Pokes Come Up Short In 81-70 Loss to No. 3 Baylor

After winning six of the last seven games, including five-straight, Oklahoma State dropped its second game to Baylor, this time 81-70 on the road in Waco, TX.

With the loss, the Cowboys move to 17-7 on the season and 10-7 in conference play.

The Cowboys finished the game shooting 54% from the field but shot just 64% from the free line on 7-of-11 shooting and allowed 26 Baylor points off of 18 OSU turnovers. The Cowboys were also out-rebounded 32-25.

In a scary moment late in the game, Cade Cunningham rolled his left ankle and had to be helped off the court. He was able to put a little bit of weight on it but spent the rest of the game on the bench. After the game, Cunningham was able to walk to the locker room on his own strength, but was in clear discomfort.

Cunningham finished with a game-high 24 points with seven rebounds and four assists. Kalib Boone and Avery Anderson III finished with 10 points and nine points respectively, both missing a decent amount of time as both were in foul trouble.

There were multiple instances in the game where the Bears forced the Cowboys to multi-minute scoring droughts in the first half, the first starting less than 10 minutes in the game. The Pokes would go on a five-minute scoring drought, while the Bears were on a 9-0 run on the other end, followed closely by another 6-0 run to put the Bears up 29-19.

Big man Bernard Kouma ended the 9-0 run with a bucket in the paint, which was quickly followed by another Kouma bucket, while Cade Cunningham ended the 6-0 run on the other end with a layup out of the second media timeout.

Pokes went into halftime trailing 42-31 and had combined for nine first half turnovers, while forcing seven on the other end. Something else that plagued the Pokes in the first half were rebounds, which was a 22-14 discrepancy in favor of the Bears.

Cunningham nailed a big three out of the half, 42-34, then helps force another shot clock violation on the other end. He then drove to the basket and force Flo Thamba to pick up his third foul and then hit a bucket on the ensuing in-bounds play to get the Pokes back within six point, 42-36.

After a couple of OSU turnovers, the Bears jumped back out to an 11-point lead, but after a couple of Baylor fouls and turnovers, the Pokes were able to get it back to just six points, 47-41.

But just as easy as the Pokes were able to get it down to six, the Bears quickly extended their lead back up to 13 points on a 7-0 run.

The Cowboys were able to cut the Bears’ lead down to four points on a 7-0 run, 64-60, with less than six minutes left in the game. After a missed BU free throw, Cunningham had the chance to cut the game to a one possession game, but he turned the ball over, which lead to a MaCio Teague bucket, followed by another OSU turnover and a corner three by Jared Butler to put BU back up nine points.

It seemed for every run the Cowboys would go on to get the game within a few possessions, the Bears had an answer either forcing a turnover or hitting a big bucket on the other end.

Next on the schedule for the Pokes is a trip to Morgantown, WV for the final game of the regular season on Saturday, March 6 with tipoff coming at 1 p.m. CT on either ESPN or ESPN2.