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TULSA — The Cowboys clinched their second straight Big 12 title after the first finals bout of the evening, and then they closed the event by rattling off three straight finals wins. Oklahoma State is, again, the Big 12’s champion. It’s the program’s 57th conference title. OSU finished with 176 team points, a half-point shy of the conference’s record (which the Cowboys set in 2017). David Taylor becomes the second Big 12 coach to win team titles in his first two seasons as head coach, joining some guy named Cael Sanderson, who won three in a row at Iowa State. (Sanderson is now Penn State’s coach and has been since Taylor was wrestling there.) Let’s take a look at the Cowboy champs. Jax Forrest Is an Absolute DemonJax Forrest was on an entirely different level than his competition all weekend, with his finals win against Kyler Larkin being the latest bit of proof. Larkin’s only loss entering the bout was a medical forfeit. Forrest majored the Sun Devil 15-2 and was searching for his fourth straight tech of the weekend. Two of Forrest’s matches this weekend didn’t make it out of the first period, another went about 30 seconds into the second and then he did that in his final. Across his four matches, Forrest outscored his Big 12 foes a combined 70-12. All 12 of those points were escapes. “It’s just wrestling,” Forrest said. “It’s what I train every day, multiple times a day, early mornings, late nights, it’s just for times like this. “I wasn’t thinking about the Big 12s until a couple weeks ago because in my mind, this is just a stepping stone until nationals in two weeks.” It’s terrifying how good he already is, and all the high schoolers who had to go to algebra after Forrest rolled them into a pretzel should feel some sort of vindication. Forrest tallied seven nearfall points against Larkin. He’s flexed his ball-and-chain tilt throughout the year, but he hit it a few times on Larkin while Larkin got up to his feet. Forrest said he thought back to his first time wrestling Larkin (back in 2024) to stick with the move despite Larkin getting up. “It’s actually something that I’ve been practicing,” Forrest said. “Because I wrestled him a couple years ago, and he kept standing up and I would just let him go. Where obviously you could tell today I wanted to keep him down on the mat. I wanted to get it and score points from it. Sometimes I was able to, sometimes he’d just roll through, so it was just minor things even I need to still keep working on there.” Vega Toughs Out Second Win Against EchemendiaYou could cut the tension with a knife in Sergio Vega’s final against fellow Sunnyside High School (AZ) alum Anthony Echemendia. The two wrestled a thriller in Stillwater earlier this year, and their meeting in the Big 12 final had a similar feel. It went to tiebreakers, where Vega rode out the 26-year-old, fifth-year senior to win it 2-1. Echemendia rode Vega for 18 seconds in the first round of the tiebreaker. Vega nearly scored a takedown after escaping, but Echemendia was able to keep wrestling to fend it off. The OSU corner challenged it, but to no avail. Vega was then able to reset and put his 30-second ride on to close out the match. “Just gotta get tough,” Vega said. “I’ve been doing it all year. Just get tough. I don’t care what’s happening in the match — get tough. That’s all there is to it, just get tough and grit out those wins. That’s what I train every day in the room for. It was nothing, just have fun out there. Great opponent, that’s what we train for.” Vega, a freshman, will enter his first NCAA Championships unbeaten, and he hasn’t even been taken down. Redemption for SpratleyIn his previous two tries at the Big 12 Championships, Troy Spratley had walked away with a pair of second-place finishes. Then at nationals last year, Spratley again battled to second. But Saturday, he stood atop the podium. Spratley beat Iowa State’s Stevo Poulin 5-2 in the final with all five of his points coming in the third period — a reversal, two nearfall points and a riding time point. Spratley got in deep on a leg in the first and second periods, but Poulin was able to Houdini himself free. Then with Poulin on top to start the third, Spratley got him high on his back before slipping out from under his legs and scoring the reversal and putting on a nice ride. Spratley was rocking a gnarly shiner on his right eye all weekend. He didn’t give much explanation for it other than it happened in practice. “I’ve been here twice, came up short, but I said the third time I’m getting one,” Spratley said. “And I meant it when I said it. That’s what you saw right there when I went out there and got a turn. I didn’t have to. I probably could’ve just rode him out, but I wanted to make a statement and get a turn there.” Swiderski Collects First Big 12 TitleThis was Casey Swiderski’s third Big 12 Championships but first as a