Cowboys Find the Right Personality Right on Time

Joe Lunardi started the evening off with a dissertation on just what this game meant. Oklahoma State and Texas Tech battling for their March Madness pat to success. It starts with avoiding the first night of the Big 12 Tournament and that 7-10 seed game. Then it translates into where the committee puts you in the bracket. This year with the entire tournament being played in the bubble in Indianapolis it matter more who you play than where you play. Do you really care whether you’re at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse or Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler campus? Does it matter if you’re a five seed playing a 12-seed or if you are an eight-seed staring at an opener with a nine-seed and a second-round game with the one?

Maybe, if you’re Oklahoma State it doesn’t matter. The Cowboys have a real dual personality going on the basketball court. After a first half that was solid with Texas Tech holding a 37-36 lead, the Cowboys came out for the second half and were awful. Offensively, the Cowboys were dribbling into dead ends. Passes were wild and being thrown back into the offensive court as players were sailing the only place they could go… out-of-bounds. Quicks shots were being taken, some inside that didn’t look so good and some like a way out three-pointer that had little or no chance. Notice I’m not changing the names but leaving them out to deflect the guilty. It was universally bad.

Some fan on the last row in the upper tier said they could hear this argument between what sounded like Henry Iba and Eddie Sutton. The hoarse voice that had to be Mr. Iba was saying he felt like pulling his name off the building and then Sutton chimed in and said, “Don’t feel so bad Mr. Iba, my name is on the court.”

“We said to just just stay the course and keep playing defense and do what we do,” said guard Avery Anderson. “That’s what we did, keep getting stops and then shots were going to fall.”

It’s a little like an NFL cornerback, just keep playing and ignore your conscious.

“In the second half it was like we completely lost ourselves,” added Anderson. “In the beginning of the season coming out of a good first half we would completely lose ourselves. We have to keep working on that in practice. As you see it got better through  

It was 6:34 into the second half, the 13:26 mark on the clock when Keylan Boone, who hadn’t scored since January threw in a three and started the Cowboys turnaround.

“As a big brother it was an incredible feeling,” Kalib Boone, who has been starting and playing well said of seeing his twin brother break out of his funk. “Obviously, we’re roommates and people don’t know what we talk about outside. Keylan has been not playing and I told him you need to be ready. He really helped us this week get prepared and to be ready for MacMcClung and Kyler Edwards. In practice he played well. I was just so happy to see him with the energy and the spark that he brought.”

Avery Anderson was the MVP of MVP’s in this one. Anderson went on a personal 8-0 run that was part of a 15-0 run and the Cowboys were re-engaged for the night. How weird was this game? There were two “stuccos”. That is what I call a brick shot that lodges in between the rim and the glass and sticks there. Two in one game.

Oklahoma State was called for offensive basket interference twice, also unusual.

Then Texas Tech got the benefit of a phantom call as official Doug Sirmons called Anderson for stepping on the sideline, which he didn’t and Tech scored on the other end to make it 56-56. Every point mattered.

Courtney Bay - Oklahoma State Basketball

Anderson had McClung and he only scored 17 points and hit just one three-pointer.

Down the stretch this was a game between two teams that seemed to know what was on the line and they were battling fierce for the prize. Anderson had the main job of guarding Mac McClung of Texas Tech and the Red Raiders wanted him taking the last shot, preferably a three-pointer to get them out of Gallagher-Iba and on the way home.

“He’s a good scorer and I just wanted to make things tough for him and not easy,” Anderson said of his defense.

Anderson was awesome then just like he was with the defensive play of the game blocking Avery Benson’s lay-up with 1:02 that really spelled the end of the line for the Red Raiders.

“I’ll remember that play first because I like blocks,” Anderson answered when asked if he would remember the block first from this game or his offensive run.

As for deep meaning and seasonal honors with postseason privileges, Oklahoma State was swept this season by TCU. Not good. However, Oklahoma State swept Texas Tech and that may put the Cowboys ahead of the Red Raiders. It may get them off Wednesday night in Kansas City and over to Thursday. It may get them off the eight or nine line on the NCAA bracket and closer to a five or six.

Damn, if it all wasn’t worth it if it does.