Instant Recap: Oklahoma State Falls at Cincinnati 91-68

BOXSCORE

A Cowboy team that was already struggling lost its most important player for the season earlier in the week. Things went about as smoothly as you might expect in their very next game.

Oklahoma State fell to Cincinnati 91-68. The Bearcats are ranked 15th of 16 Big 12 teams in scoring. They ran it up on the Pokes.

The Cowboys were without their best player Parsa Fallah who went down for the season with a torn ACL in OSU’s overtime win over West Virginia on Tuesday. There’s the qualifier, but Steve Lutz likely won’t accept that as an excuse.

The Cowboys started just 2-of-7 from the field while the Bearcats made six of their first eight shots, and it didn’t get better from there. OSU shot just 38% from the field in the first half while Cincinnati was an efficient 53%.

OSU was down by 14 midway through the first and trailed by 18 at the break. The Bearcats finished the half on a 6-1 run to take a 51-33 lead into the half.

The shorthanded Cowboys had a tough time without their anchor on defense, but it was on the perimeter, not in the paint, that they got burned. The Bearcats’ 51 first-half points were their second-most all season. They shot were 7-of-16 from deep in the first half. The Bearcats came in ranked dead last in the league 3-point shooting.

On top of missing his 14.7 points per game, the Pokes were lacking in the paint sans their best rebounder. The Bearcats took advantage, especially when it came to extending possessions and it paid off. Cincy outrebounded OSU 43-32 with a 14-5 edge in offensive boards and a 24-7 advantage in second-chance points.

The Cowboys also gave up 11 points on nine turnovers in the first half alone. They came in averaging 12.3 giveaways per game. That disparity extended to 16 Cincy points on 14 Cowboy TOs.

If Cowboy fans were hoping for things to swing in the other direction after halftime were disappointed.

The Bearcats put their foot on the pedal coming out of intermission. They started the second half on 10-2 run to push their lead to 26 less than four minutes into the second half. Cincy was up 30 by the 12 and a half mark and led by as much as 32 on the way to a 23-point win. OSU finished the game on a 7-0 garbage-time run.

On the whole, Cincinnati outshot Oklahoma State 47% to 41%.  The Bearcats went 14-for-34 from beyond the arc (41%) while the Cowboys shot just 7-for-21 (31%). Again, Cincy is the Big 12’s worst shooting team from deep, but the Cowboys allowed them to 24 assists on 33 made baskets while Cincinnati committed just eight turnovers.

Four Cowboys scored in double digits, led by Vyctorius Miller’s 15 points on nine shots. Kanye Clary and Jaylen Curry each added 11 points. Filling in for Fallah his first career Big 12 start, Andrija Vukovic pitched in 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He also grabbed four boards.

In their first outing without their second-leading scorer, OSU only got four points from their top scorer Anthony Roy.

With the loss, the Cowboys fall to 17-12 on the year and 5-11 in Big 12 play. They extend their road stretch with a midweek matchup with UCF. The Cowboys face the Knights at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Orlando before finishing their regular season with a Senior Day matchup with Houston March 7.