Cowboy, and after finishing fourth in 2023 and third in 2024, Swiderski stood atop the podium on Saturday. Swiderski took on Northern Iowa’s Caleb Rathjen in the final, beating the Panther 5-3 with a takedown in the first period. A few years ago, the OSU-heavy crowd and Swiderski got into it as he wrestled Jordan Williams in a semifinal. But being in an orange singlet this year, he had that crowd with him. “I was on the backside of that crowd onetime, and I was like ‘Well, that sucks,'” Swiderski said. “Now I’m on the frontside of it, and it’s cool, ya know, Big 12 title. But I was saying all week it’s like the interim belt — doesn’t mean much. The Cowboys know what we’re here for, it’s the big one in a couple weeks.” Swiderski is a gritty guy, and that grit was on full display this weekend. He hadn’t wrestled since Feb. 1 when he beat former Iowa State teammate Jacob Frost in the OSU-ISU dual. Swiderski re-debuted in Friday’s first round his knee taped up. That opening match, against West Virginia’s Willie McDougald, was a tight one, with Swiderski winning 2-1 coming off a stall point in the final 20 seconds. But he seemed to get better as the tournament went on. He beat Wyoming’s Gabe Willochell 7-2 in the quarters before majoring 4 seed Maxwell Petersen 16-3 in the semis. “It’s just like, sometimes you gotta win,” Swiderski said. “There’s film out there. Everybody knows me, everybody watches, knows what I got. It’s just like you gotta go win. If that’s the way I gotta win the first round, OK. That doesn’t look good for that guy, ya know, losing on a stall call like that. But you just have to find ways to win.” In terms of intensity, there aren’t many more intense than Swiderski. That dual match against Frost was an example of that, as he let the Iowa State corner know about his takedown and win. He walks out to 50 Cents’ “Many Men,” which is about sir 50 being shot and living to tell the tale. Here’s why that song resonates with Swiderski: “I read,” Swiderski said. “I read, I listen, I don’t forget what people say. One day, Coach was talking about sometimes you gotta make yourself the dog or you walk out there like you’re the man. I like making myself the dog. I know what people have said. I like it. It fuels my fire when people are stabbing me in the back. It’s like, alright, I’ll show you. And I think I’m doing alright.” OSU Big 12 ResultsTroy Spratley (125): 1st Team Scores
David Taylor’s Post Tournament Thoughts
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STILLWATER -- Oklahoma State trailed a top 10 team by a single point after leading Houston for more than 27 minutes. Everything eventually unraveled in Oklahoma State’s 82-75 loss to seventh-ranked Cougars on Saturday. It’s the kind of win that might have put Oklahoma State back in the bubble conversation at the very least. Now the Cowboys (18-13, 6-12 Big 12) have serious work to do in the Big 12 Tournament if they want to get a glance from the committee. Here are five thoughts from the final game of the regular season. The game turned on that tech, but turnovers doomed the CowboysFor the second-consecutive day, an Oklahoma State basketball team found itself on the wrong side of a late, game-altering whistle. The Cowboys led Houston by one point following a Benjamin Ahmed layup with 6:14 to go. The freshman then earned a technical foul after he appeared to be talking trash with a Houston player as he went back on defense. “The official told me that the two of them were talking back and forth, you know, or my guy, Ben, was talking to the other player, McCarty, the entire way down the floor,” Oklahoma State coach Steve Lutz said. “I don’t know that the official heard what he said. He did not tell me that he knew what he said, but he felt that that warranted a technical foul.” I have zero idea what was said by either player, but from a pure basketball standpoint, it sucked. Instead of watching two teams trade haymakers the electric crowd inside Gallagher-Iba Arena quieted a bit because let’s face it technical foul free throws are boring. Of course, Houston made both, then added a 3-pointer to take a four-point lead with just under six to play. The visitors missed shots on three consecutive possessions down the stretch which allowed the Cowboys to draw back within one point with 1:50 to play, but Oklahoma State would have to play near perfectly to actually win. And as good as this team looked at times, near-perfect is not on the table. Instead, Kanye Clary lost control of the basketball resulting in a turnover with 54 seconds left. A subsequent Houston 3-pointer which pushed the Cougars’ lead back to seven all but ended the game. After limiting turnovers to three in the first half, OSU got a little frantic at times in the second half, turning the ball over eight times total, including three times during the final seven minutes starting with a charge call against Ahmed. The Ben Ahmed