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Five Thoughts On Oklahoma State’s 98-90 Win Over UConn

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7 years ago

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BOX SCORE

We back.

OK, maybe not yet. But it sure felt that way for stretches on Monday evening at the Maui Invitational as the Cowboys took it to Kevin Ollie’s UConn Huskies 98–90 in the opening round.

OSU never trailed and never felt like it was going to lose the game. It built an 18–3 lead early in the first half and stretched it all the way to 19 points with nine minutes to go in the second half. It got close late (mostly because UConn shot 67 percent in the second half), but the Pokes closed out win No. 4 on the young season.

Jawun Evans posted 35 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals while Phil Forte and Jeffrey Carroll chipped in 18 each. Crime Dog McGriff also had 13 and 5 while trying to dunk on the entire state of Connecticut.

As a Pokes fan, it was incredibly difficult to not get carried away on Monday. It will take more than one game (obviously), but OSU defended like we want them to defend, played as hard as we want them to play and took down a big-name program on the national stage.

It will get a chance for a repeat on Tuesday evening vs. No. 4 North Carolina. But first … the five thoughts.

1. The Formula

Remember how I said earlier UConn shot 67 percent in the second half? They hit nine of their first 10 threes in the second half. They also shot 47 percent for the game including 50 percent from 3-point range. So how did the Cowboys win so handily? It all goes back to Brad Underwood’s formula: create turnovers and score via volume shooting.

OSU set a first-half school record with 14 steals in 20 minutes and turned the Huskies over on 20.1 percent of their possessions on the game (OSU turned it over only just 13 percent of its possessions).

This led to OSU taking eight more shots on the day. They made three of them. That was the entire game right there. You can withstand a second-half surge like UConn put on (again, 67 PERCENT SHOOTING IN THE LAST 20 MINUTES) and you can withstand a good three-point shooting team as long as you defend your pants off and don’t turn it over.

“I thought we got off to a great start,” said Underwood after the game. “I thought our defensive intensity was bothersome for them. And I love the fact we had 18 steals. That’s a great number. That means we’re being active and bothersome now. The other big step for me is 61 field goal attempts. We had eight more field goal attempts than them. And that’s partly in response to the 18 steals.”

OSU also shot 12/20 from 3-point range which won’t happen every night, but it is clear Underwood has preached defense creating offense and protecting the ball to this squad. That will win you a lot of basketball games whether you have Phil Forte or Adarius Bowman launching shots.

2. Jawun Evans Is Great, But …

You’re not going to hear me complain about Jawun much. He was brilliant again on Monday and is one of the greatest assets a team can have when trying to close out a game. He’s always open, is smart with the ball, hits free throws and could stand in for the Harlem Globetrotters with the ball in his hands.

But … BUT I would like to see fewer than 26 shots in a game from him. He’s not at Marcus Smart’s level in terms of taking the air out of the ball yet, but I still haven’t really seen the first string properly run Undie’s O. That might not matter in the short term, but I think it pays dividends down the road when you have a guy or two that can check No. 1*

*There might not be a guy or two who can check No. 1 in all of college hoops.

3. Jeffrey Carroll Might Be The Perfect 6th Man

Over the first three games as Jeffrey Carroll averaged a solid 18–8 I wrote it off to the fact that I didn’t know what city any of OSU’s first three opponents were from. He brought it again on Monday against a talented UConn bunch and put up a tasty 18–8–1–2 line. His introduction as the perfect 6th man has been the biggest revelation to me over the first two weeks (other than Underwood’s supreme taste in Hawaiian shirts).

He’s taking good threes (and making them) and doing a lot of little stuff that was, ahem, not exactly a staple of the Travis Ford era. He’s moving without the ball, getting tip-ins and flying all over the court. Maybe he’s hitting his stride late in his career. Or maybe Underwood has affected him more than any other player. Either way, it is starting to transform my idea of what this team could possibly be.

4. It’s The Little Things

Watch these three plays, and then let’s chat.

That is what a team intent on doing little stuff well looks like. Is there a lot left to be desired when it comes to half-court offense? Absolutely. Can you let better teams shoot 70 percent in the second half and win a lot of ball games? No. Do you need a fourth scorer to emerge on offense? Yes. Does the defensive interior look softer than one of Bill Self’s toupees? Yes.

But the movement without the ball with this team so far is outrageous. Cam McGriff had a baseline pass to Mitch Solomon in the first half from the free throw line that made me clutch my chest. I saw more off-ball movement during some possessions on Monday than I saw in entire games in the Travis Ford era.

And the on-ball defense is swarming. It’s a joy to watch, frankly, and is something that I think is more sustainable than just praying your best dudes shoot the lights out every night. “Volume shooting” like we talked about earlier sounds bad, but it is actually a terrific strategy when your real strategy is “we’re going to get a lot of turnovers and try to create 8–10 extra possessions for ourselves every game.”

5. Beating UConn Is … Still Good

I don’t want to talk about how UConn lost to Wagner (or was it Wofford? Either way, egregious!) and a multi-directional school in the first two games of the season.

I don’t want to talk about how OSU was actually favored in this game.

I don’t want to talk about how UConn lost its best player and leading scorer to a knee injury in the first 10 minutes of the game on Monday.

Beating UConn in Maui is still beating UConn in Maui. They still have dudes. It’s not Central Arkansas. They won the last two Maui Invitationals they played in (2005 and 2010). They have Jalen Adams (can I get one of him on eBay somewhere?) They have a 7-foot rim protector in Amida Brimah.

And OSU still took the fight to them all day on Monday. OSU was relentless on defense and good enough on offense to get its first good win of the Brad Underwood era.

“Giving up 90 points still is not what we’re necessarily about,” said Phil Forte after the game. “We have some things we have to finish and how to close the game and everything. But in a tournament a win is a win, so we survive and advance. We get ready to play a good team tomorrow.”

More than anything, it was exciting to be excited about OSU hoops again. I had a genuine giddiness before the game started. The first half was a delight. The second half was a foregone conclusion. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been able to say that. Frankly, it felt like the Texas Tech football game from a few weeks ago. Win it early, hold on late and it never feels like it’s out of your control.

As long as North Carolina takes care of business against Chaminade on Monday evening, the Pokes will get the Tar Heels on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m.

It’s their first chance to announce their entrance as a legitimate contender in the Big 12 Conference (and possibly the national stage?) Is that hyperbole? Probably. But if you watched what I watched on Monday night, it’s pretty easy to get carried away.

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