Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 73-67 Win Over Pitt

Oklahoma State notched its first win over a Power 5 opponent of the season on Tuesday afternoon with a 73-67 win over Pitt. Just a day after getting rolled by Texas A&M, the Cowboys settled in early and had a better day on the offensive end behind a 29 and 9 performance from Jeff Carroll.

The win gives OSU a third-place finish in the Legends Classic along with palpable momentum going into Thanksgiving break before it returns home for a bout with Houston Baptist on Sunday. Let’s get to five thoughts from the game.

1. Jeff Carroll, back

Jeff Carroll’s season debut went off with a bit of a hitch on Monday night, as he went 2-of-12 from the floor and missed his first nine shots of the game. But Tuesday? Tuesday was a totally different story.

Clip lead the scoring on both sides with a career-high 29 points and hit 10 of his 17 shots from the field, including a 2-for-5 mark from the 3-point line.

When held to single digits in a game, @J30Carroll follows up with an average of 22.8 PPG. The senior scored a career-high 29 points in today's win over Pitt! #LetsWork #okstate pic.twitter.com/rgzRGXZ2rR

— Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) November 21, 2017

Carroll’s game was pretty affected by Texas A&M’s length on Monday, but Pitt, a team that has struggled defensively much of this season, gave him an opportunity to bounce back. From a confidence standpoint, this was a big one to get him going. He looked and played like the Big 12’s leading returning scorer.

2. I love Cam McGriff

I still don’t know what Cam McGriff is or what he’s going to be on this team, but he sure is fun. He feels like OSU basketball’s version of Ramon Richards — always in the right spot, always giving energy, and worth the watch every time.

McGriff’s stat line won’t wow you, but he feels Marcus Smart-ish in that way. He affects the game with his defense and effort and on Tuesday, he had 6 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals, including a run-out slam.

SLAM CAM ??

Cowboys take their first lead of the game and are on a 7-0 run with 11:08 left in the half! #okstate pic.twitter.com/eKyGSJ8gGh

— Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) November 21, 2017

3. Slow it down, baby

Could there be a more stark contrast in offense from Brad Underwood to Mike Boynton? Last season, the team finished first in adjusted offensive efficiency at KenPom in part due to quick buckets in transition and short offensive possessions.

Under Boynton, OSU has proven to be mostly efficient, scoring 110.7 points per 100 possessions, but the pace is the kicker. The Cowboys are 293rd in average possession length, and it totally feels like it. They still get out in transition and get up buckets when they’re open. But when they are in the halfcourt, it feels like there’s no action or movements outside of a high pick-and-roll with Lucas N’Guessan. And an Averette-N’Guesan pick-and-roll isn’t going to get you buckets the way a Draymond-Steph high screen and pop will.

I hope OSU can evolve offensively, but it kind of feels like if they play muck-up ball and hope Carroll can bail them out each possession, they might be in trouble when they play the big boys.

4. Four factors

My hoops nerdiness is spewing all over this post and I hope you aren’t too taken aback, but KenPom’s four factors really tell the story of how this team will play all season. And thus far, those factors mostly bode well.

So yeah, this is all mostly good. The main takeaway here to me is that OSU is taking care of the ball and turning it over only 14.6 percent of the time, while forcing turnovers on 22.1 percent of defensive possessions. They pursue heavily and take risks on defense, which is how they can create more offensive opportunities for a team that, right now, doesn’t have many offensive weapons.

5. Enter cupcake territory

OSU had an 82-percent chance of winning over Pitt and squeaked out a 6-point win, but the next three games after Thanksgiving are cupcake city. OSU has a 98-percent or greater chance of winning the next three, according to KenPom, before facing Wichita State and Florida State in the big boy portion of the non-conference.

So barring a major upset, OSU is going to probably be 7-1 entering a pivotal showdown with No. 6 Wichita State. So getting a win over a Power 5 opponent under the belt before facing real competition is big.