Fan-Favorite Freshman Mekhi Ragland Gaining Confidence with Increased Role in Postseason

STILLWATER — Among active players, 6-foot-11, 330-pound Mekhi Ragland leads the Cowboys in steals per 40 minutes.

That’s a loaded stat, as before the past few weeks, Ragland hadn’t played a ton in his freshman season. But with Oklahoma State light on bigs, Ragland has been thrusted into action and had three steals in his first opening five minutes on the floor of OSU’s NIT win against Davidson earlier this week.

“I didn’t really think about it until I sat down on the bench, and they were like, ‘Well, you need to rebound more, but you got three steals,” Ragland said. “I was like, oh. I didn’t process that I had three steals. I was just in the moment trying to make the right play. …

“I’ve never had that many steals in a game before. Yeah, I ain’t gonna lie, but yeah, it felt good. I feel like we work on that throughout every day. No matter the team we play, we work on ball-screen defense, and I think it just showed today how much work we actually put into it.”

Ragland has played 69 minutes entering Sunday’s NIT Round 2 game against Wichita State. That’s third-fewest on the team, ahead of only Robert Jennings II, who was injured three games into the year, and walk-on Kirk Cole.

Twenty-nine of Ragland’s minutes have come in the post season — playing 18 at the Big 12 Tournament and 11 against Davidson.

It’s evident Ragland is getting more comfortable as he goes. Eleven of the 19 points he has scored this season have come in those past three games, while in 10 regular season games, he had eight points.

“It’s not to say that we don’t practice hard, but there’s a huge difference between practice reps and game reps,” said OSU coach Steve Lutz on whether he can see his freshmen centers taking a strides with the increased minutes. “There just is. And you can’t simulate it in practice, you just can’t.”

After getting his three steals against the Wildcats, Ragland converted an and-one to tie the game at 30 after the Pokes got off to a rocky start. He subbed out after hitting his free throw to a big cheer from the OSU faithful. He finished that game with five points, two boards and an assist.

Ragland hasn’t had the opportunity to play a ton of basketball over the past few years, as he missed his senior season at Sunrise Christian Academy with a foot injury he suffered in the preseason. But he said he can feel his confidence increasing with more time back on the floor.

“It’s just a time thing,” Ragland said. “I think the more time you put into something, the easier it gets. So I think the more time I put in playing, I think the easier it’ll come.”