Notebook: Cowboys Can’t Keep up with Aggies’ Size in Brooklyn

The Cowboys had to go all the way to Brooklyn, New York to face former Big 12 foe, No. 16-ranked Texas A&M. The Cowboys would come up short pulling the all-time series to 31-18 in OSU’s favor.

Let’s get into the notes for Monday’s game.

• Jeffrey Carroll did not start but made his 2017-18 debut at the 16:49 mark in the opening period. He was obviously trying to force things early and got off to a slow start. The Big 12’s leading returning scorer looked like anything but.

• Oklahoma State wasn’t the only team getting its best player back. Shortly after Carroll hit the floor for the first time this season, Robert Williams. Carroll started 0 for 4 with a jacked-up long three that missed and Williams started 4 for 4. ?

• Neither team looked good from 3 to start, with the Cowboys starting 1 for 7 from 3 (14.3 percent), and A&M at 1 of 6 (16.7 percent). But the Aggies would get hot from beyond the arc and OSU would not.

At one point, OSU was 1 of 16 in the second half. If they had stopped shooting them, that would have tied a Cowboy record for worst output with at least 10 attempts. OSU would end 3 of 24.

• Brandon Averette looked like the Cowboys’ best player for most of the time he was on the court. The smallest guy out there was a bulldog. He took it to the rim, played with energy and even out-rebounded dudes a foot taller than him. The sophomore led the Cowboys with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting, had three rebounds and assist and two turnovers.

• Follow-up: If Brandon Averrette is OSU’s best player, the preseason pick of 10th in the Big 12 might be close to ackrut.

• Both teams started off pretty sloppy. Oklahoma State forced four A&M turnovers in the first four minutes, but OSU would catch up, topping the Aggies with eight first-half TOs to seven.

• Speaking of sloppy, the Cowboys’ offense was not a pretty sight, especially early. There was a lot of dribbling and not a lot of productive movement, which resulted in a lot of tough shots being taken.

First half field goals

• Oklahoma State: 9/35 (25.7 percent) 1/13 from 3 (7.7 percent)
• Texas A&M: 15/28 (53.6 percent) 4/11 from 3 (36.4 percent)

• This first half shot chart is not for the faint of heart.

Second Half Field Goals

• Oklahoma State: 11/32 (34.4 percent) 2/11 from 3 (18.2 percent)
• Texas A&M: 13/29 (44.8 percent) 5/13 from 3 (38.5 percent)

The second half shot chart was not much better.

• The Cowboys looked alright on defense early but once Williams came in the Cowboys struggled to switch and help on the backdoor and left layup after layup open to the future pro. Then with D.J. Hogg making four of his first five 3s, it quickly got out of hand. OSU had no answer.

• Mitchell Solomon is an experienced defender but got into foul trouble trying to guard the stronger, more athletic Williams. N’Guessan used his length well at times but was out of position a lot.

• The Cowboys do have quite a bit of length and got plenty of pass deflections and seven steals, and forced the Aggies into 12 second-half turnovers to just two from OSU.

• Down as many as 23 early in the second half, the Cowboys forced some turnovers and got back in transition to pull it within 10 with a 16-4 run. The offense began to get into a little rhythm and the Cowboys were able to keep it in the 10-12 range for seven minutes in the second half, until back-to-back 3s by A&M pushed it out of reach.

• OSU also rebounded well early, winning on both total rebounds and on offensive boards in the first half but A&M ended with 45 rebounds to OSU’s 38. OSU still held a 17-9 advantage on the offensive glass overall, but the Cowboys also had some good looks as they missed 18 more field goal attempts.

• Jeffrey Carroll just did not have it in his season debut. At one point, he was 0 for 9 (0 for 5 from 3) when he came in at the 12:28 mark in the second half. He immediately drew a foul and got to the line, but missed both free throws. Made his first bucket at 10:38 in the second half. Clip would end the night with 4 points on 2 for 12 from the field (0 for 5 from 3), three rebounds, an assist, a steal and two TOs.

• When Jeffrey Carroll, Kendall Smith, Lindy Waters and Tavarius Shine go a combined 0 for 20 in a half, this team is going to be in trouble whether they play Texas A&M or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

• Cam McGriff was active when he was on the floor and ended up 4 of 8 for 8 points and had three rebounds. He showed some touch and had a stellar showing offensively — for this game.

• There were some flashes of potential.

Nice little inbounds play by #OKState. pic.twitter.com/G2M22K3ef3

— Mark Cooper (@mark_cooperjr) November 21, 2017

• The Aggies brought their own yelling guy to Brooklyn. He was calling out the refs by name and yelling “miss it!” on just about every OSU free throw. And he was close to a microphone.

• Texas A&M was supposed to win this game. KenPom ranked the Aggies as the No. 8 team in the country, with the fourth-best adjusted defense. The Cowboys came in at No. 41 with a 50th-ranked defense. We saw a bigger disparity than that on Monday.

• The Cowboys are a work in progress and poor shooting performances from its best and probably third- and fourth-best players was way too much to overcome. Boynton and Co. knew that there would be growing pains and there will probably be several more bumps in the road.

Next up: The Pokes will face the loser of Pittsburgh and Penn State at 2:30 p.m. Central on Tuesday.