BYU forward Fousseyni Traore (45) shoots over Oklahoma State guard Quion Williams (5) in the first half of the NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, in Stillwater, Okla. (AP Photo/Mitch Alcala)
AP
All five of Oklahoma State’s starters scored in double figures and the Cowboys, in last place in the Big 12, upset No. 19 BYU 93-83 Saturday afternoon in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Oklahoma State never trailed in snapping BYU’s two-game winning streak, taking a 49-34 halftime lead and leading by as many as 20 points in the second half.
The Cougars trimmed the deficit to 76-67 with 4:30 remaining but gave up a three-point play to freshman Jamyron Keller and lost their late-game momentum.
Keller finished with a career-high 22 points for Oklahoma State, which has won three straight home games.
Fousseyni Traore led BYU with 17 points off the bench.
BYU dropped to 6-6 in Big 12 play, 18-7 overall, with its first Quad 3 loss of the season. Oklahoma State improved to 3-9 and 11-14.
Here are 3 keys to Oklahoma State’s upset win at home:
• BYU didn’t take its defense to Stillwater. The Cowboys led 49-34 at halftime, meaning the Cougars gave up 111 points in their last two halves after UCF put 62 points on them in Provo on Tuesday. Oklahoma State and UCF have two of the worst offenses in the Big 12, statistically.
Oklahoma State finished the game shooting 60% from the field, and 11 of 22 from the 3-point line. Making his first career start, Keller was 4 of 4 from 3-point range.
• BYU makes the second-most 3-pointers in the country, but one would never know it by how the Cougars shot the ball from deep Saturday in Stillwater. BYU was 2 of 16 from the 3-point line in the first half, enabling OSU to jump out to its big lead, and finished 8 of 35 from beyond the arc.
BYU point guard Dallin Hall struggled against OSU’s physical, athletic guards. He finished with 12 points but had just four assists and five turnovers.
• Keller will hope to see BYU in every game after basically torching the Cougars in his first career start. The guard was 5 off 5 from the field in the first half, 2 of 2 from deep, and had 13 points at the break when the Cowboys were dominating.
Another OSU freshman, Brandon Garrison, took over in the second half and scored a career-high 21 points on 7 of 8 shooting.