5 Thoughts on Oklahoma State's Massive 85-80 Win Over West Virginia

The Cowboys just had what is possibly their best win of the season, beating No. 6 West Virginia 85-80 without the help of Cade Cunningham or Isaac Likekele. 

Avery Anderson led the Cowboys the whole way with 31 points for what his most impressive game of his career.

Here are my thoughts on the game:

Built For The Future

This win solidified what Oklahoma State fans had a suspicion and hope of: This program is built for success beyond the Cade Cunningham era. Beating No. 6 West Virginia on their home court without Cade or Ice? That’s big time. Avery Anderson went off for a career high 31 points, MAM finished with 18, and both of the Boone twins finished with double digits. Earlier in the season, without Cade or Avery, the Cowboys hung in with Baylor for about 30 minutes. Now that this team has grown even more, this will not be the only year the Cowboys are among the best in the conference and nation. 

Avery Is The Truth

31 points!!! With Cade and Ice both on the bench, it was expected that Avery would have to take a decent portion of the load, which he did with some conviction. He is making a very strong case as the most improved player on this year’s team for the Cowboys, along with Kalib Boone. It should not be undersold that Avery Anderson is the reason the Cowboys won this game. Just imagine what this team will be with Avery having that confidence and mentality while Cade is on the court. 

Limit The Turnovers

One of the only negatives in this game was the number of turnovers, which has been a trend lately. The Cowboys finished with 20 turnovers while only forcing 12. In most cases, that is not a winning formula, but their talent is able to help them make up for it. If they can take that talent and finishing power along with 14 or less turnovers, this team cannot be beaten. The turnovers are often on dumb mistakes instead of competitive plays. They will just lose a handle when taking it up the court or trying to make a pass and let it slip away. Fix that and this team is going far. 

Getting In Trouble

Turnovers and foul trouble are not good if you want to keep winning and the Cowboys will have to realize that. The team had 23 fouls, with two players fouling out, Kouma and Moncrieffe. Avery Anderson was also in foul trouble, finishing the game with four fouls. Keylan Boone had three fouls himself, so it will definitely be something the Pokes will have to work on, but it will most likely correct itself when Cade and Ice are in the lineup.

Final Four Run?

For just about every reason, I have listed above (Incredible depth, best resume, hottest team) as well as Cade Cunningham and Isaac Likekele about to be back in the fold, the Cowboys will be a popular ‘Final Four’ pick in brackets. There might be teams with better records, but it would be tough to find teams more tested and battle experienced. They also have the best player in college basketball so that doesn’t hurt. In recent projections, the Cowboys have been slotted as a four seed in the NCAA tournament, meaning their first couple of games would come against lesser teams, a good situation for a team that will enter the tournament coming off a hellish schedule to end the season. The Pokes have been their twice (1995, 2004) but Mike Boynton might be feeling confident about making it a third.