Postgame Notes: Oklahoma State 68 vs Kansas 82

Oklahoma State's NCAA Tournament Résumé

· Oklahoma State has five Quadrant 1 wins and an additional five Quadrant 2 wins. Of the 12 teams listed in either the last four in, first four out or next four out section of Joe Lunardi's current Bracketology, only Oklahoma has more Quadrant 1 wins than Oklahoma State's five. If the criteria is extended out to Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2 victories, then none of those teams has more wins than Oklahoma State's 10.

· The Cowboys are tied for the national lead with four wins over top-10 opponents and six total ranked victories.

· Oklahoma State has seven wins over teams ranked in the top 50 of the current NCAA RPI system. Four of those seven wins came away from home. Additionally, OSU went on the road to beat RPI No. 51 Florida State.

· Oklahoma State has five wins over teams ranked in KenPom's current top 15 and nine wins over teams in KenPom's current top 50 this season.

· OSU is one of just eight teams to take down multiple ranked opponents in true road games.

· OSU has faced the nation's 21^st-toughest schedule according to KenPom.

· The NCAA RPI rates OSU's conference schedule as the fourth toughest nationally.

· Every loss on OSU's schedule is to a team currently among the projected NCAA Tournament field according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi. Conversely, the Cowboys have six wins over projected tournament teams. The "worst" loss on OSU's schedule is to RPI No. 62 Kansas State.

· OSU has faced eight Quadrant 4 opponents, but there is a bit of bad luck involved in that figure. The Cowboys faced Pittsburgh in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn and couldn't have estimated the Panthers would have an RPI of 210. Pitt's five-year RPI average entering the 2017-18 season was 58.4. Oral Roberts (180.4), Charlotte (180.8) and Pepperdine (181.1) also showed much higher five-year RPI averages than their current ranking.

· The Cowboys finished the regular season with eight Big 12 wins. Since the conference expanded to the double-round robin format, four of the five teams to finish 8-10 in Big 12 play earned an at-large big to the NCAA Tournament.

Team Notes

· Oklahoma State put together a 12-0 first-half run to open up a double-digit lead at 24-14 with 11:27 remaining before half. Kansas responded with a 21-6 run of its own to take a 35-30 lead. The Cowboys settled in and regained the lead with 2:51 left. From there, the two teams essentially traded baskets until KU took a 43-42 lead into halftime. OSU had the lead for 11:02 of the first half.

· In the second half, Kansas went on a 14-0 run to open up a 66-50 lead with 7:59 remaining. During that stretch, the Cowboys missed seven consecutive shots from the field, with six of those seven attempts coming from three-point range. That was the key stretch of the game that put the Cowboys in a hole too deep to dig out of.

· The Cowboys grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in the game that produced 19 second-chance points. OSU also grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in its first-round win over Oklahoma on Wednesday.

· Including Thursday's game, the Cowboys are now 16-2 when they make nine or more 3-pointers in a game, and 3-12 when they hit eight or less.

· Oklahoma State knocked down five shots from three-point range to extend its streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer to 581, dating back to January 13, 2001.

· When considering what outsiders thought about Oklahoma State entering the season, it is clear that the Cowboys are ahead of schedule under first-year head coach Mike Boynton. The Cowboys were picked to finish last in the Big 12 Preseason Coaches poll, but ended the regular season in a four-way tie for sixth place at 8-10 in league play. According to KenPom, OSU was projected to win two Big 12 Conference games this season. The Cowboys won eight during the regular season, then beat Oklahoma in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Player Notes

· Junior forward Yankuba Sima set a career high by scoring 11 points, all of which came in the first half. His previous career high was seven points against Texas earlier in the season.

· Senior guard Jeffrey Carroll scored 17 points and added seven rebounds. Carroll is one of just 14 players in school history - and one of just eight Cowboys listed 6-6 or shorter - to rank in the top 25 in school history in both career scoring and rebounding. The senior now ranks 20th in school history with 1,353 career points, which is third among all active Big 12 players behind only Jevon Carter (1,633) and Devonte Graham (1,599). He also ranks 22nd in rebounding in OSU history with 559 boards.

· Including his 14 points against Kansas Thursday, Kendall Smith has now scored in double-figures in 12 of the last 14 games, including six 20-point performances. Over this span, Smith has scored 229 points (16.4 points per game on 26 of 58 shooting from beyond the arc (.448 pct.). In Big 12 play, Smith shot a scorching 47.3 percent from 3-point, which ranked second in the conference. He also averaged 14.2 points, which ranked 13th in the league.

· Senior forward Mitchell Solomon scored 10 and grabbed five rebounds. It was his 14^th double-figure scoring game of the season.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jeffrey Carroll

Yankuba Sima

Kendall Smith

Mitchell Solomon

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