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Five Thoughts On Oklahoma State’s 97-70 Win Over Georgetown

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7 years ago

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BOX SCORE

Sorry it took so long to post this. I was busy doing laps around the DFW metroplex after that whooping Oklahoma State put on Georgetown on Wednesday in the Maui Invitational finale. The Pokes took third place in the tournament by beating the Hoyas 97-70 in the undercard for the UNC-Wisconsin championship.

Georgetown jumped out to an 8-0 lead, and my first thought was, holy crap how bad is UConn. But then Cam McGriff put the entire Big East on a poster, and a re-energized Pokes squad went on to create 28 turnovers and housed an overwhelmed, under-disciplined Hoyas team.

It was as impressive an early season performance as I can remember since Marcus Smart was torturing Memphis in GIA a few years ago. The way OSU did it was the way Brad Underwood has always done it, too: Defense, turnovers and volume shooting.

Georgetown shot 50 percent from the field and lost by 27 points because it turned the ball over on 32 percent of its possessions. Oklahoma State took 23 more shots than the Hoyas and only turned it over 11 times.

There was no shortage of stats for the Pokes, either. Jeffrey Carroll had 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. Jawun Evans had 13 points and 6 assists. Freshman Lindy Waters had a delectable 9-5-2-5 line, and Underwood was quietly smiling to himself midway through the second half.

He knows. He knows he’s got the beginning of something here.

Five thoughts on the game.

1. OSU really moved on offense for the first time

One thing I’ve been disappointed with throughout the first part of the season is the lack of the half-court offense we were promised when Underwood rolled into town. We saw it in spurts on Wednesday, and it was absolutely beautiful.

OSU effectively used Cam McGriff and Lucas N’Guessan at the top of the key to screen for wings and distribute the ball. I’m not sure if that’s sustainable with two non-shooters like those two guys, but it worked marvelously for stretches on Wednesday.

“Execution-wise, in our half-court offense and our spread stuff, you saw a little bit of it late,” said Underwood. “It’s probably the best we’ve run it.”

As my buddy Amilian texted me during the second half, “Jay Bilas just said we have a good half-court offense. I cried.” Me too.

The other component of this is that even when they aren’t running the actual offense, it seems like wings are cutting more than they used to. Jeffrey Carroll is more active than a Power 5 QB at a sorority party, and everybody is looking to distribute.

I wondered on Tuesday if Jawun had enough offensively-gifted players to hand it off to, but when you’re getting looks at wide-open layups because of good cuts, you could stick me out there and it wouldn’t matter.

2. Cam McGriff is a dog

Technically he’s a Crime Dog, but good heavens, have a game, young sir. After the felony he committed in the first half, he followed that up with several offensive boards, put-backs, attempts at more posters and a general disposition that said, “I am here to do anything you guys need me to do to win this basketball game.”

Stuff like this:

He is the perfect college player — not a NBA guy but has a NBA body as a freshman. Doesn’t care about stats. Wants to dunk on entire cities (and states). I could not be more in on the Cam McGriff era. Glenn Spencer is already writing epic poems for his senior night in 2020.

3. Brandon Averette can go

The pride of Richardson, Texas! Averette had 12 points, 4 assists and 4 steals and saw some legitimate playing time off the bench while Evans got rest. Underwood grabbed him by the jowls and shook his face so hard his dreadlocks jiggled as he came off the court — the surest sign of affection from Underwood anyone has ever known.

“We didn’t guard anybody,” Underwood said of the beginning of the game. “We didn’t do anything we talked about. We were flat emotionally. We played with — I don’t know if it was fatigue. I don’t think so. There was just no energy. And the one thing I know I’m going to get from my bench is energy.

“I left Jawun in, and, man, the tempo was slow. Jawun wasn’t himself pushing the ball. And I thought Brandon really set the tempo for us offensively. He had a couple of drives where he went 94 feet.”

Oklahoma State’s entire bench was outrageously impressive on Wednesday. They scored 59 points (!) led by Carroll’s 20, and this team looked to have a legit 10-man rotation for most of the second half. It was more fun than Dana on a riverboat casino.

