Oklahoma State’s first road trip of the season began in Rochester, Mich., and continues Friday in Nassau, Bahamas, where the Cowboys will meet UCF in the opener of the Baha Mar Hoops tournament.
“It’s pretty neat,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. “Obviously, we get to do stuff like this during our season. Football, they do this kind of stuff, it’s like a bowl game for them at the end of the year. … For us, we’re excited; we get to play some games against quality opponents and see where we are.”
While the Knights are similarly eager to travel to a tropical locale, they can see palm trees in their home base of Orlando, Fla. Such vegetation isn’t exactly indigenous to Stillwater, Okla.
Nor Rochester, Mich., where the Cowboys (2-1) enjoyed a 91-62 rout of Oakland on Sunday behind 18 points and seven assists from Avery Anderson III.
John-Michael Wright drilled four 3-pointers en route to a season-best 16 points, while Moussa Cisse posted a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with three blocks.
UCF (2-1) rolled past visiting Western Illinois 70-37 on Tuesday in its final tuneup before the Bahamas trip. C.J. Kelly paced the Knights with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting as the Knights finished at 47.5 percent from the floor.
The team committed just eight turnovers, a marked improvement from the 32 combined miscues in their first two games.
“Just making the easy pass, making the right plays,” said Michael Durr, who had nine points and seven rebounds. “We’re all happy about the turnovers. … (The chemistry) is coming together well. We have a lot of new guys, transfers, freshmen. On top of that, a lot of guys have been out in the preseason. Where we’re at right now, I think we’re at a good spot.”
The UCF-Oklahoma State winner is set to meet the winner of Friday’s later matchup between DePaul and Santa Clara in Sunday’s tournament championship game. The semifinal losers meet in the consolation game Sunday.
–Field Level Media