Seven Thoughts at Halftime: Big 12 Tournament

Oklahoma State currently trails Iowa State 39-36 after the first half of their first Big 12 Tournament game. It was... not a great half, and to be honest, the Cowboys are lucky to only be down three points.

I had some thoughts during the first 20 minutes.. Here’s seven.

• There are a LOT of Iowa State fans in Kansas City. To call this a “neutral” game, would be inaccurate.
• If the Cowboys are going to win this one, they HAVE to play better defense. At one point, the Cyclones were shooting 70 percent from the field. Iowa State can match OSU’s speed and scoring. For that matter, if the Cowboys want to go on a run in the NCAA tournament, they are going to have to hope for a team that likes to play slower.
• SOLOMON HIT A PUTBACK!

• OSU came out playing well offensively and defensively... and then suddenly weren’t good on either side of the floor. The hops just don’t seem to there. They started looking better late in the half, especially on the offensive glass. Still, OSU HAS to come out better.
• Oklahoma State ends halves well. If they could stop getting down by double digits in the middle of halves they might have beat Iowa State or Kansas to end the season. In this game, they trailed by as many as 12 points. I know basketball is a game of runs, but the Cowboys are going to have to be more consistent in the middle of halves, or their season is going to end sooner than Cowboy fans expect.
• On that note, Brad Underwood knows how to get this team back on the right track when they let things get ugly. Seriously, it’s just another check mark on the growing list of why Underwood is a great coach.
• This pretty much sums up Big 12 refs. This happened on an out-of-bounds call.

BONUS THOUGHT

Not Oklahoma State related, but am I crazy or are these Wolverines’ practice uniforms they’re wearing today better than their normal ones?

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports