OSU’s Cade Cunningham embraces defeating ‘one of the top teams in the country’ in KU
As a likely one-and-done player, Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham may have just two or three opportunities to compete against blueblood Kansas during his college career.
He made the most of his first encounter Tuesday, scoring 18 points with seven rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots while playing 39 minutes in the Cowboys’ 75-70 victory before 3,350 fans at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
“Definitely,” Cunningham, OSU’s 6-foot-8, 220-pound freshman first-team AP preseason All-American said, asked by ESPN if he was extra enthused about playing — and defeating — a team such as No. 6-ranked KU.
“Kansas has won so many Big 12 championships. They’ve kind of set themselves as one of the top teams in the country. We let a couple slip (away) early on. To have them come in and we get a win, that’s all we could ask for,” added Cunningham.
He had a key block of Marcus Garrett on a driving layup with the score tied late. Cunningham prevented the ball from sailing out of bounds and passed to Bryce Williams, who fed Rondel Walker for a layup and foul shot that gave OSU a three-point lead with 38 seconds to play.
Cunningham repeated the same word, “definitely,” when asked in a postgame video call with reporters if participating In such an exciting matchup is why he elected to attend college (instead of heading overseas or to the NBA G League)..
“It’s a big reason why we came to the Big 12. The Big 12 is full of top teams that are going to make you work for every win,” said Cunningham, Rivals.com’s No. 1-rated player in the recruiting Class of 2020 out of Montverde (Florida) Academy. His brother Cannen is a second-year assistant on the OSU coaching staff.
“There are hardly any games in the Big 12 not decided by one or two possessions. We knew this coming in. We knew we were going to make our run (Tuesday night). We knew they were going to make theirs. We took their hits and kept playing. Everybody was looking out for each other. We told ourselves we were going to play for 40 minutes. We did that,” added Cunningham.
Some late heroics prevented OSU (9-3, 3-3) from another crushing loss in Big 12 play. OSU which led KU (10-3, 4-2) by 16 points with 9:15 left only to trail by three points with 1:30 remaining, blew a 19-point lead in an 87-84 home loss to West Virginia on Jan. 4. OSU also squandered an eight-point lead in the final 2 1/2 minutes in a 77-76 home loss to TCU on Dec. 16.
“We kept saying we’ve been there before,” Cunningham said, adding, “give credit to Kansas. They are one of the top teams in country for a reason. We knew they were going to make their run. We knew they were going to make shots, get stops, things like that. You can’t hang your head whenever they do that. That’s what they are supposed to do. They are human, too. They are not going to lay down for anybody. Staying poised through those situations and staying together is the best thing to do. Do not point any fingers at your teammates and stay together,” Cunningham added.
Fourth-year OSU coach Mike Boynton, who is 3-5 in head-to-head matchups against KU, related what he told his team after the victory in a happy locker room.
“First that they should be proud. Second, this was a big game. It was a big big win not just because it was Kansas. It was a big win because we made plays late in a close game where we had a big lead and lost it,” Boynton said.
“To find a way to get the job done, now can we build off that momentum? Can we not have the deer-in- headlights look when a team hits two threes in a row when we’re up 12 and they cut it to six? We know now we’ve got to run good offense. We know now we’ve got to buckle down, got to come up with loose balls, got to block out and rebound. We’ve got to communicate defensively. That’s the next step in doing it consistently because close games aren’t going to end. We’re still going to play in the Big 12 the rest of our games. The situations are going to continue to cone up. Usually the team that executes the best down the stretch will come up with the win,” Boynton added.
KU, which is used to playing in close games (the Jayhawks since the beginning of the 2017-18 season are 28-7 in games decided by five points or less) will face OSU in a rematch on Feb. 8 at Allen Fieldhouse.
There’s also a third possible game in the Big 12 Tournament. As far as the NCAAs, OSU is currently appealing an NCAA penalty that would prevent the Cowboys from competing in this year’s March Madness.
Cunningham, as said before, likely won’t be in college basketball in 2021-22. He is listed as No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft by ESPN and Yahoo Sports.
“He was the best player in the country the first 10, 12 minutes of the game,” KU coach Bill Self said after Tuesday’s contest. Cunningham had 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting (3 of 5 threes, 3 of 4 free throws) at halftime as OSU led, 46-35, at the break.
“He ended up making three threes, killed us on ballscreen defense. He showed everybody why he is so good. He did it a plethora of ways. It was not just by catching and shooting. He did it by playing. I thought he was very impressive. We did a good job neutralizing him the second half because we played zone (and triangle and 2),” Self added.
Cunningham scored four points the final half on 2-of-5 shooting (0 of 1 threes; no free throw attempts).
“Cade is not the type of guy who will take a bunch of bad shots over good defense,” Boynton said. “The thing about him that makes him special is he believes in his teammates. He is not a guy who feels, ‘I have to shoot the ball 25 times.’’’
As far as teams double-teaming Cunningham and/or playing specialty defenses, Boynton said: “We have to have those other guys understand in some ways it’s kind of disrespectful for other teams to say, ‘This is really the only guy that’s good enough to beat us.’ If they take it that way they’ll be more aggressive in their play.”
KU will next meet Iowa State (2-7, 0-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse. OSU will play Oklahoma (7-4, 3-3) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
