'The selfish mindset': How Oklahoma State built big lead, collapsed late in loss to Florida

Oklahoma State’s promising day turned into major disappointment.

A double-digit lead on the road, that vanished. A chance for a confidence-boosting win, that also disappeared.

On a day the Cowboys played to their potential for 20 minutes, they ultimately stumbled. OSU fell 81-72 to short-handed Florida on Saturday in Gainesville, Florida, collapsing after a 16-point lead in the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge.

“It’s tough because we played the right way in the first half and the right way gave us an opportunity to have a double-digit lead on a talented team on the road after having struggled this week,” OSU coach Mike Boynton said on the radio broadcast. “But to come out in the second half and not have that same edge, that same competitive mindset is really, really disappointing.”

OSU has lost three straight games and is now .500 on the season at 10-10 ahead of Wednesday’s matchup at Kansas State.

Isaac Likekele led OSU with 14 points, while Bryce Thompson added 12 despite foul issues. Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe also had nine points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

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Selfishness overwhelms Cowboys offense

OSU got selfish.

After a great first half offensively — more on that later — the Cowboys did the opposite in the second half.

The Cowboys had just one assist and 12 turnovers in the final 20 minutes. In the opening half — when the 16 point lead was built — they had nine turnovers and four assists.

“That just tells you what type of mentality that we started playing with — the selfish mindset, which is internal,” Likekele said.

Those second-half turnovers led to 15 Florida points.

And in less than 12 minutes of the second half, Florida had the lead it never relented.

“You can’t win on the road when that happens,” Boynton said about the lack of assists and excessive turnovers.

OSU shot just 30% overall in the second half with the lack of ball movement and made just 12 of 17 at the free-throw line.

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Foul issues, turnovers plague Cowboys

It’s easy to look at the foul discrepancy and point to officials.

But that’s not the best way to examine the Cowboys’ foul troubles that allowed Florida to dominate the second half.

The Cowboys simply did not guard well enough to avoid fouling. They fell for pump fake after pump fake.

OSU committed 19 fouls in the second half, putting Florida on the free-throw line early and often.

The Gators made 26 of 32 at the line in the half, using that as a primary way to cut the huge deficit (even before the final minutes when OSU was fouling intentionally). Florida made just nine field goals in the second half and scored 49 points.

“Their backs were against the wall and they just came out and punched us in the mouth, really,” Thompson said.

Florida made 33 of 41 from the line, while OSU made just 12 of 19.

Avery Anderson III and Thompson were on the bench throughout most of the half with four fouls, hindering the offense with limited ballhandling options.

Keylan Boone also dealt with foul issues.

Florida’s comeback started with a poor foul to end the first half by Anderson that led to two free shots by Tyree Appleby with 2 seconds left. The Gators opened the second half with the basketball and a trey by Kowacie Reeves, a five-point swing before OSU even touched the ball.

From there, things got wacky for the Cowboys.

“We lost collectively our minds there defensively to start the second half, just being out of position, over-pursuing the basketball and we just didn’t play like a mature team today,” Boynton said. “On the road, if you don’t play mature basketball, the result is what it was today.”

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Scorching first half

Throughout the first half, OSU looked like the team it was built to be.

Spacing was great. Tempo was quick. Patience was there as needed. Shots fell.

OSU shot a blistering 63% in the opening half, making 7 of 10 from 3-point range.

Boone and Thompson each hit three 3-pointers. And the Cowboys had a 16-point advantage.

“We came out executing our gameplan,” Thompson said. “We were able to get out, get easy buckets, get 3s and defend. I think we executed that very well in the first half.”

This followed Wednesday’s loss against Iowa State, when the Cowboys shot 47.3% overall. After a poor stretch in which OSU shot better than 40% once in eight games, it has eclipsed that in two straight games.

The Cowboys did shine defensively as well, which aided the offense.

Florida shot just 34.5% and committed six turnovers in the opening half. The Gators were 5 of 20 from 3-point range, too.

OSU could not hold the lead.

And now the Cowboys are again looking for a bounceback with just 10 games remaining in the season.

“I know these kids, I think they’ll respond again the right way,” Boynton said. “For us, it’s gotta be a sustained response, though. We’re having responses that get us a little bit of what we want and then we revert back to the things that have plagued us.

“It’s certainly to us as a staff and I’d imagine to them as the players, too, but it’s on us to fix it.”

Jacob Unruh covers college sports for The Oklahoman. You can send your story ideas to him at junruh@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @jacobunruh. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSU vs. Florida men's basketball score: Cowboys blow big lead in loss