Oklahoma State Sputters Against Cincinnati in First Round of Big 12 Tournament
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Oklahoma State’s season came to an end after a short trip to Kansas City.
OSU lost to Cincinnati 87-68 in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City on Tuesday. OSU couldn’t replicate its success against the Bearcats from Saturday’s matchup and secured back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1988.
The Cowboys were plagued by many of the issues that have been present throughout the season. They shot 44.6% from the floor, 44.4% from three and turned it over 24 times while not making up for those issues with their defense.
Abou Ousmane, who was a major key in OSU’s win against Cincinnati on Saturday, was nearly nonexistent in Kansas City, which significantly hurt OSU’s chances of winning. Ousmane had only four points, one rebound and three turnovers in 10 minutes of action. His day ended early in the second half when he picked up his fourth foul followed by a technical to foul him out.
OSU’s deficit at halftime was thanks in no small part to Cincinnati’s duo of Josh Reed and Dillon Mitchell. Those two combined to score 24 of Cincinnati’s 38 first-half points and spent much of the first half outscoring OSU on their own, with Reed already setting a new career-high by halftime with 15.
After OSU took a timeout in the final minute of the first half to set up a play, Cincinnati’s Day Day Thomas stole the inbounds and threw down an uncontested dunk in transition to extend the lead to 12. Going to the line in the final seconds of the half, Thomas nailed a couple of free throws to give the Bearcats their largest lead of the day. Arturo Dean’s high-arcing floater at the buzzer got OSU’s deficit back to 12, but OSU’s hole was large.
Despite the disappointing finish in Kansas City, the Cowboys still have reason to be proud of the effort they showed this season. The program still has a tough path ahead to truly compete in the Big 12 and get back to the NCAA Tournament, but this group of veteran players set the stage for the next era of OSU basketball.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.