'It's very frustrating': Oklahoma State searching for consistency after road loss to Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Two minutes and 54 seconds into the game, Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton called a timeout.

He was frustrated. The Cowboys players were shell-shocked.

No. 23-ranked Texas had scored 11 straight points. OSU had missed all four shots. The 13,203 fans were nearly all standing as noise filled the Frank Erwin Center.

OSU needed a reset in a tough road environment.

“I wasn’t surprised that they started the game off as well as they did,” Boynton said. “I was more surprised that we didn’t respond before the timeout.”

OSU did respond with its lock-down defense and even led for nearly 10 minutes, but in a season mired with ups and downs, inconsistency still ruled the day.

It centered on the offense.

The Cowboys sputtered with the basketball, especially in the second half. That led to an aggravating 56-51 loss Saturday afternoon to the Longhorns to end a promising two-game win streak.

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And it left OSU searching for answers.

“It’s very frustrating,” OSU guard Rondel Walker said. “I just don’t see how we don’t come out with a certain assertiveness and aggressiveness towards the other team. I feel like it shouldn’t take us getting down 11-0 to wake up.

“I feel like as a team we need to figure out what we need to do to come out and get better starts, because as league play gets harder and harder we’re not going to be able to spot teams 11 points.”

The Cowboys (10-8, 3-4 Big 12) have played eight straight opponents ranked or receiving votes in The Associated Press’ Top 25 poll. Another likely comes Wednesday when they host No. 15 Iowa State.

In those games, OSU has shot just 37.3%, including Saturday’s 37.5% overall. The Cowboys also shot just 32.1% overall in the second half.

That put too much pressure on a defense that forced 20 turnovers and held Texas to just 36.7% shooting.

“I always feel like our defense is good enough,” OSU veteran Isaac Likekele said. “Holding a team to 56 on the road, I think that’s good enough to win a Big 12 game.

“We weren't sharp enough offensively as a team, though.”

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The Cowboys were without super-senior Bryce Williams, who suffered a sprained ankle Wednesday against TCU. But they weren’t using that as an excuse.

It did change the offense, though.

Bryce Thompson, who scored a career-high 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting — played more point guard. He was again the go-to guy late in the game.

No other OSU player scored more than six points.

The ball movement was not quite there. Boynton said too many players tried to make individual plays. It led to what he labeled uncharacteristic mistakes.

Like a lane violation on Thompson’s free shot with 2:30 remaining that ended a three-point play. Or an offensive foul by Kalib Boone on a screen with 1:56 remaining. Or when OSU took 12 seconds to foul Courtney Ramey to put him at the free-throw line with 11 seconds remaining, losing a chance at some crucial time.

“Those are some things that we have to get down,” Thompson said. “That’s the difference between winning and losing.”

Right now, the Cowboys are struggling to capture consistency.

After getting down 13-0, they went on a 16-0 run. Texas did not score for 10:15 and committed nine turnovers in the stretch. The Longhorns made just five more field goals in the half.

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“We got punched in the mouth and woke up,” said Walker, who had a career-high six steals.

But the Cowboys still only led by as much as four in the first half. Texas’ defense clamped down even more in the second half as OSU made just three of its first 15 shots.

The Longhorns led by nine with 5:15 remaining. OSU cut it down to three multiple times, but it was unable to get over the hump.

How the Cowboys find consistency in their final 12 games is the challenge.

“Just gotta grow up,” Boynton said. “I don’t think it’s rocket science. We’ve got guys stepping into new roles and trying to figure out who’s going to lead the team on a given day.

“But we just gotta get guys collectively to grow up and be more accountable to bringing it every single game, mentally not physically. We got a bunch of guys who have never had to carry a team through this gauntlet.

“Last year was a little easier. We had a cheat code (Cade Cunningham) every time we walked into a building. This year, we’ve got a bunch of guys who gotta learn how to get better.”

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. Texas basketball score, recap of Cowboys' loss to Longhorns