Oklahoma State finally got a marquee home victory on Saturday as the Cowboys continued to rally from an 0-8 start in Big 12 play by knocking off No. 24 Texas Tech 73-70. Kalib Boone entered as a 58% free-throw shooter but knocked down 12 of 14 free throws and scored a career-high 16 points to help cement Oklahoma State's second Quadrant 1 victory of the season.
Texas Tech (16-9, 7-5 Big 12) entered as a projected No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament in Jerry Palm's latest Bracketology. The loss is is a Quadrant 1 loss and is not expected to drop the Red Raiders, a team on the bubble, from the projected tournament field. The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the defending Big 12 regular season champions and brings Texas Tech's record in Quadrant 1 games to 3-8.
The win is the third in the last four for Oklahoma State (13-12, 3-9) and the best home victory of the season for the Cowboys, who were 0-3 against ranked foes at Gallagher-Iba Arena entering Saturday's contest. It's also a barometer of how far Oklahoma State has come after Texas Tech thrashed the Cowboys 85-50 on Jan. 4.
Texas Tech's Jahmi'us Ramsey entered averaging 19 points over his last five games and kept his efficient stretch of 3-point shooting alive with a 3 of 6 clip from beyond the arc to run his 3-point total over the last six games to 19-of-31. But he needed 15 shots to reach 14 points, and Oklahoma State held the star freshman guard without a field goal in the final eight minutes.
Oklahoma State left the door open late by making just 5 of 8 free throws in the final 30 seconds. But it got key defensive stops and dominated the boards 37-22. Jonathan Laurent matched Boone with 16 points for Oklahoma State.