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Instant Recap: Oklahoma State Routs Wichita State 93-76

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Oklahoma State ended a huge Wichita State streak on Saturday at the INTRUST Bank Arena as it torched the Shockers 93-76 behind 22 points from Jeffrey Carroll and a 22-5-4-3-1 line from Jawun Evans.

It had been 116 games since the Shockers had given up 80 points in regulation in a home game. They did so in 32 minutes on Saturday evening as freshman Thomas Dziagwa hit a three for OSU to hit the 80-point mark. The Shockers had also won 42 straight non-conference games … until Saturday.

OSU jumped out to a huge 28-11 lead on the back an eight-minute FG drought from WSU and Evans who had nine points early in the game but picked up a second foul with nine minutes left in the first half and sat the rest of the way. Head coach Brad Underwood was not scared to play his freshmen once again as he finished the first half with Lindy Waters, Cam McGriff, Thomas Dziagawa, Brandon Averette and Jeffrey Carrol. Yeah, that’s four freshmen and a junior.

It paid dividends too as the Pokes extended the margin to 49-33 at halftime.

They did this mostly by out-offensive rebounding the Shockers early and creating havoc on the defensive end. Wichita State actually shot 21 (!) more free throws than the Cowboys 47 to 26, but OSU took seven more shots and snagged two more rebounds.

Evans was his usual absurd self as his 22 points overwhelmed an overmatched Shockers defense over and over again on plays like this one.

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But OSU also ran its offense smoothly and shot 14/28 from three including 3/5 from Carroll and Evans and 3/4 from Leyton Hammonds. Watch the ball movement here.

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This was pretty easily the win of the season for an OSU team that already has notches in the belt over UConn and Georgetown. Mostly because of the way the Cowboys too hold of this game early and never relented.

It was eye-opening, frankly. Wichita State is not the Wichita State of four years ago, but it came into the game ranked just outside the top 25. It was a seven-point favorite. It came in as the No. 18 team in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. It has lost just one home game to a non-conference team in the last 61.

And OSU whipped them on their (sort of) home court.

So welcome to basketball season. This game is a turning point in the still-very-young year. It could end up being nothing. A one-off for both Oklahoma State and Wichita State. But the trajectory of Underwood’s career tells me OSU will only go up from here. OSU gained a ton of confidence for its youngsters, got a big boy win in a tough environment and now gets an easy game in GIA before Christmas to get to 10-2 before the Big 12 Conference starts.

As one of ESPN’s announcers said at the end of the game, “Send the word, look out for Oklahoma State.” Let the optimism flow, people. Drink it in. It tastes delicious.

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