Oklahoma State's Final Seconds vs. K-State Could Loom Large for Rest of Season

The Cowboys desperately needed the result they got on Saturday night.

Jan 17, 2026; Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA; Vyctorius Miller (5) of the Oklahoma State Cowboys drives to the basket around C.J. Jones (3) of the Kansas State Wildcats during the first half at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

Oklahoma State narrowly avoided another crushing defeat, and it might have been the result that saves the season.

On Saturday night, OSU hosted Kansas State for a late-night Big 12 battle. After the teams played tight the entire way, the game predictably came down to the final seconds.

After the Pokes had some wild offense in the final moments, resulting in a couple of missed Kanye Clary threes while trailing by two. Eventually, a jump ball went in OSU’s favor and gave the Pokes one more opportunity to make something happen.

Again, not much looked promising for the Cowboys until Vyctorius Miller rose up in the left corner for three and was fouled by Abdi Bashir to set up a magical moment in Stillwater. Miller stepped up to the line and nailed all three free throws to hand the Cowboys a one-point lead.

After the Wildcats cleverly got the ball into the frontcourt and called timeout, Kansas State coach Jerome Tang seemingly displayed some low basketball IQ, expecting the Pokes to foul on the final play despite there being only two seconds on the clock. That poor decision led to the Wildcats having P.J. Haggerty toss up a heave from near midcourt as time expired, giving OSU a much-needed conference win.

After securing some tight wins in nonconference play this season, it was clear that the Cowboys were more than ready for the moment. In their first game in Big 12 play that came down to the final seconds, the Cowboys prevailed just as they did in similar situations earlier in the year, and it might be exactly what they needed to get back on track.

After a disappointing loss against Baylor at home on Tuesday, OSU’s margin for error was slim against the Wildcats. Needing every win they can get against the teams not at the top of the Big 12, the Cowboys knew that losing to a .500 Kansas State squad wasn’t an option.

Ideally, OSU would’ve liked to play better from start to finish, but with a team like OSU still figuring things out early in Big 12 play, it’s hard for anyone in Stillwater to complain when the result is a win. Throughout the night, not everything went OSU’s way, but it still did just enough to earn its second Big 12 win.

OSU has a tough slate coming up and will need to perform much better to continue adding to the win column, but Saturday night’s outing was a much-needed performance for the Pokes.

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