Oklahoma State Embarrassed in Blowout Loss at West Virginia
Oklahoma State entered and left Morgantown without a win in Big 12 play.
OSU lost 69-50 at West Virginia in the team’s first conference road game this season. After beating the Mountaineers in the teams’ only meeting last season, the Cowboys were never competitive in this season’s lone battle.
The top storyline entering the matchup was the battle between OSU and its leading scorer from last season, Javon Small. Clearly, Small was a bit more fired up to play his former team. At halftime, OSU had only 19 points, while Small had 18 points in the first 20 minutes. Already leading the Big 12 in scoring entering Saturday, Small had no issues increasing his averages against the Cowboys, finishing with 24.
While the Cowboys got behind in the opening minutes, it was far from uncompetitive nearing the midpoint of the first half. After nine minutes, OSU trailed 10-6 in a sloppy affair. Then came the Mountaineers’ onslaught.
After Abou Ousmane cut the West Virginia lead to four, Jonathan Powell and Small alternated 3-pointers to make a 12-0 run and begin to break the game open. Bryce Thompson’s free throw momentarily stopped the bleeding before the Mountaineers went on a 10-0 run immediately after to extend its lead to 25 as part of a 22-1 extended run. The half mercifully ended with the Cowboys trailing 46-19 and firmly out of the ball game.
OSU’s struggles continued into the second half as it never made any strides toward making the game competitive again. OSU finished the afternoon shooting 33.3% from the floor, with 18 made shots and 17 turnovers.
OSU will look to get into the Big 12 win column for the first time again on Tuesday when it hosts Kansas State. As OSU looks to dig itself out of an early 0-2 conference hole, getting back on track in Gallagher-Iba Arena will be a must.
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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.