Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 78-47 Win Over Pepperdine

BOX SCORE

Mike Boynton has the best winning percentage in college basketball history.

Oklahoma State thumped lowly Pepperdine on Friday evening 78-47. Lindy Waters scored a career high 14. Mitchell Solomon had 9 boards. And Kendall Smith chipped in 8 assists in his first game as a Poke as Jeffrey Carroll’s absence loomed over the entire evening.

Let’s get to five quick thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 23rd-straight season-opening win.

1. Uninspiring Offensively

It felt like all of OSU’s points in the first half were laborious. Long twos. Tough threes. Isolated drives to the hoop taking on multiple defenders. Nothing came easy, which is to be expected without your two most dynamic offensive players (Carroll and Dillard).

It got better in the second half with more of this (although not a lot more of this):

But 40 minutes into the Boynton era I’m officially concerned about the type of offense Oklahoma State plays. Boynton hadn’t revealed much leading up to the season about how his team would operate on that end, but as Xs and Os guru Thomas Fleming pointed out in our Slack chat, there was a lot more Travis Ford in this O than there was Brad Underwood.

The stat that worries me the most? OSU had just four fast break points in the game. In a vacuum I suppose that’s not that troubling. Fast break points are often more about what your defense is doing than what your offense is doing. But combine the fact that OSU didn’t seem all that intent on running in general, and I worry about Brandon Averette, Lindy Waters, Thomas Dziagwa and Mitchell Solomon running half court sets against WVU and Kansas. Call me crazy.

2. But the defense …

OSU didn’t pressure a ton on defense, other than one-man diamond maker Brandon Averette. But the stats were there — 17 turnovers forced, 20 points off turnovers, 67 points per 100 possessions and +13 in the rebounding category are all terrific.

As one of the broadcasters noted, though, there’s a fine line between great defense and bad offense. I don’t want to not give credit to a team seemingly bent on disruption, but I also wonder if we could have slapped together a PFB team tonight that could have put up a fight against Pepperdine.

3. Lindy Waters might be a dude

Lindy’s my guy. Loved him last year. Love him again this year. Has the shot, has the frame and often has the look. The problem is that a sophomore version of Lindy Waters should be the fifth (?) best guy on a terrific team, and right now he might be … the best Oklahoma State has.

Still, his basketball IQ is tremendous, and that step-back J (hooo boy!)

4. A 1-2 punch at PG

Averette may have been OSU’s most potent defender on Friday, and he showed much more offensive game than he has in the past. He finished with a tidy 11-5-4 line in just 19 minutes and somehow looked even quicker than he did last year.

Combine that with transfer Kendall Smith’s bigger on-court presence, and the point guard position for the Pokes is pretty intriguing. Would I rather have another year of Jawun Evans than both of these guys? Of course, but I think Smith can play off the ball a little bit which gives Boynton some flexibility with his rotations.

Speaking of: For missing three of your top 10 guys, I thought Boynton spread minutes around pretty well. Again, all of this is being graded on a curve because … Pepperdine … but I liked the fives that were out there on the floor for most of the game.

5. All the 3s

This year is going to invoke a very interesting philosophical debate about 3-pointers. OSU is probably not going to be all that great, which means it has a chance to clip some teams by getting hot from beyond the arc. In fact, its first half offense looked like that’s what it was designed to do.

But to borrow a Nick Saban phrase: Is this what we want college basketball to be? Do you want to be the Rockets? Maybe so. Maybe that’s what they should be.

The flip side of that is that OSU is going to not be in a lot of games it would have been if it takes a lot of threes. They went 3 of 13 in the first half. Do that and you’ll find yourself down 15 on the road at K-State quite quickly.

Dizzy going 4 of 9 against Pepperdine is fun, I get it, but this component of the offense is going to be an interesting one to keep an eye on as the not-Pepperdines start to show up on OSU’s schedule.

Other notes

• Averette looks like he could be an elite defender. I don’t know about Melvin Sanders-level elite, but he’s pretty feisty.

• Bryndon Manzer mentioned the springy floor. Can confirm! We played intramurals and scout team for the women on that floor, and it’s like a trampoline!

• Cam is my Marcell Ateman in hoops. Grown-ass man.

• I said this all year last year, but I love the 30-second shot clock so much.

• I feel about Shine the same way I do about Waters but to a lesser degree. He’s a good sixth or seventh guy on a solid team. Problem is he might be your second guy. Or … at times right now … your first.

• Man.

Mike Boynton said he learned “late last night” that #okstate would be without Jeffrey Carroll tonight.

— Dekota Gregory (@dekotagregory) November 11, 2017

• Speaking of Carroll, here’s a look at another program under investigation.

As expected, USC sophomore De'Anthony Melton is in street clothes while the Trojans warm up for their opener. No announcement from the school, but the FBI investigation mentioned a USC sophomore.

— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) November 11, 2017

• How long ago does that 2000 NCAA Tournament game between Pepperdine and Oklahoma State feel like? Fifty years? More?

• Pepperdine coach looked like Joe Adkins crossed with Frank Thomas.

• Speaking of the Waves, a real thing I sent to our Slack group: Can you imagine running a Pepperdine basketball blog?

• Here’s a good look at GIA on Friday. Not great!