Battle of the boards costly for Cowboys

Baylor stands as the worst Big 12 matchup for OSU, with at 6-foot-10 and

a 7-footer in the starting lineup, backed up by 6-9 and 6-8

off the bench. So the Cowboys stressed battling on the boards Wednesday night. Talk didn’t get it done. The Bears out-rebounded OSU 36-25 and turned eight offensive boards into 10 second-chance points in a 72-69 win at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“We’re trying to get our guys to understand that the game’s about rebounding, and to do it so poorly tonight was disappointing,” said Cowboys coach

“We talked at length for two days about rebounding the basketball and how that was such a key for us. We got one rebound from

in 19 minutes. is our leading rebounder and he got one. Our two leading rebounders were and

(with five each).”

Up Next: Texas

The Cowboys conclude their two-game homestand Saturday when Texas visits for a 3 p.m. tip.

OSU lost at Texas, 82-79, back on Jan. 4, the second loss in an 0-6 start to Big 12 play.

The Longhorns are 10-14 overall and 4-7 in the conference after beating Iowa State 67-65 in Austin on Tuesday. Texas is 0-10 outside of the Erwin Center – 0-7 in true road games and 0-3 on neutral floors.

Quotable

Underwood on his team rallying from a 13-point deficit late to have a chance to win:

“I think it shows the fight and the character of our team, and I like that. Every game in this league is like that. They’re so close. Every call, every missed layup, every missed rebound becomes so magnified over the course of a 40-minute game because of the closeness of these games and how good everybody is. Tonight was their night, they were better than us.”