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BASKETBALL RECAP: Oklahoma State 76, TCU 54

The Cowboys won a game they should have won, they now have a winning streak, and more importantly...Leyton Hammonds might be rounding into shape just in time for a critical late season run.

By Robert Whetsell
Cooper Neill

Here's you box score, courtesy of ESPN...

OKLAHOMA STATE
STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Kamari Murphy, C 31 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 5 11 1 1 1 1 3 6
Markel Brown, F 31 3-13 1-5 0-0 1 4 5 6 1 0 3 4 7
Le'Bryan Nash, F 18 1-4 0-0 3-3 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 4 5
Marcus Smart, G 35 6-17 5-9 0-0 3 5 8 7 5 0 3 1 17
Phil Forte, III, G 37 8-13 5-10 2-2 1 2 3 4 2 0 0 2 23
BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Leyton Hammonds, F 24 5-7 3-5 0-1 0 3 3 0 0 0 1 5 13
Brian Williams, F 12 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 4
Marek Soucek, F 2 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Christien Sager, F 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Mason Cox, F 2 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Ford Stuen, G 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alex Budke, G 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jackson Perez, G 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
28-62 14-31 6-8 13 22 35 20 9 2 12 20 76
45.2% 45.2% 75.0%
TCU
STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Karviar Shepherd, C 39 2-6 0-0 7-10 3 7 10 0 2 2 2 1 11
Hudson Price, F 22 1-2 0-1 1-2 0 5 5 1 0 1 1 4 3
Jarvis Ray, F 39 5-7 1-1 0-0 1 2 3 5 1 2 2 0 11
Brandon Parrish, G 27 3-5 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 3 7
Kyan Anderson, G 37 5-14 1-3 4-6 0 2 2 2 3 0 2 1 15
BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Michael Williams, G 15 0-1 0-1 3-4 1 1 2 1 1 0 2 0 3
Thomas Montigel, G 5 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Christian Gore, G 15 1-3 1-3 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 4
Clyde Smith III, G 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Kemal Dincer, G 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
17-41 4-13 16-24 6 20 26 11 7 5 15 10 54
41.5% 30.8% 66.7%

We got the usual 3pt barrage from Forte, but Markel was stone cold from behind the arc.

In steps....Marcus Smart? After throwing up a number of ugly attempts from deep, Smart hit one, which prompted this tweet...

Well we all know how Marcus reacts to negative comments. He hasn't shot that well from 3 since the first Memphis game.

However, that was not the most important development.

For a team that now starts the player who was the only offense coming off the bench, someone needed to find their shot.

Leyton Hammonds' timing could not have been better.

With probably the biggest 3 game stretch of Travis Ford's OSU tenure looming, Hammonds put up 13 points on 3-5 shooting from behind the arc, and could likely be moving into that 6th man role over Williams. If he can continue this late season surge the Cowboys stand a good chance of winning 2 out of the last three games.

If they shoot 14-31 from 3, they could win all three.

With OSU now sitting on the bubble in a lot of post season predictions, the difference between 1-2 and 2-1 over the last 3 games of the regular season is like the Grand Canyon. How big?

Eleven losses would likely mean OSU would need to advance to at least the finals of the Big 12 tourney in order to make the Dance.

Kansas. Kansas State. At Iowa State.

Anything is possible in GIA, but KState is definitely a winnable game. Interestingly enough, the last time the Cowboys beat Kansas in GIA was also the last time they beat Iowa State in Hilton Coliseum...2009-10.

I'll say this...I don't want OSU needing a win in Hilton in the last regular season game.

I also want more of the Tech Smart and less of the TCU Smart. Yes, he hit some shots from deep tonight, but that is far from the norm. He needs to facilitate and let the scoring come to him. OSU is at it's best when he does that.

So here we go. Three games to decide the Cowboys' fate for 2013-14.

Maybe three games to decide the fate of Travis Ford.

GO POKES!!!

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