Oklahoma State Picks Up Huge Road Win Over Marquette
STILLWATER – In the toughest match up of the year so far for Oklahoma State, the Cowboys rallied midway through the late half and combined it with a great second half defensive performance to get past Marquette 70-62.
With the win, it gives the Cowboys their second road win of the season and they move to 3-0 on the season. The Cowboys also hold a 5-1 record over now the Golden Eagles.
"I saw a gritty response,” said head coach Mike Boynton. "As a coach this time of year, you don't really know your team that well. You don't know because you haven't really been through anything. Haven't really faced any adversity, everybody's playing all the minutes that they expect to play, getting all the shots, scoring all the points. We played a real-big, high-level team today on the road and we got down. To see the way we responded, didn't flinch, didn't point fingers, coming more together. And then certainly Bryce [Williams] and Rondel [Walker] were a huge spark off the bench for us."
It was freshman Rondel Walker that led the way for the Cowboys as he posted 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting, 8-of-9 from the free throw line. As for freshman Cade Cunningham, he posted 15 points going 6-of-11 shooting from the floor with six rebounds and three steals.
The Cowboys were outrebounded on the day 43-34, but they outshot the Golden Eagles from the field and the free throw line, 41.7 percent from the field and went 15-of-18 from the free throw line. The Pokes held Marquette to 33.9 percent from the field, including 25 percent in the second half.
The Cowboys coming off the bench were equally as impressive as they posted 34 points compared to just 15 points off the bench from the Golden Eagles.
Marquette jumped out to an early 14-4 lead that was spurred by a quick 12-0 run over the course of three minutes in the first five minutes of the game. Ferron Flavors Jr. nailed a three to bring the Pokes to seven, but the Golden Eagles would pour in five more points jumping out to 19-7 before the Pokes went on a run of their own.
Freshman Rondel Walker was fouled on a shot and made the first end of two free throws, but stole the ball on the ensuing trip down the court leading to fellow freshman Matthew-Alexander Moncrieff’s first bucket of the game bringing the score to 19-10. Moncrieff rebounded a miss three leading to an Isaac Likekele drive a bucket that was quickly followed by a Cade Cunningham steal leading to a Bryce Williams to Rondel Walker alle-oop lay in and-one bringing the score up to 19-15.
Next time down the court, OSU forced Marquette to a one second shot clock with Likekele knocking the ball away on an inbounds play leading to Walker finding Cunningham for a breakaway slam. The Cowboys would finish that run going 15-0 before the Golden Eagles hit a bucket with about eight minutes left in the first half.
"As crazy as it sounds, our zone defense was much more active when we went to it than we even were in our man-to-man early,” coach Boynton said. "Again, part of it is the personnel you got out there in the different spots of the zone. But when you get Rondel [Walker] and Bryce [Williams], they're both rangy, long, athletic guys that can get their hands on balls and take away passing lanes. We really had [Marquette] really hesitant out there offensively. I think it did spark us because we got deflections, we were able to get out in transition and get some easy baskets ourselves, which really settled us down on the offensive end."
The Cowboys would go into halftime trailing 35-32, but came out for the second half on fire on the defensive end. They’d hold the Golden Eagles to just 27-second half points while forcing 10 second half turnovers, bringing Marquette’s total up to 23 for the game.
On the other hand, the Cowboys turned the ball over 18 times on the game, which ties the number of turnovers in the season opener against UT Arlington.
Up next for the Cowboys, they’ll face Oakland Saturday, Dec. 5 in Stillwater with the game being streamed on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. CT.