There are few things that bring joy to my heart more than the storming of the court in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The fans lifting the payers on their shoulders and the yelling of a crazed student section. Well for this to happen you have to have a few things. A big name opponent, a Pokes team with a chip on their shoulder, and some Cowboy magic. Saturday night we got all of that.
The Kansas Jayhawks came into Stillwater with an impressive 8-1 Big 12 conference record (19-3) over all. Ranked 8th in the country Kansas came on to the Pokes home floor looking to make another statement Big 12 win. Kansas had seen great improvement in their young guard play.
The Cowboys were riding with some momentum after a huge win in Austin against the number 20 Texas Longhorns. Oklahoma State was really seeing some improvement in their offensive consistency and LeBryan Nash was showing the McDonald’s All American we were really all expecting for the past few years. Oklahoma State went to defend their home floor with a 5-5 conference record and sat 15-7 overall.
The Cowboys really struggled for most of the first half and saw their shooting percentage reach a astoundingly low 27 percent. Trailing by 11 in the first half and being led by their flu infested star player Phil Forte. Forte ended the game with 13 points and saw help from his backcourt partner Anthony Hickey. Hickey tossed in 15 points which really took some of the load off of Forte.
The Kansas Jayhawks had four players in double digits but Wayne Selden Jr. led the way with 15 points. Frank Mason had 4 assists and 3 steals. The Jayhawks were on their 5 game win streak and looked to have everything in control for most of the game. The Cowboys grit and heart ended up showing through.
With 7 minutes left Nash put in a reverse lay up to put the Cowboys up 59-52 and were mounting a huge comeback. Kanas showed why they have been leading this conference for the entire season and clawed back in to the game a with 3 minutes left tied up the score at 61-61. Jeff Newberry got a steal and helped push the lead up to 65-61. The Cowboys ended the game with hitting free throws and managing to force the Jayhawks into some ugly shots. The game finished with a Cowboys upset of 67-62.
After the fans rushed the court while watching on TV I began to think what the ceiling is for this grind it out style Pokes team? Well they just punched big button for an NCAA tournament berth, a win over a top 10 and more than likely Big 12 Champions can really help your chances of sneaking in.
Oklahoma State closes out their season some very winnable Big 12 games. They get TCU twice and Texas Tech on their home floor. They also get West Virginia twice which has seen a strong down turn in their performances as of late. Their best opponent left on the Pokes schedule is Iowa State which will be in the Gallagher-Iba Arena. Maybe we could see some more Cowboy magic? Maybe we could see crazed fans charge the court again? Who knows, but we will see a tough true grit team take the floor every night.
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