Oklahoma State's Struggles Persist, Can't Hang With No. 12 Texas Tech
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Oklahoma State’s woes against ranked teams continued with another blowout loss.
On Saturday, OSU lost to No. 12 Texas Tech 93-55 in Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater. After losing on a last-second shot at TCU on Wednesday, OSU had a chance to regroup and get back in the win column. Instead, the negatives are piling up for the Cowboys again, as they drop below .500 for the first time this season.
Entering halftime, OSU already had a sizeable deficit and had its work cut out to even make the score look competitive. Rather than make a run to get back into the contest, OSU allowed an 11-1 Texas Tech run within the first three minutes of the second half to push the Cowboys’ deficit to 29.
After OSU had made a second-half comeback in Lubbock in the teams’ first meeting, it couldn’t capture the same luck it had a few weeks ago. JT Toppin continued his hot streak for Texas Tech, putting up 32 points in Stillwater. While OSU came out flat in the second half, it was the Cowboys’ first half that set them up for failure.
As it has done in many games this season, OSU dug itself an early hole. A 9-0 Texas Tech run in the first few minutes pushed the Red Raiders' lead to seven before they continued to add one and earned a double-digit advantage less than eight minutes into the game thanks to an 8-0 run.
While the Cowboys would soon respond to the Texas Tech runs and cut their deficit back down to five, their luck quickly ran dry. After getting their lead cut to 20-15, the Red Raiders began to dominate.
Texas Tech got its lead back to double figures but mostly traded baskets for a few minutes before shutting the door on OSU to end the half. A 9-0 run with under two minutes remaining stretched the Red Raiders’ lead to 20 before Arturo Dean’s free throw got the game to 43-24 going into halftime.
The Cowboys’ hopes of being competitive in the Big 12 are all but over as their attention shifts to Wednesday night when they host UCF.
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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.