STILLWATER — Reavis Hammond had not been to a basketball game in Gallagher-Iba Arena since the Marcus Smart era, but the Oklahoma State senior thought he would like to see OSU play No. 6 Baylor on Wednesday.
Without a ticket, Hammond took a shot Wednesday afternoon, sending a tweet to Cowboys coach Brad Underwood. It took all of 19 minutes for Underwood to reply, telling him to pick it up at GIA’s northeast entrance. “U got my last one!” Underwood said. The ticket for his first home game in three years was prime: Second row behind the Cowboy bench.
Hammond, like many Oklahoma State students, has not been around the old arena as much as previous generations. But that is beginning to change.
Oklahoma State lost to Baylor 72-69 in front of 8,170, snapping OSU’s five-game winning streak. Baylor’s size — led by 6-foot-10 Johnathan Motley, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds — caused mismatches for OSU (15-9, 4-7 Big 12) all night, both in the paint and in the 36-25 rebounding margin in favor of BU (21-3, 8-3).
But in the final four minutes, something also felt like it was won: The fans — particularly the students — bellowed and shrieked to a volume that left ears ringing. It was the arena’s loudest moment of the season and the Cowboys players fed off it. The Baylor players panicked and OSU nearly came back from a 13-point deficit with four minutes to play.
In those final four minutes, after Baylor took a 70-57 lead, the Bears turned the ball over four times, missed all three field goals it attempted and, with no timeouts for the final 2:11, nearly gave Oklahoma State its second consecutive win over a top-10 team.
Baylor players could not hear a thing.
“Crazy loud,” Motley said.
“We couldn’t hear anything either,” senior Phil Forte said, “so that was just helping us play harder and dive after loose balls.”
Both the gesture from Underwood and the atmosphere in the arena led Hammond, who attended OSU’s win at Oklahoma last week, to say he needs to come back for more games at GIA.
That would be music to the ears of OSU players, who recognized the crowd’s effect on the game late.
The game was a struggle for 36 minutes, as Baylor’s length affected OSU at both ends. The Cowboys could not create open shots in the paint or beyond the arc, making a season-low five 3-pointers.
The Bears also controlled the glass. No OSU player had more than five rebounds. Jeffrey Carroll, Leyton Hammonds and Cameron McGriff grabbed three rebounds in 75 minutes combined.
But down 13 with four minutes to play, something seemed to click for Oklahoma State.
After an Jawun Evans layup cut the score to 70-61, Baylor used its final timeout with 2:11 to play.
That is when Oklahoma State ramped up its pressure defense, for which Baylor had no answers — and no timeouts to save it.
“They weren’t ready for it,” Evans said.
Evans stole the basketball from point guard Manu Lecomte and fed Forte up the floor for a 3-pointer to cut the lead to six.
Then, even after Baylor beat the pressure, Motley was sped up into a turnover. A McGriff free throw cut the deficit to five.
Evans stole the ball in the backcourt from Lecomte and made a quick layup to narrow the lead to 70-67 with 1:27 to play. Twenty seconds later, Mitchell Solomon came up with a steal. An Evans jumper completed a 12-0 run — of which the final eight points came in a 63-second span.
All while fans behind both baskets jumped up and down on the plastic, orange bleachers to urge the comeback forward.
The comeback fell short, however, thanks to the final two offensive possessions. Down one, Evans tried to create and appeared to have a small cranny in the paint to throw up a shot. Baylor center Jo Lual-Acuil closed it with a long-armed block.
Then, down 72-69, Oklahoma State had the ball last. But Evans missed a 3-pointer over Lual-Acuil, and Forte’s off-balance three at the buzzer came up just short.
The Cowboys lost two games to Baylor by a combined seven points.
But OSU may have gained something in the process: A burgeoning, reinvigorated home-court advantage.
“I thought the fans that were here tonight did a very good job of trying to get us back into the game,” Forte said. “They didn’t quit on us.”