rollercoaster ride is going upEntering Saturday’s game, Ahmed averaged one foul every 6.5 minutes. It’s hard to get minutes that way, though Ahmed played 19.5 minutes at Cincinnati on Feb. 28 without earning one whistle so it’s not like he’s incapable. While the freshman’s youth has hurt him at times, he looked capable of holding his own against the Cougars. He finished the day with a career-high 11 points and grabbed four rebounds, including two on the offensive glass. The numbers don’t quite tell the full story, as he tipped a few wild rebounds to teammates and generally did a decent job fighting for space against the Cougars when the ball was in the air. As for the fouls, the charge call looked like one of those foul calls which is technically right, but not exactly in line with the spirit of the game. Ahmed made some contact, nowhere near enough to crumple the Cougar who did, in fact, go down like he was tackled to the ground, and the timing of the play was close, as is the case with most of these calls. Lutz diplomatically described the call as “another crucial call in a crucial moment.” Unless Ahmed said something really offensive, then it’s an especially tough break to see him on the wrong end of both the technical foul and the charge. In a just world, maybe he gets one of those. In his first 22.5 minutes on the court, officials hit Ahmed with only one foul call. That’s nearly three under his season average, against a top 10 team in a tightly contested basketball game. That feels like growth, which is crucial with Parsa Fallah’s season-ending injury and the fact that Andrija Vukovic appears to be held together by willpower and scotch tape at times. He doubled over once for a while just seconds after walking off the court. He only played 14 minutes on Saturday, but it was still a gusty showing. It’s hard to know for sure how much Ahmed’s role is influenced by Lutz’s growing trust or the head coach’s lack of options to replace him. Still, it seemed noteworthy that he didn’t sub Ahmed out following the charge call and technical foul which occurred in close proximity. “I think that Ben is continuing to show us that the more repetition that he gets, the more game minutes that he logs, he’s continuing to adjust to the tempo, the speed, the physicality, and he’s handling it well,” Lutz said of Ahmed’s play after the fouls. “And you know, we just expect him to continue to get better. So I’m excited about his future.” The NCAA Tournament remains a longshot, but didn’t have to beESPN’s Joe Lunardi ranked Cincinnati as the fourth team outside the NCAA field headed into the weekend. Here’s a quick comparison of the Bearcats and the Cowboys: OSU Total wins: 18 Cincy Total wins: 17 Whether Lunardi had it right or not, Cincinnati was at least in the conversation. Add a win, and a quad 1 one at that, to Oklahoma State’s resume and those comparisons begin to look pretty identical. The Cowboys should face either Colorado or Arizona State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Both games would count at Quad 2 opponents, so the Cowboys must win at least one game before getting a chance at a Quad 1 foe. It seems likely that one such victory is essential for any reality where the Cowboys are discussed by the committee. I like the Cowboys more after that lossI didn’t expect to leave this one with even more confidence in the Cowboys. Of course, I never imagined this team would lead the No. 7 team in the country for nearly 28 minutes. Heck, when OSU trailed by nine with 4.5 minutes to play following absolutely brutal foul calls, I didn’t expect anything but a double-digit Houston victory. I figured the Cougars would slow things down, play good defense and force OSU to send them to the free throw line a hundred times. Instead, the Cowboys spent most of the game looking like the Cougars’ peers. Houston has five losses this season. All five of those teams are ranked. The Cougars won Saturday by seven points, but only five other teams have lost to Houston by less than 10 points. One of those teams is ranked and another is receiving votes. Finally, Oklahoma State outrebounded Houston 36-33 with 13 of those rebounds coming off the offensive glass. “I don’t care if Parsa is here or not, anytime you beat Houston on the boards and you win the second-chance points battle with them (18-9), you’ve done something that is not an easy task,” Lutz said. A Cowboy for lifeThe transfer portal era makes it tough to know if players really connect or even understand with a fanbase and program traditions. Senior Parsa Fallah made it clear he doesn’t fall into that camp when he bid goodbye minutes after suffering a season-ending ACL tear. On Saturday, he somehow elevated himself in the hearts of Cowboy fans when he walked out onto the court for pregame senior recognition. Fallah removed his cowboy hat and kissed the white maple floor, sending the crowd, and my mentions into a frenzy.
