Three Takeaways From Oklahoma State Basketball's Win Over SC State

The Cowboys won their fourth straight basketball game on Sunday as they enter the new year.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys routed the South Carolina State Bulldogs 86-70 on Sunday. For the Cowboys, they started the game off slowly, though they were knocking down 3-pointers efficiently. The main reason the game was close at the break was because of turnovers. 

Here are three takeaways from the Cowboys' win over the Bulldogs.

- Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. As mentioned, this is the biggest reason the game was still close at halftime when it shouldn't have been. Especially when the Cowboys were shooting the basketball really well. Once they quit turning the ball over in the second half and were able to get back and play stout defense, everything opened up for them. 

Moving into the new year, and, most importantly, conference play, the Cowboys will have to clean up the turnovers. In a game like that against a team like Baylor or Kansas, they'll be packed up by halftime.

- Offensive balance. Each of Oklahoma State's five starters ended up in double figures scoring. Getting out in transition and maintaining ball movement in the half-court makes each player a three, thus making Oklahoma State much, much more difficult to guard.

If the ball is swinging to each side of the court, the Cowboys are much more likely to put up more and more points, but they've got to avoid turnovers in doing so. Creating an offensive rhythm is huge for this group.

- Taking momentum into the new year. Given the start of the season, the Cowboys needed this win. They end 2023 with a 7-5 record after starting the season 3-5. With one more non-conference game on the schedule, the Cowboys have one more opportunity to create more momentum and take that into the Big 12 schedule.

Much like Oklahoma State's football season, the start of the season is shaky but there seems to be more than enough talent that just needs to find its way and they can come away with some big wins.

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