Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 91-68 Loss to Cincinnati

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Well, that was ugly.

Cincinnati blew out Oklahoma State 91-68 on Saturday in a game the Bearcats led by as much as 32 in. It moves the Pokes down to 17-12 on the year and 5-11 in Big 12 play. Here are five thoughts on the game.

1. More Bad 3-Point D

The Bearcats came into Saturday as the Big 12’s worst 3-point shooting team, hitting just 32.5% of its attempts. But OSU’s 3-point D made another team look like the Golden State Warriors.

Cincy was 14-for-34 (41.2%) from deep. It’s the third-most 3s the Bearcats have hit in a game this season.

Three-point defense has a little bit of variability to it based on if teams hit tough shots or miss open ones. But the Cowboys have now allowed 10 teams to hit double-digit triples while shooting 40% or better, leaving little argument that OSU’s 3-point defense is anything other than bad.

OSU came into Saturday with the second-worst 3-point defense trailing only Colorado. No Big 12 team has allowed more 3-point makes than the Cowboys, who have now given up 271 triples this season.

2. Not an Ideal Matchup to Be Without Parsa Fallah

Given how much Parsa Fallah has meant to this team’s success, it’s not too surprising the Pokes struggled in the first game of his absence after tearing his ACL earlier this week.

But it was particularly not ideal that the Cowboys’ first game without Fallah came against Cincinnati — a team that starts a 7-foot-2 Moustapha Thiam next to a 6-foot-11 Baba Miller.

Those two combined for 35 points and 23 rebounds against the Pokes on Saturday. Miller nearly messed around and got a triple double, finishing with 11 points, eight boards and eight assists. Thiam’s 24 points tied for the second-most he has scored in a game in his career, while his 15 boards were a career-high.

Cincy outrebounded OSU 43-32. The Bearcats had a 14-5 advantage in offensive boards and had 24 second-chance points to OSU’s seven.

So, yeah, not the ideal spot to be without your best big man.

3. Hopium: I Still Think Ben Ahmed Is Going to Be Really Good

Ben Ahmed has had his ups and downs in his freshman season, but he has consistently played hard.

Sometimes, you could argue he plays too hard — like when he had four fouls in five minutes against Kansas a few weeks back.

He has a bit of a bull in a China shop to him, but if he can reign that in a touch, he’ll be a force.

Ahmed played a career-high 19 minutes Saturday, finishing with five points and eight rebounds. It wasn’t always pretty — he had three turnovers — but he just has a knack for getting his hands on the ball, and once a rebound is in his target zone, he’s almost certainly going to grab it.

Ahmed and Andrija Vukovic have had ebbs and flows in terms of minutes behind Fallah this year, but now the Cowboys will need both of them to close out whatever the rest of this season looks like.

4. Roy Is Due

Anthony Roy has had three odd games in a row now.

He had a season-low four points on Saturday, going 1-for-6 from the field and 1-for-4 from 3.

He had 10 in the Cowboys’ win against West Virginia and contributed to winning with his defense in overtime, but it was a unique game for Roy in that he had just one 3-point attempt.

Then in the loss to Colorado last week, Roy had six points and was 0-for-7 from deep.

So in his past three games, Roy is 1-for-12 from 3. This season and Roy’s career have shown that won’t hold up. Not having Fallah to work inside-out with will be a challenge, but he’ll certainly shoot his way out of this slump soon.

5. Even the Most Optimistic Aren’t Holding Their Breath

Even after Tuesday’s win, it feels as over as it ever has following this blowout in Ohio.

Fallah getting hurt, getting clobbered on the road again — it just doesn’t feel like there is some magical Big 12 Tournament run coming that will get the Pokes back in NCAA Tournament contention.

This could be a fun NIT team with its scoring ability. Or Maybe the Cowboys can find their way into the College Basketball Crown tournament in Las Vegas. But this certainly feels like the fifth straight year the Cowboys will miss the NCAA Tournament.