Cowboys Prepare for Bedlam Showdown No. 2
STILLWATER -- What else can be said about this game other than it's Bedlam and it should be an exciting game. Oklahoma State, sans the 65-47 drubbing from West Virginia earlier this week, seems to finally have gotten over the hump and is playing some solid basketball.
That streak includes a 72-57 win over TCU, a near-upset of No. 1 Baylor in Waco, a 64-59 win over Kansas State and a 73-70 upset of then No. 24 Texas Tech.
“I think it’s good,” said head coach Mike Boynton on the team’s confidence level. “We’ve played probably five consecutive, pretty good games. One half of that five (the second half against West Virginia) wasn’t good. We’ve gotta keep that in perspective, especially considering we’re playing better basketball, getting better. Saturday will be another opportunity to show our improvement.”
Probably one of the best ways to show their improvement is to show that their communication is solid. The last time out against Oklahoma, the Cowboys really struggled with communication on the court. Personally, I believe that that game was a wake up call because we saw an impressive run of basketball from the Pokes.
Thursday morning, Mike Boynton addressed what he and the coaching staff have done to try and improve the team's on-court communication.
“Well, turn the music off in practice and not let it kind of drown out their own voices. Give them an opportunity to help each other more. It’s important to me; like I said before, [Manek] had made five threes before the first media timeout. It’s one of the few games here in the last month or so that we just haven’t been locked in on game plan and I look forward to seeing us bounce back from it.”
This is an exciting Bedlam as it's the 240th edition of the rivalry, making it one of the longest-running rivalry series in the country. While the Sooners hold a 140-99 lead in the series, the Cowboys hold a 63-46 lead in Stillwater.
“It’s always important," coach Boynton said of defending GIA. "I think it’s something that we’ve gotta be better at just in general. We’ve lost too many games at home just in general. I don’t know if it goes beyond my tenure here. I don’t know how far it goes back, but we gotta get back to defending this place because it’s a pretty special place, especially when our fans are into it. We’ve had really good crowds considering our struggles. Our fans are doing their part. Now it’s time for our team to show up every night and do their part.”
We'll have a preview of the match up Saturday morning, but tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Gallagher-Iba Arena and is being televised on ESPN2.
