5 Thoughts on Oklahoma State's 94-90 Overtime Upset of No. 7 OU

Saturday’s 94-90 overtime win over No. 7 Oklahoma in Norman might be one of the best games played by a Mike Boynton team during his time as head coach. Freshman sensation Cade Cunningham dropped a career-high 40 points, only the second time in program history a Cowboy basketball player has down so against OU.

The Pokes turn right around and face the Sooners on Monday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena, the fastest back-to-back Bedlam turnaround since 1921.

Here are my 5 Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 94-90 overtime upset of Oklahoma

Cade Finally Had That Game

We’ve seen several impressive performances from Cade all season long. He’s played in 20 games since the start of the year and has scored in double digits in 19 of them. He’s averaging 20.2 points and 6.5 rebounds in conference play this year and 19.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game on the season. Prior to Bedlam, his career-high was an impressive 29 points in the win over ORU and he had hit the 20-point mark nine times. We knew he could rise up at any moment, but Cade played 44 out of 45 minutes of the first Bedlam game and dropped an insane 40 points while hauling in 11 rebounds for a double-double. He took over when it mattered most and led the Pokes to the win.

“I still went into the game with the same intensity, you know, play to win, play for my team and my team trusted me throughout the game to take shots,” said Cunningham. “With that confidence, I’m only confident to make them. So, I kept shooting and I didn’t know I had 40 [points] until the end, so it was cool to see that for sure.”

Bryce Williams and Kalib Boone Were Clutch Down the Stretch

There’s no question Cade Cunningham’s 40-point performance against OU has been the highlight of the season so far, but Bryce Williams’ 15 second half and overtime points, including four made 3-pointers, and Kalib Boone’s clutch rebound and two made free throws in overtime sealed the deal.

“Let’s talk about understanding the moment and what’s necessary for our team,” said coach Boynton. “To start the game, you saw it, we made a conscientious effort to try and go inside, that’s what we thought we needed to do, and we got a good result. When the game got going, [Cade] understood that he needed to understand the moment and be more aggressive. Bryce [Williams’] two threes were huge to keep us there and continue to take pressure off cade and the play of the game might have been Kalib [Boone] getting an offense rebound late and preserving the possession for us.”

Williams finished the game with 15 points and Boone with six, but Boone’s heads up play to remain calm and come up with the rebound in overtime when Brady Manek dove on the floor attempting to save the game for the Sooners, then knocking down two free throws with 19 seconds left absolutely sealed the deal.

The Pokes Still Need to Clean Up the Turnovers

By the time the final buzzer sounded in Norman, the Cowboys had turned the ball over an astonishing 20 times. This has been an issue all season long, but the Pokes have found ways around it, just as they did against OU. But they came at inopportune times against OU, such as Cade Cunningham getting the ball taken away by Austin Reaves at the end of regulation to force overtime.

“I think we can play better as a team [on Monday],” said coach Boynton. “I don’t think we played our best game; we turned it over a lot, we didn’t really get [Kalib Boone] established as well as we wanted to. I thought our guys played as hard as they could for 45 minutes and gave ourselves a chance, but there’s a lot of room to grow this for this team in terms of executing.”

There’s no question the Sooners will be making the trip up to Stillwater with the goal of getting a game back and if the Pokes turn the ball over 20 times again, it’ll make it a lot easier to get back in the win column for the Sooners.

Cade’s 40-Point Performance Was One to Remember

It seemed as if Cade couldn’t miss at times against the Sooners. He finished the game going 12-of-21 from the field, 13-of-14 from the free throw line and had an answer for seemingly every shot the Sooners made in the final 10 minutes of the second half and the entirety of overtime.

In fact, he joins Jawun Evans as the only two Cowboys in program history to score at least 40 points against the Sooners.

“Obviously, there’s been a lot made about his performance this year and I think people know he’s a really good player, but I think I maybe said it two weeks ago, you need to appreciate what you’re watching; it’s special,” said coach Boynton. “I’ve watched it now five years; I’ve seen this for a long time and I’m not surprised that on the biggest game on our schedule, on the road, that he stepped up and was ready to go compete at the highest level. Obviously, we played against a really good team, it was a hell of a game. I’ve only been around here for eight games in this season, well 10 I guess with the year I was an assistant – Jawun Evans’ performance in Stillwater my year as an assistant coach was pretty damn good, but I think you’ll have to dig pretty deep to find one better than this one today.”

Should Isaac Likekele Play on Monday if Healthy? Absolutely

Isaac Likekele missed his third out of the last four games with an injury, this time a hand injury he suffered in practice this past week. He was on the sidelines in Norman as a student coach with his hand in a small, soft brace. If Ice is healthy enough to go on Monday, he needs to play. He adds a whole other level of intensity and obviously takes pressure off guys like Cade and Avery Anderson III to have to score every single trip down the court.

He also adds a big body into the mix against talented Sooner guard Austin Reaves. Boynton said after the game the doctors would make the decision either tomorrow on Monday on Likekele’s status, so it will most likely be a game time decision.