Back in preseason, Oklahoma State basketball coach Mike Boynton made his team do what it did in every preseason: practice cutting nets. Each player went up the ladder with scissors and cut a piece of the net.
For freshman Cade Cunningham, it was the first time he had done that in college. It wasn’t new to junior Isaac Likekele, but it felt different.
“There was actually a vision,” Likekele said. “I don’t know how to explain it, it was a different feeling this year … When I came this year, all one through fifteen had the same faith.”
After Friday night’s overwhelming 83-74 victory over Baylor, the best seed in the Big 12 tournament and the country’s No. 2 team, the Cowboys are now 40 minutes away from fulfilling that fall vision.
“I believe in the law of attraction,” Boynton said. “You have to believe that something can happen and you have to see yourself do it before you can put it into action. I wanted to set a tone with this team pretty early on about what I expected we could be able to do. And then we got to work. … and here we are. “
Oklahoma State continued its run as one of the nation’s top teams, winning eight of the past nine games and going on Saturday to compete for a Big 12 tournament championship and possibly a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Cowboys had fallen short against Baylor in their two previous encounters this season, the first without Cunningham and the second without Likekele. With both players in the fold on Friday in Kansas City, Missouri, Boynton finally had a full group of players ready to take on the Bears.
Expected number 1 pick in this year’s NBA run, Cunningham showed why he is such a sought-after talent at the next level. He finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists, including 20 in the second half.
“He’s the best player in the country,” said Boynton. “I don’t think it’s close.”
After the game, Baylor players expressed frustrations over their defensive failures against Cunningham and his teammates. MaCio Teague said Cunningham became “free” too often.
“They scored almost 80-something on us,” he said after the game. [We have] bigger problems than shooting. “
Mark Vital said he wanted Davion Mitchell to take the defensive assignment on Cunningham, suggesting he may not agree with the rotations late in the game. And Baylor coach Scott Drew said his team needs more training, something they’ve missed since their three-week hiatus, so the Bears can “become elite again” in defense.
Still, he is not convinced that any team would have had answers to the planned number 1 pick.
“Cade is one of those guys where you can do everything right and he still gets a bucket,” Drew said.
Avery Anderson was a major factor alongside Cunningham with 20 points, and two other players scored in double digits. The Cowboys also joined the defensive end, holding Baylor to one of the least efficient offensive forays of the season. Drew’s team shot just 6-for-28 from behind the arch, their worst try since a Jan. 2 win over Iowa State.
“I hope we continue to dispel the idea that we are Cade and some dolls out there,” Boynton said.
Few teams in the country currently outperform Oklahoma State, and aside from a staggering series of NCAA events over the next 48 hours, the Cowboys are eligible to enter the NCAA tournament. They got a one-year post-season ban in the summer, but they appealed that decision, and the NCAA has yet to respond to that appeal.
Assuming they play next week, the Cowboys are a team no one wants to join.
“I think [it’s] our togetherness as a unit, “Cunningham said of the team’s recent game.” Everyone is doing their best. Everyone is trying to find ways to perfect that role, whatever that is. The staff give us great game plans and only us buy them in, that really translates into more winning. Once we won some big games, our confidence has only grown. It’s through the roof now. It still goes. We’re trying to see how far we can take this. “
But before that, Oklahoma State will face Texas in Saturday’s Big 12 title game.
“We didn’t come here to win a match in the semi-finals,” said Boynton. “We came here to try and win a championship.”
And if the Cowboys do, it might not be the only time they cut nets this month.
Myron Medcalf from ESPN contributed to this report.