Boynton and Cowboys Start Season with Exhibition Minus Point Guard

STILLWATER – The public dress rehearsal before the season opens on Monday night (Nov. 6) comes on Wednesday night (Nov. 1) with Division II Oklahoma Baptist visiting Gallagher-Iba Arena. OBU is picked in the middle of the 14-team  Great American Athletic Conference and returns five players from a 13-16 team last season, but this is not about OBU. This is about Oklahoma State and I’m a little bummed. 

Oklahoma State Basketball/Twitter

Small has missed about a month of practice. Insiders say his play is a difference maker.

The Cowboys actually have a point guard but Javon Small is sitting out with an MCL knee sprain. He should be back soon. A point guard can make all the difference. Remember Cade Cumnningham? He was fun and that team was so much better because they had a world class point guard. The Cowboys will be without Jamyron Keller too. 

So, what is the head coach expecting with the exhibition opener?

“Getting us off to a faster start and laying the foundation in terms of scematics,” Boynton said of what he’s looking for. “We will be without Javon (Small) and Jamyron (Keller) this week. Both are kind of recovering from some nicks and Javon with some knee maintenance from last season. Jamyron with a wrist kind of thing. We’ll have them back in a short period of time I imagine.”

The disappointing aspect is the point guard situation will look a lot like it did last season. Who is on that committee?

Robert Allen - Pokes Report

Boynton had lots to say and optimism about getting started.

“A little bit of everybody,” Boynton answered. “You’ll see John-Michael (Wright) there at the start. Bryce Thompson will play there some, (Jarius) Hicklen will play there some, (Eric) Dailey will play there some. It is the benefit of having some guys with some versatility in your roster, but we definitely want those guys back because they do it better and more consistently than those guys there.”

Boynton said they have a lot of shooters, better shooting than a season ago when too many trey missed the mark and clanged off the iron. There are more guys to take care of rebounding misses as well. Jarius Hicklen and Connor Dow are shooting lights out in practice. Big guys like veteran Mike Marsh (6-10) and pups Isaiah Miranda (7-1) and Brandon Garrison (6-11) have the size. 

Some of those guys can pass too.

Oklahoma State Basketball/Twitter

Hicklen showing off his shooting stroke in the scrimmage at SMU a couple of weeks ago.

“(Brandon) Garrison, (Eric) Dailey is a pretty good passer,” Boynton said. “He has size and can see over the defense in a similar way to Cade (Cunningham) but different in terms of the IQ for the game. Hicklen is a pretty good passer but we brought him in to be a shooter for us. We won’t play him a ton there. He has been shooting the ball well in practice and we want him to continue that.”

Familiar faces like Bryce Thompson Quion Williiams, and John-Michael Wright are back and they admit, especially the older pair of Thompson and Wright that this team is different, but in a good way.

“It’s a lot of different personalities and a lot of different type of games, skill sets, than we had last year,” Wright said. “This group is more of an offensive oritented group with a lot of shooters, a lot of guys that can make plays on and off the ball. “We have a real versatile group, even with the bigs, and covering every aspect of the game offensively and defensively.” 

Boynton said defense is still being taught and that is the end of the court lacking a little. The opposite of recent seasons when the Pokes could stop people but struggled to score. This way could be better, but I contend only when that point guard is ready, soon, we all can hope.