Young Cowboy Team Looking to Help End NCAA Tournament Woes

Oklahoma State is less than 48 hours away from its first round matchup with Michigan in Indianapolis. Much has been made of the similar strengths of the two teams. Sam Aldrich outlined a great juxtaposition of the two. Both can score at an ultra-efficient clip — even if they do it in different ways. Both can fill it up from deep and both have a tendency to get exposed defensively.

There’s one key difference in the two teams: Experience.

The Wolverines are 62nd nationally in experience according to KenPom’s metrics, and the 13th most experienced team in the field of 64. The Cowboys, on the other hand, come in No. 241 nationally in that category and 50th among the field of tournament teams.

Along with being inexperienced overall, only four Cowboys on the roster have played in an NCAA Tournament game. Phil Forte, Leyton Hammonds, Mitchell Solomon and Tavarius Shine, the latter of which is out for the season with injury. Between those four, they have seven games worth of experience. That might be the only factor that doesn’t bode well for a program that hasn’t won in the Big Dance since 2009.

Leading the way is Phil Forte, who has played in three Tournament games, losses to Oregon, Gonzaga and Oregon. Here’s a look at his NCAA numbers.

Phil Forte – 3 games (0-3) – 34.3 minutes, 9.7 points, 10/30 (33.3 percent) 4/18 from 3 (22.2 percent), 2.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists.

Senior Leyton Hammonds is next with two games, losses to Gonzaga and Oregon.

Leyton Hammonds – 2 games (0-2) – 17 minutes, 2.5 points, 2/7 (28.6 percent), 1/5 from 3 (20 percent), 1.0 rebound

Mitchell Solomon played just four minutes as freshman against Oregon in 2015.

Mitchell Solomon – 1 game (0-1) – 4 minutes, 2 points, 1/1 (100 percent)

And Shine, whose injury has been an underrated blow to the Cowboys this year had an impressive showing as a true freshman in the Cowboys’ loss to Oregon in 2015.

Tavarius Shine – 1 game (0-1) – 25 minutes, 12 points, 4/7 (57 percent), 3/6 (50 percent from 3), 4 rebounds, 2 assists

But this is a different team with a different coach. They have several things going for them that the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Tournament Cowboys did not.

Jawun Evans is a proven commodity in clutch scenarios and has been one of the better floor generals in those regards OSU has ever had. He’ll be getting his first shot at the big stage and there’s not reason to think he’s not up to it.

The Cowboys are also historically impressive offensively. Their current 85.5 points per game is the most in OSU history and second-most in Big 12 history. The previous high for OSU was 1988-89 when the Cowboys averaged 83.5 points per game.

Will that be enough? Can the Cowboys exorcise their March demons? Can a roster who has never won a Tournament game finally break the seal? We’ll know soon enough.