He also got a shout out from Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. “I watched his press conference that touched me,” Sampson said. “I don’t know him, but you can tell he is a high character, high integrity young man. Everything he talked about, I love what he said about Steve. I love what he said about his team, and I love what he said about Oklahoma State fans. … Just impressed me as a player. He’s a good player. He’ll play somewhere after this once his knee heals up.”
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TULSA — The “Cody Merrill” chants that engulfed Gallagher-Iba Arena throughout the season followed the Cowboys’ 197-pounder down the turnpike to Tulsa. Merrill wrestled two tough matches during the third session of the Big 12 Championships on Saturday to finish his first conference tournament in third place. “Yesterday, fell short,” Merrill said. “Bad calls, just gotta wrestle through all of it, and then win or lose, I’m just trying to reach my best and get the next best thing.” His day started with Bennett Berge, who came into the weekend ranked a spot ahead of Merrill in Intermat’s national rankings. Merrill scored a takedown 27 seconds into the match, a bit of a death knell for his foes considering how good Merrill is on top. Berge was able to escape. Merrill escaped in the second period to take a 4-1 lead into the third before Berge selected neutral, not wanting to go under the Cowboy redshirt freshman again. Berge was unable to get a takedown, and Merrill won it 4-1. There was then a little Bedlam in the third-place match, as Merrill wrestled tournament 5 seed DJ Parker. This time it was Merrill getting taken down quickly, but he responded by getting an escape and getting his own takedown, bringing a 4-3 lead into the second. Parker was able to escape in the second, but Merrill got that point back plus a riding time point to win it 6-4. Merrill was the only Cowboy taking part in Saturday’s first session, as eight of his teammates are in Saturday night’s finals and the other injury defaulted out of the rest of the tournament. Despite the lack of Cowboys, there was still a noticeable contingent of orange in the BOK center, ringing out chants like “Co-dy Mer-ill!” and “Let’s go Cody!” “Thank you to all the fans out there, coming out and supporting,” Merrill said. “I think it’s really cool, really sweet to wrestle out there in front of a home crowd, even when we’re not at home. Appreciate the support and go Pokes.” Merrill went 4-1 in his first Big 12 Championships with the lone loss coming in sudden victory to the No. 3 guy in the country. Merrill went into the weekend with a new hairdo. Gone were his shaggy black locks and in their place was a buzzcut that he and Cowboy heavyweight Konner Doucet shaved. “Just needed a restart, you know,” Merrill said. “Hair got caught on my ear a couple times, made it a little itchy, so a little restart, a little reset, get my head back in the game.” Merrill enters his first NCAA Championships at 17-4. Of his losses, one is to a guy who didn’t finish the season (Massoma Endene, formerly of Iowa). He’s lost one match to each of Saturday’s Big 12 finalist, No. 2 Rocky Elam (Iowa State) and No. 3 Joey Novak (Wyoming). The other was a 2-1 decision to Virginia Tech’s Sonny Sasso, who entered the weekend ranked 11th. None of those losses has been by anything more than a takedown, so he’s right there. It’ll now be about putting it together in Cleveland. “Super excited,” Merrill said. “I’ve never been to a national tournament as a spectator, or even a conference tournament. I think it’s gonna be exciting. Can’t wait to put on a show for the guys. “The mindset and expectation is always to come out on top of the podium. I think, obviously it’s a long road until then, so right now I’m just worried about match by match.” Team Standings
Saturday Night’s Big 12 Finals125: 1 Troy Spratley (OSU) vs. 2 Stevo Poulin (ISU) 7 p.m. start on ESPN+