4. Georgetown shot 50 percent from the field

Since 2010, Georgetown was 31-2 when it shot 50 percent from the floor and 70 percent from the free throw line. Loss No. 1 — a six-pointer to West Virginia. Loss No. 2 — a 2-pointer to Duke. They did both against OSU on Wednesday and lost by 27.

Those are astounding numbers, and they speak to the disruption Underwood’s defense has created for teams. They got tipped steal after tipped steal north of Georgetown’s 3-point line. Your lack of interior defense can’t be a weakness when, you know, nobody gets to your interior.

“Well, there’s two stats I look at,” said Brad Underwood after the game. “And one is field goal attempts. 71-47. That’s a good number for us. We try to be — we try to be on the plus of that as well. We only had 12 offensive rebounds which is a little lower than I like.

“But when you force one of the top teams in America into 28 turnovers, we’re going to give up a layup or two every now and then. But that was, those differences were great. And I think we had 18 steals the first night.”

Is OSU going to give up some back-door layups because of this style? Sure. But that’s something I’m willing to live with when the payout is a school record 19 steals which lead to easy buckets the other way.

5. We will beat so many undisciplined, more talented teams

Does Georgetown have more dudes than Oklahoma State? I have no idea. Probably. When you’re rolling out Thomas Dziagwas and Mitch Solomons, it’s hard to not think that. But Oklahoma State is going to beat so many more talented, less disciplined teams this year Eddie Sutton isn’t going to know what to do with himself.

BRB

[writes in Ws against Baylor both home and away]

OK, back.

This sort of dovetails with No. 4, but it’s incredibly important. Under Travis Ford, the Cowboys always seemed to play a few levels below the sum of their parts. Like, it never really all added up. This is the exact opposite, and I suspect will be that way all year.

The question then becomes — what if he can recruit like Ford?

Other Notes

• I love that Underwood isn’t scared of change. He started N’Guessan, played Averette huge minutes, barely played Solomon and let Thomas Dziagwa do Thomas Dziagwa things. We’re calling Dziagwa “Ziggy” by the way because I’m already tired of typing Dziagwa (TM: Kyle Cox).

• Speaking of Ziggy, he runs like he’s 75 years old. And shoots like he’s been watching Phil Forte. Also, his bicep tattoo was the surprise of the tournaement for me.

• I love that Jay Bilas calls Bryant Reeves’ son “Medium Country.”

• Underwhelming in Maui: Leyton Hammonds. Also underwhelming: Mitch Solomon.

• Nice surprises in Maui: Clip and Tavarius Shine. I love Shine for some reason. He stays in his lane, does little stuff, hits threes and never looks overwhelmed. Nice player.

• I also love the run on short shorts in college basketball. Bringing it all the way back.

• This seems good.

• This also seems good.

Conclusion

Is Oklahoma State going to win the Big 12? No. But you just went to a big boy Thanksgiving tournament and won two games convincingly. You also lost to a team that could pretty easily make the Final Four. KenPom had Georgetown at No. 46 in his rankings before the OSU-Georgetown game, has UNC No. 3 and UConn No. 70. It’s not like you’re playing Campbell (shout out to camels).

“We’re still a long ways — we’re ultimately still trying to lay and establish our culture,” said Underwood after the game. “I’m six and a half, seven months into this thing, and that’s why I’m proud today. But execution-wise, in our half-court offense and our spread stuff, you saw a little bit of it late. It’s probably the best we’ve run it.

“I think the one thing that we know is we played three good basketball teams in three consecutive days. If nothing else, we now know what we have to go home and work at getting better at.”

This was an inspiring, impressive road trip for Underwood’s squad if only to let the optimism wash over all of us before Bedlam drowns it all out next week. The stakes have been raised, too. No longer is a seventh-place finish in the Big 12 expected. Should we temper our irrationality a bit because UConn and Georgetown aren’t exactly playing like UConn and Georgetown normally play? Sure.

But make no mistake, Oklahoma State showing up like it did for two of three games in Maui did not go unnoticed nationally. The Pokes might not be a conference title contender, but the expectation now is absolutely making it to the NCAA Tournament and seeing if you can make some noise. All systems go for Underwood in the Big 12, and this will be a team, like Jay Bilas said, nobody wants to play.

 

Next Game

Wednesday, November 30 at home against Rogers State

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