Anei's growth traced to John Smith
STILLWATER — Yor Anei and Kentrevious Jones were craving Whataburger.
As the story goes, the two Oklahoma State freshmen big men found themselves with an urge they couldn't resist amid the Cowboys' summer conditioning program, so they made their way to the fast-food chain and gorged. Soon, regret replaced hunger, and the realization they needed to cut weight to meet coach Mike Boynton's requirements seeped in like honey butter over a chicken biscuit.
One of them noted that wrestlers have an acumen for shedding pounds, and fortunately for Anei and Jones, OSU wrestling coach John Smith was hosting his annual camp that day. Once inside Gallagher-Iba Arena, they approached a man at the camp and asked if he had any advice.
It was Smith, considered one of the greatest
wrestlers in American history. He had them wear sweatpants and trash bags and told them to sit in the team sauna before running laps.
“They lasted about six minutes in the steam room,” Smith recalled this week. “Not very long.”
Still, Anei and Jones came in under at the subsequent weigh-in, and for Anei, the benefits from every ounce of summer conditioning are beginning to pay off. Jones was among three players dismissed last month, cuts that left Anei as the only Cowboys taller than 6-foot8. Anei has made the most of the situation.
In five games since the dismissals, he's averaged 10.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. Perhaps most importantly, he's committed only 2.8 fouls per 40 minutes, enabling him to play 31.2 minutes a game with OSU down to seven available scholarship players.
Anei said he's 15 pounds lighter than the 235 he arrived in Stillwater at, though he's gotten stronger in the process.
“At the beginning of the year, I really didn't know what being in shape for this was,” Anei said. “I could barely play 20 minutes without being tired.”
Anei enters Saturday's 11 a.m. game at Kansas, a state in which he was the top-ranked recruit after his junior season, fresh off scoring a careerhigh 20 points against TCU on 7-for-7 shooting.
He did so as the only OSU player taller than 6-7 who was on the floor for more than a minute.
“What you've seen from Yor is what you see typically from freshmen, particularly bigs,” Boynton said. “They come along late, they figure things out, and things happen a little slower for them.
“I think he's gotten better each week. Hasn't always produced at a high level, but I can see signs of him becoming a really good player.”