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The Cowboys controlled the game early and showed fight late, but they were unable to keep the Cougars at bay for 40 minutes. Oklahoma State fell to No. 7 Houston 82-75, despite a holding a double-digit lead in the first and leading for more of the second. There has never any question as to whether or not the Cowboys could score, but they did so against an elite defense in the first half. Houston came in second in the nation allowing only 62.3 points per game, but the Cowboys poured in 41 in the first 20 minutes alone. The Cowboys came out shooting lights out on Senior Day. Oklahoma State started 7-for-11 from the field, and that momentum helped them build a double-digit lead late in the first. Anthony Roy scored 11 points in the first. He and Kanye Clary each made three 3-pointers before intermission as part of seven made deep balls for OSU in the half. Kelvin Sampson called a timeout at the 6:53 mark after Isaiah Coleman’s runout layup capped a 7-0 run to put OSU up 30-18. The Cowboys had their biggest lead at 32-19 with 6:08 to go in the half. But after all that hot shooting and heavy lifting, things started to slip for the Pokes in the last five minutes of the first half. The Cougars, who were 9-of-23 to that point, made seven of their last eight field goals heading into the break. In the meantime, the Cowboys went 1-for-7. That baker’s-dozen lead evaporated to just four points. Houston’s Milos Uzan drained a transition 3-pointer less than three minutes into the second half which tied the game at 44-all. The Cowboys were able to keep the Cougars at bay also at the line. The Cowboys drew their sixth foul in the second half by the 13:06 mark which meant they were shooting free throws the rest of the way. Much to Kelvin Sampson’s chagrin, OSU had not been whistled for a single foul in the second. OSU was 17-of-19 from the charity stripe to just 6-of-10 from Houston. A 10-0 Houston run stole the breath out of GIA and effectively made the difference. Houston took its first lead after somewhat questionable circumstances. Flemings came down awkwardly and was hobbling. The ref stopped the game for him, but he remained in the game, a fact Steve Lutz took exception to. On the very next play, he drained a 3-pointer. According to the broadcast crew, there is no rule that requires him to come out in those circumstances. All the momentum swings. A few moments later, Ahmed earned a technical for jawing at a defender after a made bucket which resulted in two made FTs. Then a Chase McCarty 3 followed by a Flemings pullup jumper put Houston up 70-64 with just under five minutes to go. McCarty drained another 3 off an OSU turnover to make it 10-straight points and effectively put the Cowboys in a hole which they couldn’t get out of. Jaylen Curry knocked down a second-chance 3 with 3:19 to go to pull back within 73-69, and then Isaiah Coleman got fouled trying to putback his own miss and made both to make it a two-point game with 2:31 on the clock. The Cougars closed the door with a couple of made 3s. Emmanuel Sharp drained a step-back 3, and then Flemings stole the ball from Clary and ran it back, hit a layup and was fouled. On the subsequent play McCarty sealed it with his sixth made 3-pointer to put up seven with 36 ticks to go. Four Cowboys scored in double digits led by Roy’s 18 on 6-of-14 shooting. He and Clary each made four deep balls. Clary finished with 14 points on 4-of-10 from the field. Curry scored 13 and grabbed six boards. Already down Parsa Fallah due to a major knee injury, Cowboy center Andrija Vukovic was now wearing two knee sleeves on Saturday. On top of the previously reported meniscus tear, his other knee was bothering him. In his second consecutive start (and third ever), Benjamin Ahmed was effective. In 26 minutes, he had a career-high 11 points and four rebounds, topping his 10 points against UCF on Tuesday. The Cowboys end their season 18-13 and 6-12 in Big 12 play. The conference championship tips off Tuesday in Kansas City.
