Gator Bait: Cowboys collapse in second half vs Florida

The Cowboys travelled down to the Swamp in Gainesville, Florida to play the The Florida Gators as part of the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

Oklahoma State started out hot, shooting 7 for 10 from three point range and 19 for 30 overall compared to the Gators 10 for 29 on field goals and 5 of 20 from 3-point land. The Cowboys outscored the Gators 42-35 in the first half, Led by Bryce Thompson and Keylan Boone’s nine points each. The Cowboys led by as many as 16 at point in the game.

Then the second half happened.

Florida chomped back bit by bit to outscore the Cowboys 49-27. A big part of that was Tyler Appleby, who scored 21 points for the Gators who were on the bubble according to Joe Lunardi from ESPN. The Gators forced 16 turnovers and 6 blocks, and went to the free throw line 41 times, making 33 of those 41 shots.

The Cowboys shooting woes came back to bite them once again, only making one three pointer in 20 minutes compared to Florida’s five three pointers in the second half.

Oklahoma State now drops to .500 on the season, the first time this has happened since February 24th, 2020 and have lost their third straight game. The first time they’ve had a three game losing streak since January 4th-January 21st 2020, when they dropped six games in a row at the start of Big 12 play. They look to go back above .500 with a game in Little Manhattan on Wednesday February 2nd against the Kansas State Wildcats (8pm CT on ESPNU.)