OKLAHOMA STATE BASKETBALL: Cowboys scratch out a huge win over #6 Texas in double OT, 75-67

Essentially this was my fault.

I maybe had one more adult beverage than I should have Friday evening after a long week of work, so I decided to take today off with the Super Bowl looming tomorrow, as well as 7-10 inches of snow and the in-laws.

Without my consumption of said beverage, Oklahoma State played some God-awful hoops. If not for Kalib Boone and the best game of his college career, the Cowboys would NOT have survived until the 2nd overtime. At that point I decided to indulge my fan-stress and PRESTO...OSU basketball came alive.

How bad was the game?

By the end of regulation the teams had combined for 40 fouls and 38 turnovers. There were 44 made shots including the overtime periods. The game ended with 44 fouls and 43 turnovers. The TV crew behaved as if they either weren’t paying attention or were watching the game on their iPads.

Our play-by-play man, Dave Hunziker, called it like it was...

But with Boynton doing math going into the 2nd OT on who would replace one of the 53 players OSU had with four fouls, I did this...

And bye-bye Texas.

Others will try to take credit, but my timing was perfect.

From an analysis standpoint, Texas manages to waste the most talent in the history of men’s sports than all the other men’s sports programs combined. Not sure how, but hey, culture is gonna culture.

That being said, Kalib Boone had a day. If not for Bryce Williams, he would have had the play of the game....

Speaking of the aforementioned Bryce Williams, with time winding down in the first overtime and the game tied, the Longhorns had the ball. Then this happened...

This would lead to Cade Cunningham, who up to this point had played arguably his worst game in an OSU uniform, to throw the ball away with 4 ticks left in OT. He would then make an incredible steal ONLY TO MISS THE BUNNY LAY IN FOR THE WIN.

Then I poured the beverage.

The Cowboys won the 2nd overtime 10-2, including a Cade Cunningham step-back 3 to push to the lead to five with 1:29 left. Far from over, but with Texas shooting 25.3% from the floor (5-35 from behind the arc), OSU just needed to rebound and not do anything silly at this point.

As mentioned before, Kalib Boone had himself a game. Marcus Smart wishes he could stuff a stat sheet like this.

22 points
15 rebounds (11-4)
5 blocks
1 steal

Avery Anderson also posted a double-double (16-10 rebs), and Cade Cunningham posted seven of his 19 points in the overtime periods. I would be lax if I didn’t point out that the refs definitely swallowed their whistles in the 2nd OT when both Boone and Cunningham could have easily been sent packing. The difference in the game really was the Longhorn’s abysmal shooting, going 20-79 (!!!) from the floor.

Texas has lost four of their last five while Oklahoma State has won four of their last six Big 12 games, including wins over #6 KU (at the time) and current #6 Texas. Minus two incredibly horrible losses to TCU, the Cowboys would be sitting in 4th place in the conference standings. Instead, they sit a half a game behind Kansas (yes, you read that right) in 7th place.

Likekele played gallantly with a nagging foot injury, and Moncrief missed the game with an undisclosed ding of some kind which resulted in Kouma playing extended minutes (which was NOT ideal). Rondel Walker did NOT have a great day. The Longhorns accumulated 22 offensive rebounds, which was an issue, but OSU only lost the rebounding battle 56-53 in the end as they tightened things up when it mattered. Despite how bad we thought the officiating was, the Cowboys won the personal foul battle 19-25.

Texas gets a couple games off, traveling to Kansas State on Tuesday, then TCU in Austin a week from today.

Oklahoma State has the lull before the storm, heading to Kansas for Big Monday (9pm ET on ESPN), then KState in GIA a week from today (12pm ET on ESPNU). After that OSU will play five games in 11 days, including back-to-back Bedlam two days apart to end the regular season.

Pretty big stretch for Mike Boyton and company to gut out.