STILLWATER – You remember in the game Monopoly that if you got the right dice roll that you went to a particular spot on the board and by passing go that you would collect $200. Oklahoma State basketball has had few good or lucky rolls all season. It has been tough for head coach Mike Boynton and his mostly young team. That is stating the obvious for a 12-19 team that finished 4-14 in the Big 12 Conference play. Boynton decided to go straight to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament the day after their 85-71 loss in the rgular season finale at BYU. No stop in Stillwater, but straight to KC where they will open the Big 12 Men’s Championship at 11:30 a.m. in the T-Mobile Center with UCF.
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Cowboys are in Kansas City and ready to play in the 2024 Big 12 Basketball Tournament.
The Cowboys are the No. 13 seed and UCF (16-14/7-11) is the No. 12 seed and fresh off of a 79-77 upset win on the road in Fort Worth against TCU. Oklahoma State and the Golden Knights just met on Feb. 28 in Stillwater with the Cowboys losing at home 77-71.
There are all kinds of scenarios and sidebar stories involved in the end of the Oklahoma State season. For several weeks now, Boynton and his team have had to deal with the increasing discussion of the coach’s future. In a seven-year contract that Boynton negotiated with the previous athletic director, there is a steep buyout for Oklahoma State of close to $8.5 million. If the school is patient and waits until after April 1, that buyout shrinks to closer to $7 million. Either way in this world’s college athletics a big price to pay that could be used, even in part, for some needed outlets.
Then again, looking at the crowds in the last two home games at Gallagher-Iba it is clear that fans have lost the faith.
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Boynton spoke with the media about his job situation last week before leaving for BYU.
"I don't have any reason to believe that I won't (be back as coach). I'm not trying to speculate, but I know that's a question," Boynton said. "I don't want to pretend like it's not."
It’s certainly a question, but one that won’t be answered yet. The Oklahoma State University Board of Regents met in Stillwater last Friday, a regularly schedule meeting. While I am told they wanted to discuss Boynton’s situation and basketball, they were not scheduled to go to executive session and several student reporters showed up at the meeting, so there was no formal discussion.
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OSU lost to BYU on Saturday, but upset the Cougars in Stillwater on Feb. 17.
If you go back to Feb. 17 at home with BYU and then on the road on Feb. 21, there were positives and even the fans down on Boynton lightened up with a well played 93-83 win over then No. 19 BYU. On the road at Cincinnati there was best game of the year performance and an 80-76 win. The optimism fueled a 10,000 plus crowd for Bedlam but the positivity seemed to melt away as Javion McCollum’s crazy buzzer beater from almost out-of-bounds sailed through the net to win Bedlam by one point.
Now four losses, three that were barely competitive, Boynton and the Cowboys have to think about what it will take to keep the season going.
“I think it is the urgency that the next time we lose that our season is over,” Boyton said plain and simple. “Quite honestly that is where we are. The next time we have this feeling when a game is over, then it (season) is over. If we want to continue to put the uniform on and have another day together as a group, particularly with our seniors, then we need to play with a level of urgency to give ourselves the best change to win.”
There is no chance, no chance that this team could win five games in five days and earn the Big 12’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It won’t happen. However, I could see a couple of wins. UCF beat the Cowboys, but they were flush with that Bedlam hangover. It was an ugly game and UCF needs to play ugly, that is who they are. A good offensive game plan, some discipline on shots and Tuesday’’s game can be won.
“We’ve got a bunch of 18-year-olds running around here and it got really hard, really fast,” Boynton said in the postgame in Provo. “I’m really proud of the way that they continue to compete.”
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Small is a key to OSU winning in KC.
They will need to bring all that juice on Tuesday. They will need to be totally positive. The Cowboys will need to ride Javon Small. He scored 34 points at BYU, a career high.
“His aggressiveness is what we really needed,” Boynton said of Small, who was named honorable mention All-Big 12, the only Cowboys player mentioned. “We needed somebody to make plays to keep up with them. He is the most capable guy we have to make plays, not just for himself, but for us as a team. We need him to continue to be aggressive if we are going to continue our season next week.”
In Stillwater, Oklahoma State and UCF combined for 54 fouls and 66 free throw attempts. Eric Dailey Jr. (15 points), Javon Small (13 points) and Brandon Garrison (six rebounds) all fouled out for the Pokes, which shot 40.4% (5/20 3pt) and made 24-of-30 freebies. That effort can be improved upon.
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The game with UCF was UGLY. The Knights want to play it that way.
John-Michael Wright scored a season-high 22 points on five three-pointers for Oklahoma State, which led 36-24 near the 5:00 mark of the first half before mounting foul trouble began to take its toll.
The Cowboys need to play smart, avoid the invtitation of playing thug basketball, especially freshman post or big man Brandon Garrison. He needs to be coached to stay away from the fouling and keep his emtions under control. Follow Wright and Small, allow Quion Williams, Jamyron Keller, and Eric Dailey Jr. to be creative and aggressive on offense.
See what happens and then when it is over we will all see what happens with Mike Boynton and the future of Oklahoma State basketball.
