be in town this Saturday for the Big 12/SEC Challenge and would be a huge resume booster should the Pokes win.

Then in February, the Cowboys face Texas at home, travel to Kansas, travel to Baylor, have Texas Tech at home, then finish up with back-to-back Bedlam games to finish up the season. Somewhere in the mix will be the make-up game in Morgantown against West Virginia and there’s a game against Kansas State, Iowa State and TCU each that shouldn’t be as difficult.

Cade Cunningham should be back in the lineup soon after missing the last two games due to COVID-19 protocols and his return will make an obvious difference. But if the Cowboys are going to have a chance at turning some heads with some upsets in Feb., they’re going to need continued play like the last two games from MA and Kalib down the stretch.