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Oklahoma State 92, La Salle 87: Plus/Minus and Recap

A clutch double-overtime win for the Cowboys, and an especially clutch performance by none other than Marshall Moses (who knew he had this in him?).  Using an array of unusual lineups (detailed below) the Cowboys pulled out of a ten point 2nd half deficit to tie the game at 67 at the end of regulation.  The Pokes jumped out to an early lead in the first OT period but were eventually caught and forced to a second overtime when Aaric Murray hit a jumper with 8 seconds left to tie it at 79.  In the 2nd overtime period the Cowboys again played in front but this time did not allow the Explorers back in as Moses tip-in with 14 seconds left made it a two possession game and the Pokes were able to hold on from there.

When asked about Moses, who hit the overtime forcing shot with 7 seconds left and finished with an ungodly stat line in spite of being doubled the entire game, La Salle coach John Gianinni said:

"He was awfully good.  You don't usually see a stat sheet the way I'm looking at one now. Thirty and eighteen is probably pretty good, including for people named LeBron and Kobe."

Yes you read that correctly.  An opposing head coach used the words LeBron and Kobe when describing Marshall Moses. Am I the only one that is absolutely blown away at Moses improvement this season?  I think we all believed he had some potential in him, but first team All-Big XII and consistent go-to-scorer potential?  I doubt anyone (even Marshall himself) knew he had this in him.... but his stellar play is providing a spark to this still developing team.  Ray Penn gets 2nd-best-performance honors adding 17 points (4-7 from three) and 6 assists in 39 minutes.

Let's take a look at the Plus/Minus and some of the unusual lineups that were used after the Jump

The main lineup change of note was the completely new starting lineup of Moses, Matt Pilgrim (instead of Darrell Williams), Nick Sidorakis, Reger Dowell (instead of Fred Gulley (injured)), and Keiton Page. And it is especially odd that Dowell only saw the court for 6 minutes of action while Ray Penn provided 39 minutes of PG play off the bench.  Maybe Penn prefers the bench player role as some guys do for some reason, but giving Dowell the start definitely raises a few eyebrows as Dowell's only other action of the season came in garbage time against Nicholls State.

Here is a look at all the 5-man lineups and their Plus/Minus (check out this post for explanation of Plus/Minus).

Lineup +/- minutes
Pilgrim, Moses, Sidorakis, Penn, Page 12 07:51
D Willilams, Moses, Sidorakis, Penn, Page 4 04:20
Pilgrim, Moses, MB, Penn, Page 4 01:57
Pilgrim, Moses, Sidorakis, Olukemi, Page 3 06:54
Moses, Olukemi, Sidorakis, Penn, Page 0 05:58
Pilgrim, Moses, Sidorakis, Page, Dowell 0 03:46
D Willilams, Shaw, MB, Page, Penn 0 02:25
D Willilams, Moses, Page, Penn, Dowell -1 02:01
D Willilams, Pilgrim, MB, Penn, Page -1 01:47
D Willilams, Moses, Olukemi, Sidorakis, Penn -1 00:25
Pilgrim, Moses, Sidorakis, Olukemi, Penn -2 04:33
Moses, D Willilams, MB, Page, Penn -2 02:53
Pilgrim, D Willilams, Sidorakis, Page, Penn -2 01:52
Shaw, Moses, Sidorakis, Penn, Page -3 01:29
Shaw, Moses, MB, Page, Penn -3 01:13
D Willilams, Moses, Sidorakis, Olukemi, Page -3 00:365

There isn't much doubt as to which lineup was working, especially late, as the 5-man unit of Pilgrim, Moses, Sidorakis, Page, and Penn (which finished +12 for the game) were +6 in just 1:55 of action in the first overtime before Pilgrim fouled out.  And the worst 5-man unit stretch ran the last 2:44 of the 1st half when the lineup of Moses, Penn, Sidorakis, Pilgrim, and Olukemi registered a -8.

Once again, the 5-man units are the only ones I will run all the options for... but a few other interesting Plus/Minus for smaller groups are here:

Unit +/- Minutes
Moses, Pilgrim 16 24:51
Page, Penn 5 33:34
Shaw -8 08:12
Pilgrim 13 28:28

And yes, I do plan to keep posting the +/- for the Penn, Page unit (aka: The 5'9 Defensive Liability) until the numbers actually reflect my long held belief that you cannot have them on the court together for more than 10 minutes a game.  No I do not care that they seem to finish with a positive Plus/Minus every game.

The Cowboys are back in action on Wednesday at the BOK in Tulsa as they take on the Golden Hurricane.