Oklahoma State @ Baylor preview
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Last Meeting ( Mar 4, 2021 ) Oklahoma State 70, Baylor 81
Second-ranked Baylor was pushed more than anticipated during its Big 12 tournament quarterfinal contest and looks to step up its performance and effort when it squares off with No. 12 Oklahoma State in the conference semifinals on Friday night in Kansas City.
The top-seeded Bears (22-1) were sweating through the duration of their Thursday game against ninth-seeded Kansas State before escaping with a 74-68 victory.
They were sloppy too, committing a season-worst 21 turnovers but received help by the Wildcats having 17 miscues of their own. It wasn't the type of showing anyone forecasted after Baylor drilled Kansas State by 31 and 48 points during two regular-season matchups.
"I thought we were a little tentative," Bears coach Scott Drew said afterward. "In the first game, you have a little jitters. A lot of our guys hadn't played in the Big 12 tournament. They were really excited, and sometimes that makes you play hesitant."
Baylor will need to play much better in Friday's matchup despite winning the two regular-season meetings with the Cowboys by an average of 13 points.
Fifth-seeded Oklahoma State (19-7) is now hot and has won seven of its past eight games after producing a 72-69 victory over No. 10 West Virginia in its quarterfinal matchup.
Cowboys coach Mike Boynton isn't too worried about the regular-season results.
"We focus so much more on ourselves," Boynton said. "We played Baylor pretty recently, and we know how good they are."
Baylor standout Davion Mitchell is expecting a huge battle from an Oklahoma State squad clicking on all cylinders.
"They're really well coached," Mitchell said. "They're really talented, and they really play hard. Not just they're talented. Every time they play us, I feel like they play the hardest they ever play, but it's going to be a fun one."
Mitchell scored 23 points on Thursday, with MaCio Teague netting a game-high 24. Jared Butler scored 18 points but made seven turnovers while Mitchell committed six.
Teague didn't commit a turnover during a 10-of-15 shooting effort but he was able to dissect the reason for the shoddy play.
"It just felt like we tried to make a home run play a couple times early in the shot clock and stuff like that," Teague said. "We've just got to be sharper with the ball going forward."
Butler averages a team-best 17.2 points, followed by Teague (16.1) and Mitchell (14.2). The trio has combined for 162 3-pointers -- 62 by Butler, 54 by Mitchell and 46 by Teague.
Oklahoma State is led by Big 12 Player of the Year Cade Cunningham, and the freshman recorded 17 points and eight rebounds in the victory over West Virginia. Avery Anderson scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half.
Kalib Boone was a force in the interior with 10 rebounds and a career-best six blocked shots to help the Cowboys own a dominating 45-32 rebounding edge.
Cunningham, billed as the probable No. 1 overall choice in the 2021 NBA Draft, often overshadows his teammates but also goes out of his way to share credit.
"I know there's a lot of attention on me a lot of times, but we didn't get to this point being a one-man show, and I think that shows," said Cunningham, who averages a team-best 19.6 points per game. "... It's a team game, especially in March. You're not going to win with just one person. It's a team effort."
Anderson is on a roll as he scored a career-best 31 points in the regular-season finale -- also a win over West Virginia -- before his strong second half on Thursday. He also drove for the go-ahead layup with 55.1 seconds remaining.
"I'll just say that my work is finally paying off and showing," Anderson said of the two-game splurge that has raised his average to 11.1 "... You've got to stay the course, and that's what I'm trying to do."
Oklahoma State is 11-0 when holding opponents below 70 points.
--Field Level Media