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Five Thoughts on Wichita State’s 78-66 Win Over Oklahoma State in Stillwater

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Oklahoma State got beat by Wichita State 78-66 in Stillwater on Saturday for the first time since the Pokes’ 1945 national championship was just 12 years old. Landry Shamet led the way for the Shockers with 30, and Oklahoma State didn’t have the stamina to go the distance with the No. 6 team in the country.

Tavarius Shine led the way for OSU with 20-3-3 and Mitchell Solomon had a strong 17-8 performance, but five Cowboys either fouled out or committed four fouls, and even that didn’t stop Wichita State from hitting 46 percent from 3-point range (which turned out to be the difference).

Five thoughts on the Cowboys’ second loss of the year.

1. Oklahoma State lost this game early

The Cowboys’ defense was stingy in the first half, and they forced the Shockers into 12 turnovers, 36 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3. It really was a remarkable display defensively from Mike Boynton’s squad. Guards were pressing the issue near mid-court, wings were taking charges under the hoop and Mitchell Solomon looked like a legitimate rim-protector at times!

One problem, Wichita State still led at the break.

OSU turned the ball over 11 times of its own and shot just 32 percent from the field. If you’re going to upset No. 6 in Stillwater, Wichita or on the moon, you’re not going to do it by out-running them late. OSU had its chance to build a 10- or 12-point lead going into the locker room, and they didn’t take advantage.

2. Mitchell Solomon shines

We’ve ridden him hard enough over the years, have to give credit where it’s due. And it’s due tonight. He posted a better-than-the-numbers-show 17-7-1 line against a top 10 team and out-rebounded everybody on the floor. Also, he became a real life option offensively down the stretch.

Part of that is because OSU has fewer options than an In-N-Out, but his back-to-the-basket moves suddenly have some sizzle and his touch has improved year over year. Heady stuff for somebody who is essentially holding down the fort himself on the interior.

3. Struggle from 3

Same story, different game year. Wichita State went 8 for 14 from 3-point range in the second half, and Oklahoma State went 3 for 13. The end.

OSU wasn’t necessarily taking worse shots, WSU was just hitting all of theirs. Of the six Shockers who hit second-half 3s, five of them shot 50 percent or better. That’s outrageous!

As of this post, OSU is No. 213 in the country in 3-point percentage and No. 77 in defending against them. For a team that is seemingly so reliant on shooting itself back into games as its primary form of offense (this same thing happened against Texas A&M), that’s not good.

4. Great crowd

This was undoubtedly the greatest 34-turnover game I’ve ever watched. The first half was ferocious, the crowd was solid (relatively), Eddie Sutton was there, OSU turned WSU over on 25 percent of its possessions, the color guy was holding up “DEFENSE” shorts on the broadcast, the throwbacks rocked and Mike Boynton even stripped his jacket off in the second half.

The point being: I think a lot of OSU’s attendance woes have to do with opponent. Play more Wichita States and fewer Mississippi Valley States. I get that you can’t exclusively schedule big boys, but this game certainly had the feel of something much bigger than a December 9 tilt.

5. Jeffrey Carroll, where art thou?

Clip only played 17 minutes, went 1 for 9 from the field and had more fouls (4) than points (3). He was just uninspiring all the way around. It’s hard to blame this one on rust given that he’s been in double digits in each of his last four games.

It’s also intriguing that he continues to come off the bench. I’m not sure that’s been addressed. Whatever the case, OSU is going to struggle to beat top 50 teams (much less, top 10) if they keep getting 1 for 9 performances from No. 30. He certainly has had to create more on his own this year, but that hasn’t been a problem for his younger counterpart Lindy Waters (who was outstanding for stretches on Saturday).

I don’t really think there’s much to worry about when it comes to Carroll, but it would be nice to see him start stringing together some All-Big 12 first team type games starting next weekend against Florida State.

More Notes

• Frankamp might be older than Boynton.

• I got called for a charge while writing this sentence.

• Wichita State seems like the kind of team that you watch and you’re like, “they’re not THAT good” and then they go beat everybody they play by like 14 and end up in the Elite Eight at the end of the year.

• The uniforms were insane. NEVER. WEAR. ANYTHING. ELSE.

• Shamet can go. So can Waters. Fully subscribed. Also, I died at the suggestion that Shamet looks like Waluigi. He kinda does.

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• I low-key loved Lindy shoving N’Guessan and yelling at him to box out. Fire emojis.

• Frankamp will crush YMCA leagues for the next 25 years.

• Tavarius was great. His game is incredibly quiet. The sneakiest 20-point career high game ever.

• Heart.

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