No Texas school has won the Big 12 tournament. Oklahoma State could be the team that keeps the drought intact Thursday — courtesy of a trio of Texans on its roster.

Cade Cunningham, Avery Anderson III and Isaac Likekele all played significant roles in helping No. 12 Oklahoma State to a 72-69 victory over No. 10 West Virginia in the quarterfinals. Next up for the Cowboys is top-seed Baylor at 5:30 p.m. Friday with a trip to Saturday’s championship game on the line.

Cunningham, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft who grew up in Arlington, is showcasing why there’s so much buzz around him. The true freshman tied for the team lead with 17 points Thursday to go along with eight rebounds and four assists.

Anderson, a sophomore guard from Justin Northwest, has emerged as a scoring threat for the Cowboys down the stretch. He matched Cunningham with 17 points, including scoring the go-ahead bucket for Oklahoma State with less than a minute to go.

And then Likekele, the junior point guard out of Mansfield Timberview, made clutch plays late including blocking a 3-point attempt by WVU just before the buzzer. He finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Coach Mike Boynton raved about his players from North Texas, pointing to his program’s philosophy on recruiting players who come from winning backgrounds.

Nobody embodies that more than Likekele, who led Mansfield Timberview to the 2017 Class 5A state championship.

“He’s a winner,” Boynton said of Likekele. “Cade’s a winner. We have guys who all won and all understand what it takes to have success as a team.

“[Likekele] leads us,” the coach continued. “He’s always talking about the little things that maybe don’t get a whole lot of fanfare. He’s talking about blocking out and running shooters off the line and securing rebounds with two hands. I’d say he’s pretty close to having a master’s in winning at this point.”

Likekele is not alone.

Anderson had an impressive high school career at Justin Northwest, helping it reach the Class 5A state tournament in 2017 and 2018.

And Cunningham impressed early in his high school career at Arlington Bowie, leading it to the District 6A Region I final as a freshman and then being named the District 4-6A co-MVP as a sophomore. Cunningham closed his high school career by playing for Montverde High School in Florida.

Those winning backgrounds are paying off for Oklahoma State, which looks like a team poised to make a March run. The Cowboys have won seven of their last eight and are headed toward a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“I don’t think anybody expected us to be at this point, especially whenever the sanctions came down and we wouldn’t make the postseason,” said Cunningham, referring to the NCAA’s postseason ban on Oklahoma State issued last summer that is under appeal.

“They thought everybody would probably leave or whatever, but to see everybody stay the course and buy in to the system that coach had set in place, I’m excited. I’m excited to see how far we can go with this.”

Before the Big Dance, they’d love to knock off Baylor today and eliminate Texas’ best chance to end the state’s winless drought in the conference tournament. The Bears survived an upset scare against No. 9-seed Kansas State, 74-68, on Thursday.

The Bears swept the season series against the Cowboys, winning 81-66 in Stillwater on Jan. 23 and 81-70 in Waco on March 4.

“We’ve got everybody back, so I think everybody is ready to play them again,” Anderson said. “I’m ready at least.”

Cunningham, seated next to Anderson, shook his head in agreement.

Another Jung at Tech

Texas Rangers prospect Josh Jung had a stellar career at Texas Tech before being drafted with the eighth overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft.

His brother is carrying on the Jung tradition well for the Red Raiders. Jace Jung is leading the Big 12 with six home runs and has a .404 batting average so far this season.

Another freshman off to a hot start in the Big 12? Baylor’s Jared McKenzie, who’s batting .408 with five homers.

Women honors

The Big 12 released its All-Big 12 women’s basketball team this week.

TCU senior guard Lauren Heard earned first-team honors as well as being named to the league’s all-defensive team.

Baylor’s NaLyssa Smith was named the conference’s player of the year with her teammate DiJonai Carrington being named newcomer and sixth player of the year. Oklahoma State’s Natasha Mack was the defensive player of the year, and Iowa State’s Lexi Donarski was the freshman of the year.

Oklahoma State’s Jim Littell was named the coach of the year.

Get the Horned Frogs Extra newsletter

Get the latest news regarding TCU athletics in your inbox every Thursday morning.

SIGN UP