Cowboy newcomers praise Boynton as recruiter

STILLWATER — Mike Boynton’s second season as Oklahoma State’s basketball coach reaches its unofficial start at 9 p.m. Friday when Gallagher-Iba Arena hosts Homecoming & Hoops.

There will be many new faces on Eddie Sutton Court, the result of Boynton’s first recruiting class. The second is proving even more impressive; OSU’s 2019 class ranks second in the Big 12 and 11th nationally, per 247Sports.

Boynton has verbal commitments from three four-star players, Tulsa Memorial forward Kalib Boone, Texas guard Avery Anderson and Georgia guard Marcus Watson, plus Boone’s twin brother, Keylan, a three-star forward.

Here’s what this season’s newcomers said about Boynton as a recruiter.

Freshman guard Isaac Likekele: “He’s not going to tell you any lies. Everything that he told me whenever I got here, he said he wouldn’t hand it to me, but everything he’s told me when I got here has been up for grabs as long as I worked hard for it.”

Freshman forward Duncan Demuth: “What he preached, everything has come true. It’s a family atmosphere.” Grad transfer guard Michael

Cunningham: “(OSU’s coaches) were just so real with me from the jump. I knew that they were being genuine with me.”

Freshman forward Maurice Calloo: “Me and him were able to connect right away.. … There’s nothing better than playing for a coach that you like. He’s a player’s coach.” Freshman forward Kentrevious Jones: “Coach Boynton, that’s my guy. He told me he wanted me to play in the Big 12, knowing if I weighed 300 pounds, it’d be a lot harder for me to get up and down the floor. He wanted to be able to play me as much as he would like to, so I took that to my head. He promised me he would help me get to the next level.”

Freshman forward Yor Anei: “We built a great relationship. He would call, text, check up on me, not even about the basketball part. Just about school, life, girls, everything that’s going on.”