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ScoresWBB: K-State 74, Cowgirls 73 Wrestling: Cowboys 154.5 – closest opponent Iowa State at 122.5 Softball: UCF 4, Cowgirls 1 Baseball: Gardner-Webb 19, Cowboys 4Three Thoughts• What a showing by the Cowboys during the first two rounds of the Big 12 Championships in Tulsa – it’s hard to be more dominant than eight wrestlers in the championship matchThe Cowboys won the Big 12 last year with 153.5 team points. Through the opening day of the tournament this year, they have 154.5. [PFB]• On the court – the Cowgirls didn’t do themselves any favors for seeding in the NCAA Tournament, losing in a 4 vs. 12 upset in Kansas City, while the Cowboys close out the regular season with a shot at Kelvin Sampson’s squad at home today (PFB + HCS) • Berry Tramel is saying out loud what OSU diehards have been living the last two years:
Two Quotes• Love the confidence:• Gosh, this would be a tough pill to swallow as a coach.
One Question• If you were the athletic director at Oklahoma State and could encourage investment in any program (other than football), what would you pick?Non-OSU Bullets• Why laughing at yourself makes you more likable • Like this take on experiencing something more than the reactions to it This would be a fascinating crew to listen to in a conversation discussing college sports.
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PHOTOS STILLWATER — The Cowboys won the Big 12 last year with 153.5 team points. Through the opening day of the tournament this year, they have 154.5. Saturday evening’s Big 12 finals will look more like Oklahoma State vs. the Big 12 all-stars, as the 10 matches will feature eight Cowboys. Troy Spratley, Jax Forrest, Sergio Vega, Casey Swiderski, Landon Robideau, Dee Lockett, Alex Facundo and Konner Doucet all made the finals at their respective weights. All 10 Cowboys qualified for nationals. Cody Merrill will wrestle for third Saturday after a tight semifinal loss to 2 seed Joey Novak. And with basically one arm, Zack Ryder secured his spot at nationals before medically forfeiting out. Here are some of the storylines from Day 1. Warrior RyderZack Ryder’s shoulder dislocated four times on Friday, and despite that, the Cowboy redshirt freshman went 2-1 (before medically forfeiting) and secured his spot at nationals. Ryder injured the shoulder on Jan. 30 in the Cowboys’ dual against Northern Iowa. He returned for the regular season finale, picking up a big win against Iowa’s Gabe Arnold, but three matches in a day proved tough on the injury. A redshirt freshman Penn State transfer, Ryder ended his first match quickly, pinning Cal Baptist’s David Alonso in the second period. Ryder needed multiple stints of injury time in his match with Isaac Dean. That match initially still went the distance before they went back and noted that Ryder’s injury time had ran out, meaning his 6-2 loss turned into an injury default. Nice of them to still have him finish that match out. He was the lone Cowboy wrestling in the consolation side on Friday evening. He essentially beat Arizona State’s Shay Addison 7-3 with one arm. He needed injury time at one point during that match, as well, to pop the shoulder back into place. “He’s a tough dude, man,” OSU coach David Taylor said. “Shoulder dislocated four times today. Sometimes you wonder what kids are gonna be like when they really face adversity. I don’t know, that’s a tough thing, and you see it all the time. Every year, there’s guys with that kind of injury. It leaves a reason to not keep wrestling. “He had to win that match to qualify for nationals, and he did that. Now he’s got some time to refocus and get ready for the national tournament. … Really proud of him. Just really proud of him today. I don’t really care what happens the rest of the season, but really proud of that fight that he showed.” Dee Lockett Outlasts a Tornado to Make Big 12 FinalIn the middle of Dee Lockett’s semifinal match against Iowa State’s Connor Euton, people’s phones started blaring loudly around the arena because of a tornado warning. Then the loudspeaker came on in the arena telling people to get to safe zones in the building, all still while the second period of the match was going on. On top of that, Lockett went into concussion protocol in the first period, adding another delay to the bout. He was leading 4-0 going