Three things to know about Cowboys’ season
After finals week, the Oklahoma State basketball team heads to South Dakota for a neutral-site matchup with Nebraska. With that game among the Cowboys’ final three before beginning Big 12 play, it seems a good time to catch up on OSU’s season thus far.
In their second season under Mike Boynton, the Cowboys are off to a 4-5 start, resulting from a mixture of a youthful roster, challenging schedule and inconsistent play.
Here are a few things to know about OSU’s season to this point. Growing pains
Six freshmen and only one senior, a graduate transfer at that, leads to a roster that ranks 306th of 353 teams in experience.
The Cowboys have only three players who saw significant time on the court last season in Cam McGriff, Thomas Dziagwa and Lindy Waters.
The trio has played 47.3 percent of OSU’s minutes; freshmen have handled another 36.9 percent.
Isaac Likekele has been the most impressive of the first-year players, nearly posting a triple-double against LSU in the AdvoCare Invitational and leading the Cowboys with 16 points in last week’s loss to undefeated Houston. Yor Anei, despite consistent foul trouble, has had his moments, too, tying an OSU freshman record with six blocks against Memphis and ranking second nationally in block percentage. Rough slate
A season ago, OSU’s nonconference schedule ranked 311th, its dearth of challenges ultimately hampering the Cowboys’ NCAA Tournament case. Boynton ramped it up this year; thus far, OSU’s nonconference slate is the 31st most challenging in the nation.
The Cowboys opened the season on the road for the first time since 1989, suffering a 66-64 loss to Charlotte.
After consecutive home games, OSU went three weeks without another, playing five straight games away from Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Nebraska game will mark the seventh time in 10 outings the Cowboys have played outside of Stillwater and OSU’s fifth matchup with a team in the top 55 of the KenPom rankings. Sharpshooters Even amid the rough start, OSU is among the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams. The Cowboys rank 10th nationally in 3-point percentage. Dziagwa has been the primary force in that regard, with a 3-point percentage of 53.4 that’s the seventh best in the country among players with at least 2.5 makes a game
Free throws, though, have been a different story. OSU is among the nation’s 60 worst freethrow-shooting teams; OSU is 0-3 in road games, missing more free throws in each loss than the final score differential.
The free throw issues seem traceable to youth, too, as with the exception of McGriff, Dziagwa and Waters — the national leader in freethrow percentage — OSU is 46-for-95 on freethrow attempts.