Cowboys find growth through fending off, upsetting No. 15 TCU

Feb. 4—Senior forward Kalib Boone and senior guard John-Michael Wright used one interaction to encapsulate Oklahoma State men's basketball's 79-73 win over No. 15 TCU on Saturday afternoon.

Sitting next to each other at a table in a room on the southwest corner of Gallagher-Iba Arena, Boone was finishing his response after being asked about what helped the Cowboys enjoy perhaps their best first half of the season.

But reflecting on the final 20 minutes, Boone lost track of one important detail. Upon remembering, he turned toward Wright to assure his recollection.

"What was it, 19 points?" Boone said. "Bro, we really blew a 19-point lead?"

"Still won the game," Wright responded with a smile.

That was a situation the Cowboys (14-9, 5-5 Big 12) would've crumbled in two months ago.

Back then, they were the ones known for allowing Southern Illinois to come back and steal a win. Back then, they were the ones known for allowing UCF to do the same thing a week later.

But that wasn't the case this time. After the Horned Frogs (17-6, 6-4 Big 12) fought their way back into the mix and took their first lead of the game at 60-59 with five minutes to play, the Cowboys rose to the occasion by making nine of their final 10 shots from the field.

That was the offense that got them the aforementioned lead, and it was the offense that was absent for most of the second half until it mattered the most.

"I mean, we done played in tough games in this league. We do it all the time. Every game we've played has been a tough one," Boone said. "We used to do the same thing: have a big lead, lose it and then lose the game. So, it's like learning. We decided we're not gonna let that happen again."

Boone and Wright played a crucial part in the Cowboys fending off the Frogs for their second win over a ranked opponent in as many weeks. They scored 16 of OSU's 20 points throughout the final five minutes, and that stretch embodied everything the two were able to do throughout the contest's entirety.

A Tulsa native, Boone dropped a career-high 25 points while going 11 for 15 in addition to grabbing six rebounds. He was able to take advantage of a mismatch down low, something created by his prowess in the post, and something created with TCU missing big man Eddie Lampkin Jr.

It was Boone's latest dominant performance in a two-week span full of them. After being held to 8 points in a blowout loss to Baylor, he's scored at least 13 points in each of the past six games — which has helped the Cowboys win five of those.

"I saw something in that kid as a freshman in high school, that I thought he could become the type of player we're seeing now," Cowboys coach Mike Boynton said. "I always knew he could be a guy, a guy who is one of the best players on one of the best teams in our league, and he's been showing that for the last month or so now."

As for Wright, who's in his first year at OSU after transferring from High Point, he went 4 of 6 from beyond the arc en route to a 17-point performance. That's the player that he's wanted to be since putting on bright orange, and that's the player that Boynton brought him in to be.

That's the player the Cowboys needed him to be against TCU, and that's exactly the player he was.

Without senior guard Avery Anderson III, who re-aggravated a lingering wrist injury during the win over Oklahoma on Feb. 1 and has come down with a slight cold since, Wright stepped up when OSU needed him most.

Perhaps his most impressive stretch of basketball this season included a personal 5-0 run to help the Cowboys regain the lead with a little more than three minutes to play. It featured a 3-pointer, a layup on the ensuing possession and, on the other end of the court, an acrobatic move to save the ball from going out of bounds — which ended with a transition slam from Boone.

"He was a little bit hesitant earlier in the year to do those types of things," Boynton said. "Part of it is coming in and embracing his role as a secondary scorer; probably took it too far. Still need him to find his aggressive points in the game."

And while Wright was prolific, he wasn't the only guard that shined against TCU.

Texas State transfer Caleb Asberry made the most of his first start this season, with Anderson missing a game for the first time since Dec. 16, 2020 — coincidentally, also a home game against the Frogs.

The 6-foot-3 senior had a season-high 19 points, more than any individual on TCU. He mirrored Anderson's scrappiness, too, inserting himself into rebound battles and tallying five boards.

Asberry, alongside Boone and Wright, was a spark for OSU's first-half production. That was apparent when he got a steal on a full-court press and, instead of waiting for his teammates to run back down the floor, pulled up from beyond the arc and buried the shot.

"He's never afraid," Boynton said of Asberry, who played his freshman season at Ranger College. "He's always had a chip on his shoulder. Usually, guys who have to go the (junior college) route have a different perspective on this stuff. ... I think he feels prepared. I think he feels like he's as good as anybody."

On the heels of their fifth win in six games — with four of those against Big 12 foes, and the other a 22-point throttling of Ole Miss in the Big 12/SEC Challenge — the Cowboys will meet with Texas Tech for the first time this season at 7 p.m. Wednesday in GIA.

And it won't matter that the Red Raiders will enter the contest having only one win in league play and an overall record of 12-11. After all, they trailed No. 13 Iowa State by 23 points on the road before escaping with a win in overtime.

Texas Tech isn't going to be an easy out. Boynton and the Cowboys know that, and they won't let a gritty win over TCU change anything.

"You never get comfortable. You always gotta understand that the next game is more difficult," Boynton said. "No matter how hard this game was, the next game is more difficult to win."

Follow News Press sports reporter Jon Walker on Twitter @ByJonWalker for updates on Oklahoma State athletics, Stillwater High and more.