into the 57-minute tornado warning break. It almost seemed to help the Cowboy freshman, as he came out and secured two third-period takedowns and beat Euton via an 11-2 major decision. “It was crazy,” Lockett said. “We had concussion protocol in the first period and then a long break, but my coaches just told me to stay focused, and I stayed focus and came out there and got two more takedowns for a major decision. I think I just stayed focused and relied on my training.” No One Has Touched Jax ForrestWell, not literally. That’d make for a rather odd wrestling match. But Jax Forrest, who was wrestling high schoolers in December, teched his way to the finals of the 133-pound bracket. His first two foes didn’t make it out of the first period, with Forrest beating Iowa State’s Garrett Grice 15-0 before toppling South Dakota State’s Cale Seaton 19-4. By the way, everyone Forrest beat Friday is still alive going into Saturday. It’s not like he romped some kids who just continued to get romped. Northern Iowa’s Julian Farber made it to the second period, but got to wrestle only 31 seconds in that second period before he too was teched, with Forrest winning that semifinal 21-6. The fun comes Saturday night, though. Forrest will square off against Arizona State freshman Kyler Larkin. Larkin’s only loss this year was a medical forfeit. He had a first round bye before beating Wyoming’s Luke Willochell 8-1 in the quarters and majoring Missouri’s Gage Walker 11-3 in the semis. Forrest and Larkin have wrestled once before — in the 2024 Missouri Border Brawl. Forrest won that bout 10-6. “He wrestles similar to me, to where we’re gonna be getting in on legs, scrambling around,” Forrest said. “So, it’ll be a lot of fun. … “It’s a similar feel. We’re older, we’re stronger, but he’s gonna feel the same kind of scramble, flexible style, I think.” Doucet to the FinalsKonner Doucet has placed fifth at Big 12s twice, but on Saturday night, he’ll get the spotlight on him as he runs out in front of what should be a big home crowd for his first Big 12 final. It’s a cool story for a guy who could’ve left the program last year when they brought in Wyatt Hendrickson, but Doucet elected to stay and train behind Hendrickson for a year before making his triumphant return to the lineup and now making the Big 12 final. Doucet’s year in the shadows resulted in him winning his first two matches at Big 12s via technical fall. He then took out South Dakota State’s Luke Rasmussen 4-2 in the semifinal. He’ll get a chance to avenge one of his two losses this season in Saturday’s final when he takes on Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida. Bastida is unbeaten this year and got to the final with two techs and a pin. Doucet lost to Bastida 6-2 in their dual match on Feb. 1. “We don’t do this to just go run out in front of the crowd and shake hands in the finals,” Taylor said. “We’re doing it because we want to be the best, and that’s what he wants to do, just continuing to encourage of that. Shown a lot of progress this year. We’re getting here toward the end. Today, I mean, that dude’s getting bonus points for us. It’s important in these tournaments. It does. He’s a really good heavyweight. He’s a great kid, great leader. We’ve talked about that a lot. “He’s gotta go make the most of it tomorrow. He’s got seven minutes to wrestle the No. 1 guy in the country. Let’s go wrestle and scrap.” David Taylor’s Day 1 RecapSaturday Night’s Big 12 Finals125: 1 Troy Spratley (OSU) vs. 2 Stevo Poulin (ISU)
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. Five Thoughts on a Terrible Foul Call and Oklahoma States NCAA Future Following Loss to Kansas State3/6/2026
It’s rare to find a basketball game that truly captivates for 40 minutes. On Friday we got one as both teams stayed within 10 points the entire contest and each quarter was decided by two points or less. Add in Haleigh Timmer’s game-tying shot with roughly five seconds left and we have the makings of an all-timer. Sadly for basketball fans everywhere, except Manhattan, Kansas, that’s not quite what we got. 1. Crappy way to end a gameKansas State looked a bit disorganized when Timmer tied things up. I’m not sure the Wildcats had time to advance the ball to anyone with a hope of knocking down anything short of what might be the shot of the season. Instead of watching such a shot, or the