Stat of the Week: Can OSU Stay Hot from 3, or Was the Tech Win a Flash in the Pan?

Each week, I scour resources like KenPom.com or Sports Reference looking for some obscure stat that might uncover some trend that had previously escaped me. Or, at least, some different way of looking at the events of the last few days.

But two days removed from yet another signature win in the middle of disappointing losses, I had to keep it simple.

Oklahoma State beat the No. 3-rated defense according to Mr. Pomeroy and did it by catching fire from beyond the 3-point line. This is significant for a couple of reasons.

1. OSU is not a good perimeter shooting team

We’ve heard Mike Boynton try to convince us (and maybe himself) that he believes this team can shoot the deep ball. But through 28 games, that just hasn’t been the case.

Including their hot 11-of-22 showing that melted the icicles off of Gallagher-Iba on Wednesday night, the Pokes are still ninth in the league, shooting just 34.1 percent from beyond the arc on the season. That puts the Pokes at No. 221 nationally.

But thanks mostly to some hot shooting from Lindy Waters and a brief Thomas Dziagwa sighting the Cowboys set fire to the twine, especially in the second half.

2.  Texas Tech is a really good at defending the 3, normally

The Red Raiders are allowing teams to make just 31.6 percent of those shots, which is the best in the Big 12 and No. 29 in the nation.

Chris Beard, the architect of that stingy system shed a little light on why the Cowboys were able to fill it up from deep on his team.

“I think some of them were in transition,” said Beard. “So, that’s a sign of a well-coached team. They try to basically get down and get good shots before we can set our defense.

“I would agree with you. We have a good half-court defense. We take a lot of pride in it. But tonight, there was a lot of possessions where we couldn’t even get set because they were running the floor and getting quick threes on us.”

Tech has only allowed teams to hit that 50-percent mark from deep twice before Wednesday. Seton Hall went 11 of 20, handing the Red Raiders their only non-conference loss and TCU went 6 for 12 from 3 in a losing effort at home

3. Is this even close to sustainable?

The short answer is probably not. The Cowboys have improved in perimeter shooting slightly as of late, but have been far from consistent.

In those big wins at Kansas, at West Virginia and in this last one against Tech, the Pokes were 33 of 73 (45.2 percent), but in the other six games in the last month (all losses), OSU is 40 of 116 (34.5 percent).

Kendall Smith has definitely made strides shooting 52 percent from 3 in the last nine games. In Big 12-only games, Smith is shooting 46.5 percent, good for third best in the league.

Sometimes, all it takes is a team getting hot, but I don’t know if there’s enough kindling on this roster to shoot this team into the NCAA Tournament.