Boynton, Waters saw signs of rough night before tip
STILLWATER — Mike Boynton has been around basketball since he was 4 years old, when his father took him to the gym on weekends. He's spent much of that time watching with a coach's mindset, examining players' approach and focus.
So Oklahoma State's coach saw cues in advance of Wednesday's 78-50 loss to Texas Tech, the program largest loss in Gallagher-Iba Arena since 1966, noticing his team lacked “sharpness.” During shootaround, junior Lindy Waters, one of the Cowboys' three captains, saw teammates struggling to execute and forgetting plays.
“Just small things,” he said.
They added up to a game that saw OSU trail by as many as 37 and allow 23 points off 14 turnovers. The Red Raiders shot 51.8 percent, while OSU's 36.7 shooting percentage was its lowest of a seven-game Big 12 losing streak.
“We didn't have an answer for them,” Boynton said. “We were outplayed in every facet of the game. There is no place or part of the game that I can look to and say, `We did this well.' It wasn't that night. Tonight was a night where Texas Tech thoroughly dominated us from start to finish.”
Injury avoidance not on Boynton's mind in pulling starters
It wasn't until Cade Wagner, one of three walk-ons out of last month's open tryout that have since been added to OSU's roster, went on the floor with 72 seconds left in Wednesday's loss that Cam McGriff finally came off.
After playing nearly 39 minutes Wednesday, McGriff has averaged 35 minutes in the seven games since OSU dropped to seven recruited scholarship players after the Jan. 16 dismissals of Michael Weathers, Kentrevious Jones and Maurice Calloo. The next day, Wagner, Gabe Simpson and Dee Mitchell were among the nearly 50 who tried out to make the team; Tanner Taylor, a student manager, joined the roster, too.
All four spent those final 72 seconds together on Eddie Sutton Court, while four of the Cowboys' five starters played at least 33 minutes in a game decided early on. Boynton said he wasn't concerned about injury risk to McGriff, Waters or others, but rather fielding a team capable of running plays, given the walk-ons have yet to be with the team for a full month.
“I don't really try to coach to avoid injury, per se,” Boynton said. “I never tried to play to avoid injury. If it happens, then it happens, so I didn't think about it at all. It was just an opportunity late in the game to get them all in. They still don't know exactly what we're running. Can't really run offense with them and stuff like that, so you've gotta be able to play the game the right way and have some structure.”