On Saturday afternoon in Stillwater, Oklahoma, two Big 12 teams clashed in an exciting matchup.
Steve Lutz and the Oklahoma State Cowboys welcomed Wes Miller and the Cincinnati Bearcats to Gallagher-Iba Arena for the final game of the Big 12 regular season. Oklahoma State came out of the gates hot before Cincinnati adjusted and fought their way back into the game. In the end, Lutz’s squad kept Cincinnati at bay and finished with a big win.
With that, here are the top three takeaways from Oklahoma State’s 78-67 win over the Bearcats.
What A Game!
For a game that didn’t have much riding on it in terms of post-season circumstances, Saturday’s matchup between Oklahoma State and Cincinnati turned out to be an incredible watch.
At one point, Oklahoma State led by 18 but was unable to keep the Bearcats from making a run. Cincinnati pushed back all the way to a one-point game but could not get over the hump.
Six scorers reached double figures in the game, including Cincinnati’s Jizzle James (17), Dan Skillings (15), and Day Day Thomas (12), and Oklahoma State’s Abou Ousmane (24), Bryce Thompson (16), and Marchelus Avery (10).
Stuck at 65
For the second straight game, Cincinnati fans watched their team fail to execute in the final minutes of a game. The group went ice cold in the final minutes of regulation vs. Kansas State, a 54-49 loss, and the same happened against Oklahoma State with the team down by one.
With 4:31 remaining, senior guard Simas Lukosius swished a three to put the game at 66-65. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, that would be their last bucket for the next four minutes. During the final minutes of the game, Cincinnati did not score until Dan Skillings made a jump shot in garbage time to finish the game at 78-67.
Get it Together!
While this may not have affected everyone tuning in to the game, ESPN+ picked an awful time to have a bad day. Heading down the stretch with Oklahoma State leading Cincinnati by five with a little more than a minute remaining, ESPN+ coverage of the game shut down.
In the most crucial moments of the contest, ESPN+ blacked out and returned with a graphic that read, “We are experiencing technical difficulties.”
ESPN, that cannot happen. End of story.
