Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 85-71 Loss to BYU

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The Cowboys closed out their regular season Saturday night with a rematch against BYU, but unfortunately for the Pokes, Saturday’s game had a different outcome.

Oklahoma State fell to BYU 85-71 in Provo. The Cowboys end the regular season at 12-19 and 4-14 in Big 12 play. Here are five thoughts from Saturday’s game.

1. Worst Conference Record Since …

The Cowboys finish Big 12 play at 4-14. That’s their worst conference record since the 2015-16 season, a year in which the Pokes finished 3-15.

That was the final year of the Travis Ford Era. Phil Forte played in only three games that year before missing the remainder of the season with injury. It was Jawun Evans’ freshman season, as Evans finished the year averaging 12.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.9 assists a game.

OSU’s three league wins that year came against:

TCU — a team that finished 2-16 in league play;
Kansas — lol;
Kansas State — a team that finished 5-13 in league play.

Needless to say, that’s not a great spot to be.

For what it’s worth (very little), I think this current team is better than that Ford team. I think that not only because this group got one more conference win than that team, but because Evans was the only freshman really playing; it was a team that should’ve been better than 3-15. That team also averaged 66.5 points a game.

2. Dailey’s Dunk

Although the Cowboys didn’t win much in the score column this Big 12 season, they might have gotten the conference’s dunk of the year in the league’s final regular-season game.

At the end of the first half, Eric Dailey drove the lane and rose with reckless abandon. The 6-foot-8 freshman threw down on 6-11 Noah Waterman in a dunk that, if you don’t take the score into account, might be one of the most impressive dunks in program history.

Our live reaction to E Day’s dunk (wait til the end) 🤠 pic.twitter.com/zxBy17jGvz

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) March 10, 2024

Dailey is athletic, but he isn’t known for some Cameron McGriff-esque athleticism, which made the dunk all the more shocking. It was one of those types of dunks people go for knowing they’re going to draw a foul and not actually put the ball in the basket, but it went in. He almost didn’t actually touch the rim but rather threw the ball down through the hoop.

3. Small Gets Going

Javon Small finished Saturday’s matchup with a career-high 34 points — and 29 of those came in the second half, including OSU’s final 14 points.

He came close to breaking a Bob Kurland record. In 1946, Kurland scored 32 in the first half against St. Louis, which is a program record for points scored in a half.

If the Cowboys are going to make any sort of run in the Big 12 Tournament, Small regaining some confidence Saturday night could be a catalyst for that. Going into the game against BYU, Small had made just two of his past 18 3-point attempts, but he finished 5-for-9 from deep on Saturday.

4. Difference from the First Meeting

BYU likes to put up 3-point shots, and there is an old saying in basketball that is becoming less relevant in the Steph Curry era: Live by the 3, die by the 3.

The Cowboys have been on both ends of that at different times this season. Same with the Cougars in their two games against OSU. BYU was 8-for-35 (23%) from deep in Stillwater earlier this season. Saturday night, the Cougars were 12-for-31 (39%). BYU was 8-for-12 from deep in the second half.

That’s how BYU wants to play, and when the Cougars are hitting at that rate, they’re a tough out for anyone, much less the struggling Cowboys.

5. OSU’s Side of the Bracket

The Cowboys are officially locked into the 13 seed at the Big 12 Tournament and will play 12 seed UCF at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in Kansas City.

OSU has about as much a shot at winning the Big 12 Tournament as I do pulling off that Dailey dunk, but with that being said, the Pokes’ side of the bracket isn’t totally terrifying (by Big 12 standards). OSU starts with the Knights, a team the Cowboys played close in Stillwater late last month in a game that hardly resembled basketball as there were 54 total fouls called and 66 free throws shot. If there isn’t a record set for whistles blown, maybe (just maybe) that game ends up in OSU’s favor.

If OSU was to win, it would play BYU on Wednesday. Now, here I am writing thoughts about a game the Cowboys just lost to BYU, but the Pokes did best the Cougars in Stillwater. So, they’ve at least proven that possible. From there, OSU would play Texas Tech. The Cowboys have lost to Tech twice this year, with each loss coming by 17 points. … So, that’s probably where the Cinderella story would end.

But two wins in KC seems possible. Considering that’s half as many wins in two days as the Cowboys had all Big 12 season, I guess you’d take that.