Oklahoma State will hit the road Friday to take on in-state rival Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla.
Since suffering an upset loss to Oakland at home on Nov. 12, the Cowboys (5-1) have won four in a row and Monday night dominated visiting Charleston, 96-66.
The Cowboys matched a 32-year-old school record with 16 blocks and delivered numerous highlight-reel dunks on their way to 19 fast-break points. Avery Anderson and Bryce Thompson each scored 15 points as six OSU players scored in double figures.
Kalib Boone leads the team with a 10.3-point scoring average and 3.3 blocks per game. Thompson is averaging 10.2 points a game as nine different players are averaging at least 6.5 points.
“I think when we are at our best, that’s what it will look like,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. “A lot of guys scoring and a lot of guys contributing on both ends of the court, and then obviously, I think our defense was, you know, showing that it has the potential to be one of the elite ones in the country.”
Oral Roberts (3-2), one of the Cinderella’s of last year’s NCAA Tournament when it advanced to the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed, cruised to a 91-31 victory over Division II Rogers State on Tuesday night.
Max Abmas keyed the comfortable win with 23 points while Isaac McBride scored 17 points. The Golden Eagles are averaging 89.6 points, eighth most in the country.
Abmas, who led the nation in scoring (24.5) last season, is averaging 16.8 points in four appearances this season.
Oral Roberts coach Paul Mills recently expressed his support for Oklahoma State after it was announced before the start of the season that it had been banned from the 2022 postseason by the NCAA stemming from prior penalties levied following the FBI’s probe into theirs and several other programs in 2017.
“We met together as a staff and just honestly prayed for those guys and just (asked God to) give those guys wisdom, give those kids wisdom, those parents wisdom on how to navigate something that was really a blindside,” Mills said.
–Field Level Media
