The Past Five Times Oklahoma State Beat Kansas in Basketball

The Cowboys have a tall task ahead of them if they want to go dancing, and that starts with a big game Wednesday night against Kansas.

Not too long ago the Jayhawks were wardens of the Big 12 basketball conference, winning at least a share of the league’s regular season crown from 2005 to 2018, a stretch that saw the Jayhawks win the conference tournament eight times.

This KU team has a little work to do to win the regular season title, but that doesn’t mean the Jayhawks aren’t good like they normally are. KU enters Wednesday at 19-6 on the year and 9-3 in league play. They sit at No. 8 in the AP Poll and 14th in the NET.

A win here wouldn’t be easy, but it would put the Pokes right back into NCAA Tournament contention. For the sake of the Cowboys needing an upset, let’s look back at the past five times OSU has beaten Kansas in men’s hoops.

Jan. 12, 2021

Oh, what many would have given for this game to be in a filled Gallagher-Iba Arena.

The Cowboys beat No. 6 Kansas 75-70 in the season where seating was limited because of the pandemic.

In his lone home game against the Jayhawks, Cade Cunningham dropped 18 points to go with seven rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocks.

One of those blocks was perhaps the most replayed moment of Cunningham’s college season. With the game tied at 70 with less than a minute to play, Cunningham went up with both hands to deflect a Marcus Garrett layup attempt. Cunningham then coolly leapt over the out-of-bounds line to save the ball, heaving it to Bryce Williams who quickly pushed it up the floor to Rondel Walker for what would go on to be the game-winning basket.

Williams (17), Avery Anderson III (14) and Isaac Likekele (10) joined Cunningham in double figures, while Walker nearly finished with a double-double, scoring eight points and grabbing a team-high 10 boards.

Christian Braun was the most prominent NBA player on that KU team. He finished this game with seven points on 3-for-7 shooting.

The game also featured Bryce Thompson playing on Eddie Sutton Court as a visitor, as Thompson spent this season with the Jayhawks. Thompson had two points and left the game with an injury after Bernard Kouma fell on him as the two went after a loose ball.

March 3, 2018

Beating Kansas seemed easy for Mike Boynton to start his tenure. After beating the Jayhawks in Lawrence a month earlier (which we’ll obviously get to), the Cowboys hosted No. 6 Kansas in the regular season finale and proved that trip to Lawrence wasn’t a fluke.

And the Cowboys didn’t just win this one, they dominated, beating KU 82-64.

Kendall Smith has to be up there as one of the best one-year wonders OSU has had in any sport since the transfer portal really started rolling. He scored 25 on the Jayhawks that day, the most he put up in a game in a Cowboy uniform. He was 4-for-6 from 3 and had four steals in the game.

Mitchell Solomon poured in 16 points on his Senior Day, a point shy of a career high, while Tavarius Shine (11) and Jeffrey Carroll (10) also finished in double figures.

The Cowboys were essentially on the Jayhawks from jump, as KU never led. OSU had a 16-point lead at halftime. Kansas got within nine in the second half before the Cowboys ran away again, building the lead as high as 23 points.

This marked the first time since 2000 the Cowboys beat KU twice in the same calendar year.

Feb. 3, 2018

Exactly one month earlier, the Cowboys went to Lawrence and beat the Jayhawks for the first time in Phog Allen since Marcus Smart was flipping on the Jayhawks’ home floor.

OSU won this meeting 84-79 off the backs of 20-point games from Smith and a sophomore Cameron McGriff.

Smith, the Jayhawk killer, put up 24 in Lawrence to go with five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.

McGriff scored 20 for the first time in his college career, going 7-for-10 from the field with two blocks and three steals.

The Cowboys were en fuego from 3, going 12-for-27 (44%) from deep with Smith, Carroll and Lindy Waters all connecting on multiple triples.

Although this game was closer than the meeting in Stillwater, KU closed the gap late, and OSU didn’t really need to sweat it out.

Jan. 19, 2016

We’re already back to the Travis Ford Era now, as the Cowboys welcomed No. 3 Kansas to GIA on this date and proceeded to beat the Jayhawks into near extinction.

OSU won 86-67.

Jawun Evans is perhaps the most underrated OSU basketball player of all time. This was his freshman season in which he dropped 22 on KU to go with six rebounds, eight assists and two steals.

Jeff Newberry and Jeffrey Carroll joined Evans in double figures with 13 and 11, respectively.

If you’re looking for hope for Wednesday’s game, look no further than this one. This OSU team was 9-8 overall and 1-4 in Big 12 play entering this game, and the Cowboys finished 12-20 and 3-15 in Ford’s last year. Still, they beat KU.

This first half was back and forth, with the Cowboys leading by five going into the locker room. But from there the Cowboys just started to incrementally pull away.

Again, the Cowboys shot the 3 well, going 11-for-21 from long range with Carroll, Leyton Hammonds and Tavarius Shine all contributing multiple makes.

Feb. 7, 2015

Le’Bryan Nash finished his career fourth on OSU’s all-time scoring list, and that included leading the Cowboys to a win against KU in his final game against the Jayhawks.

OSU beat No. 8 Kansas 67-62 in GIA in 2015, with Nash scoring a team-high 18.

As the score might suggest, this one was a nailbiter late.

Frank Mason hit a free throw with just under a minute to play to make it 65-62, OSU. Nash would then miss the front end of a 1-and-1, further opening the door for the Jayhawks.

KU missed a heavily contested layup on its ensuing possession and actually got a second bite of the apple after Perry Ellis came away with the ball from a chaotic scrum, but he too missed. Rather than wait around to get fouled again, the Cowboys quickly pushed the ball up the floor, and Anthony Hickey laid one in at the other end to put the Pokes out of reach.

OSU finished the year at 18-14 and 8-10 in Big 12 play, enough to make the NCAA Tournament.

OSU vs. Kansas

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena
Watch: Peacock