Oklahoma State Knocks off No. 1 Seed Baylor To Advance To Big 12 Title Game

In a game that had an Elite Eight feel to it, Oklahoma State did what many people thought they couldn’t and upset the No. 1 seed Baylor, 83-74, to advance to the Big 12 title game against Texas. This is the first Big 12 title game for the Pokes since the 2005 season.

Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 13 and will be televised on ESPN.

With the win, the Cowboys moves to 20-7 on the season and 12-7 in Big 12 play. They have also won eight out of their last night games.

It was a back-and-forth affair the entire second half, with the Pokes taking a four-point lead with just over a minute to go in the game, 76-72, on a Rondel Walker three-point play. That would put the Pokes on a 6-0 run.

After forcing a Baylor turnover and a Mike Boynton timeout, Jared Butler fouled Cade Cunningham to send him to the line where he sank both free throws to put the Pokes up six, 78-72.

After being fouled, Baylor guard Davion Mitchell missed both free throws and Baylor forward Mark Vital fouled Cunningham on the rebound to send him back to the free throw line where he sank another free throw putting the Pokes up 79-72.

MaCio Teague hit a bucket for the Bears with just over 10 seconds left in the game, but it was a little too late as Cunningham hit another to free throws to end the game on a 13-2 run to seal the game.

Cade Cunningham led both teams with 25 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field and 4-of-10 from 3-point range. He’d also finish with eight rebounds, five assists and three turnovers.

Sophomore Avery Anderson III was also electric as he finished with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor and five rebounds. Fellow sophomore big man Kalib Boone had a great defensive performance as he recorded his second-straight six-block performance, tying a career-high. He also finished with 10 points and six rebounds.

The stat of the day for the Pokes comes in the turnover column where they combined for just 13 on the day. That’s the lowest number of turnovers for the Pokes since Feb. 16 against Iowa State.

The win is more impressive coming from the fact the Pokes were outrebounded 41-38, though they were better on the defensive end hauling in 29 compared to just 22 by Baylor.

The first half against the Bears was one of the best halves of basketball we’ve seen from the Pokes. They went into halftime with a 35-30 lead and did so limiting fouls and not allowing turnovers to be an issue, even though finished the half with eight.

Avery Anderson III was easily the star of the first half. He finished with 13 points, with a majority of those points coming on fast-break layups.

The Cowboys were able to exploit the Bears’ transition defense the majority of the first half as they scored 15 points on fast breaks, as well outscoring Baylor 26-20 in the paint.

Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe put the Pokes on the board first, but Baylor would go on a quick 8-0 run before a made free throw by Kalib Boone put an end to it. That’s when the Pokes started to turn the pressure up a bit keeping the game close from start to the finish of the half.

The Pokes even went on their own 8-0 from the eight-minute mark to the five-minute mark, that included a near-four-minute scoring drought by Baylor.

After picking up two fouls in the first half and playing limited minutes, Baylor guard Jared Butler got the second half started with a three-point play. As he did in the first half, MA Moncrieffe got the Pokes on the board with the first points of the second half.

Less than two minutes later, Anderson picked up his second and third foul and headed to the bench. During that time, the Bears would score 11 points.

Baylor took their first lead since the 8:31 mark in the first half with an Adam Flagler jumper just over the 14-minute mark going up 45-43. They’d extend that up to 47-43 before Cunningham hit two free throws. However, that’d be the only points for the Pokes for a while as they’d go nearly six minutes without a field goal. Likekele ended that streak with a put-back bucket on his own miss at the 11-minute mark to get the Pokes back to three, 50-47. That also happened to be his first bucket of the game.

On the next trip back down the court, Cunningham nailed a huge three from the point to tie the game up at 50.

The Bears would jump out to their largest lead of the game, eight points up 60-52, with just under eight minutes to play. Anytime the Pokes hit a bucket, the Bears had an answer on the other end.

The it was the Cowboys turn to answer. After two huge free throws by Moncrieffe, Rondel Walker hit a huge corner three to get the Pokes back within two, 60-58. Cunningham would hit another three from the top of the key to put the Pokes back within two as well, 65-63. Then he hit a massive three from the wing to give the Pokes the lead, 66-65 with just over four minutes left in the game.

The Cowboys, heading to the Big 12 title game, will face Texas as the Kansas Jayhawks had to bow out due to COVID issues that sprang up on Friday. The Pokes are 2-1 all-time in Big 12 title games, having won two-straight in 2004 and 2005.