Back in the preseason, Oklahoma State men’s basketball coach Mike Boynton made his team do what it did in the preseason: practice net cutting. Each player climbed the ladder with scissors and cut a piece of the net.
For freshman Cade Cunningham, it was the first time he did it in college. For junior Isaac Likekele, it was not new, but it looked different.
“Actually, there was a vision,” said Likekele. “I don’t know how to explain it, it was a different feeling this year. … Coming this year, everyone from one to 15 had the same belief.”
After Friday’s frustrating 83-74 victory over Baylor, the seed of the Big 12 tournament and the country’s second team, the Cowboys are now 40 minutes away from fulfilling that autumn vision.
“I believe in the law of attraction,” said Boynton. “You have to believe that something can happen and you have to see yourself doing it before putting it into action. I wanted to set a tone with this team very early on what I hoped we would be able to do. And then we started the work … And here we are. “
Oklahoma State continued its run as one of the hottest teams in the country, winning eight of its last nine games and entering Saturday fighting for a Big 12 tournament championship and potentially a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Cowboys fell short of Baylor in their two previous encounters this season, the first without Cunningham and the second without Likekele. With the two players reunited on Friday in Kansas City, Missouri, Boynton finally had a complete set of players ready to take on the Bears.
Cunningham, the No. 1 choice projected in this year’s NBA draft, showed why he is such a sought-after talent at the next level. He finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists, with 20 of those points in the second half.
“He is the best player in the country,” said Boynton. “I don’t think it’s close.”
After the game, Baylor’s players expressed their frustrations about their defensive failures against Cunningham and his teammates. MaCio Teague said that Cunningham was “free” very often.
“They scored something like 80 over us,” he said after the game. ” [We have] bigger problems than shooting. “
Mark Vital said he wanted Davion Mitchell to have the defensive mission at Cunningham towards the end of the game, suggesting that he may have disagreed with the spins at the end of the game. And Baylor coach Scott Drew said his team needed more training, something that has been missing since the three-week break, so that Bears can “go back to being elite” in defense.
Still, he is not convinced that any team would have answers to the projected No. 1 choice.
“Cade is one of those guys where you can do everything well and still get a bucket,” said Drew.
Avery Anderson, with 20 points, was a big factor alongside Cunningham, and two other players scored double digits. The Cowboys also remained on the defensive line, keeping Baylor in one of his least efficient offensive games of the season. Drew’s team kicked just 6 of 28 behind the hoop, their worst shot since the January 2 victory over Iowa.
“I hope we continue to dispel that notion that we are Cade and a bunch of puppets out there,” said Boynton.
There are few teams in the country playing better now than Oklahoma State and, except for an impressive NCAA turnaround in the next 48 hours, the Cowboys will be eligible to play in the NCAA tournament. They received a one-year post-season ban in the summer, but they appealed the decision and the NCAA has not yet responded to that appeal.
Assuming they play next week, the Cowboys are a team that no one will want to face.
“I think that [it’s] our union as a unit, “said Cunningham of the team’s recent game.” Everyone is moving forward. Everyone is trying to find ways to perfect this role, whatever it may be. The team giving us great game plans and just us agreeing with them, that really translated into winning more. After winning a few important games, our confidence has only grown. It’s on the roof now. It’s still going. We are trying to see how far we can take this. “
But before that, Oklahoma will face Texas in Saturday’s Big 12 title game.
“We didn’t come here to win a semifinal game,” said Boynton. “We came here to try to win a championship.”
And if the Cowboys do, it may not be the only time this month that they are hacking nets.
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf contributed to this report.