Oklahoma State Basketball: Takeaways from hard-fought win over UTA

1. Cowboys were really slow offensively, with a troubling time handling the Zone

One of the key issues coming into the season would be who is the #2 scoring option for the Cowboys? Cunningham is the clear volume shooter and deserves to get 20-25 shots per game. However, who is getting the next share of shots would be a big question mark.

That question was not answered against the Mavericks as they struggled all game to shoot from three and never found any sort of rhythm. Apart from Cunningham, the team as a whole shot 9-25 in the first half and no one had more than five points. It didn’t help, having seven turnovers and shooting 4-16 (25%) from beyond the arc.

Although the three-point shooting did not get better, the Cowboys made it an emphasis to score in the paint. They would finish shooting nearly 46% from the field, but only 28% from three, and barely got over the 50% threshold from the charity stripe.

The Cowboys would end up with a sloppy 18 turnovers as they collapsed against a relentless UTA zone that they were not afraid to run all game long. Chris Ogden set up a great game plan for the Mavs to immediately pressure an inexperienced team and was a major factor in keeping the Mavericks in the game.

However, the positive signs for the Cowboys were the rebounding presence as they dominated the Mavericks on the glass. Boone grabbed a total of rebounds and was constantly all over the glass, owning the Mavericks in that department.

Outside of Cunningham and Boone, there wasn’t else for the Cowboys to brag about offensively. That can be an alarming sign further down the road when playing against some of the better competition in the Big 12.