Mark Cooper
918-581-8387
mark.cooper@tulsaworld.com
Twitter: @mark_cooperjr
Without a ticket, Hammond took a shot Wednesday afternoon, sending a tweet to Cowboys coach Brad Underwood. It took all of 19 minutes for Underwood to reply, telling him to pick it up at GIA’s northeast entrance. “U got my last one!” Underwood said. The ticket for his first home game in three years was prime: Second row behind the Cowboy bench.
Hammond, like many Oklahoma State students, has not been around the old arena as much as previous generations. But that is beginning to change.
Oklahoma State lost to Baylor 72-69 in front of 8,170, snapping OSU’s five-game winning streak. Baylor’s size — led by 6-foot-10 Johnathan Motley, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds — caused mismatches for OSU (15-9, 4-7 Big 12) all night, both in the paint and in the 36-25 rebounding margin in favor of BU (21-3, 8-3).
But in the final four minutes, something also felt like it was won: The fans — particularly the students — bellowed and shrieked to a volume that left ears ringing. It was the arena’s loudest moment of the season and the Cowboys players fed off it. The Baylor players panicked and OSU nearly came back from a 13-point deficit with four minutes to play.
In those final four minutes, after Baylor took a 70-57 lead, the Bears turned the ball over four times, missed all three field goals it attempted and, with no timeouts for the final 2:11, nearly gave Oklahoma State its second consecutive win over a top-10 team.
Baylor players could not hear a thing.
“Crazy loud,” Motley said.
“We couldn’t hear anything either,” senior Phil Forte said, “so that was just helping us play harder and dive after loose balls.”
Both the gesture from Underwood and the atmosphere in the arena led Hammond, who attended OSU’s win at Oklahoma last week, to say he needs to come back for more games at GIA.
That would be music to the ears of OSU players, who recognized the crowd’s effect on the game late.
The game was a struggle for 36 minutes, as Baylor’s length affected OSU at both ends. The Cowboys could not create open shots in the paint or beyond the arc, making a season-low five 3-pointers.
The Bears also controlled the glass. No OSU player had more than five rebounds. Jeffrey Carroll, Leyton Hammonds and Cameron McGriff grabbed three rebounds in 75 minutes combined.
But down 13 with four minutes to play, something seemed to click for Oklahoma State.
After an Jawun Evans layup cut the score to 70-61, Baylor used its final timeout with 2:11 to play.
That is when Oklahoma State ramped up its pressure defense, for which Baylor had no answers — and no timeouts to save it.
“They weren’t ready for it,” Evans said.
Evans stole the basketball from point guard Manu Lecomte and fed Forte up the floor for a 3-pointer to cut the lead to six.
Then, even after Baylor beat the pressure, Motley was sped up into a turnover. A McGriff free throw cut the deficit to five.
Evans stole the ball in the backcourt from Lecomte and made a quick layup to narrow the lead to 70-67 with 1:27 to play. Twenty seconds later, Mitchell Solomon came up with a steal. An Evans jumper completed a 12-0 run — of which the final eight points came in a 63-second span.
All while fans behind both baskets jumped up and down on the plastic, orange bleachers to urge the comeback forward.
The comeback fell short, however, thanks to the final two offensive possessions. Down one, Evans tried to create and appeared to have a small cranny in the paint to throw up a shot. Baylor center Jo Lual-Acuil closed it with a long-armed block.
Then, down 72-69, Oklahoma State had the ball last. But Evans missed a 3-pointer over Lual-Acuil, and Forte’s off-balance three at the buzzer came up just short.
The Cowboys lost two games to Baylor by a combined seven points.
But OSU may have gained something in the process: A burgeoning, reinvigorated home-court advantage.
“I thought the fans that were here tonight did a very good job of trying to get us back into the game,” Forte said. “They didn’t quit on us.”
Mark Cooper
918-581-8387
mark.cooper@tulsaworld.com
Twitter: @mark_cooperjr