much more realistic and fun overtime, we all got to watch an 86% free throw shooter end the game at the line. Gross. Okay now let’s talk about the merits of the call itself. While a Purgesque “let them play refs” would be the most fun way for all basketball games to end, it’s not really fair to the team who played well enough to lead. Officials whistle Stailee Heard for the reach-in foul with 1.3 seconds to play. It’s an unnecessary play with so little time left. However, in fairness to Oklahoma State’s leader on the court, maybe two or three more seconds on the clock and that play might very well be the difference between Kansas State getting a good look and Heard can’t exactly clock watch in the moment to know that. I watched the play a few times. Without a better angle it’s hard to tell if Heard gets all ball or not. I feel like it’s probably a foul, but I’d argue it’s nothing egregious. Certainly not worthy of deciding a game over when the foul had, I would argue, no bearing on Kansas State getting a shot off. It sounds like Oklahoma State coach Jacie Hoyt saw things the same way, well more or less. “I am incredibly disappointed and embarrassed for the way that game ended,” Hoyt said. “To make that call in a game like that, you don’t do that. It should not have come down to that call. It wasn’t called the entire game until that last play, and I’ve got a locker room full of kids that are really, really hurting right now because they didn’t get to decide the outcome of that game, someone else did. And that is not right.” Hoyt was more definitive when asked a follow-up. “I have seen a replay, and there was no foul. If anything, I think it was a travel after we reached in and got all ball. But regardless you don’t blow the whistle in that case. That call wasn’t made the entire game, and you just don’t make that call. So no, I don’t believe it was a foul. I think anyone who watches the replay can see that.” 2. Wooten is the wayAhead of this one, I wrote that Wooten was Oklahoma State’s not-so-secret weapon and more than capable of delivering this team a Big 12 Tournament Title. I stand by every word after Friday’s game. The sophomore made an immediate impact and finished with 16 points and five (of OSU’s 10) assists in 31 minutes, fourth most of any Cowgirl in the game. Wooten finished 2-of-2 behind the 3-point line despite entering the game 9-of-37 (24%) on the season. Whether it was rust from being off this week or the glass floor, the Cowgirls took a bit to settle in on Friday morning. That wasn’t the case for Wooten who came off the bench, as she does every game. Wooten checked in after the first three minutes, 38 seconds later she hit her first shot to cut Kansas State’s lead to only three points. It was a significant make considering the Cowgirls were 1-of-6 from the floor at the time. Oklahoma State looked like a completely different, and much less erratic, team the second she got out there. Wooten, the team’s second-leading scorer, led the Cowgirls in points five times this season.
Miami has seemingly fallen off the NCAA bubble, but with an NET ranking of 57, the Hurricanes are still one of Oklahoma State’s better wins. ESPN projects Texas Tech and Baylor as six seeds with TCU representing the Big 12 as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. We’ll get to what things look like for the Cowgirls, but OSU hasn’t played many teams worth mentioning alongside those three. 3. What this means for NCAA TournamentOklahoma State is not going to get a good path the next time the Cowgirls take the court. ESPN bracketologist has had the Cowgirls locked into a No. 8 seed for sometime now. That means OSU will face what should be a winnable game against a nine seed, but must then beat a No. 1 seed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Oklahoma State is currently projected to face USC then South Carolina, barring the upset of the year. For context, USC (17-13, 9-9 Big Ten) ended the season on a four-game losing streak. The Trojans did have quite the schedule considering they went 4-12 against Quad 1 games. Oklahoma State went 1-3 against Q1 competition. South Carolina (30-2, 15-1 SEC) ranked third in the nation this week and went 10-2 against Q1 opponents. Oklahoma State feels like a team that could beat almost anyone on a neutral court. South Carolina is not just anyone. Neither are their peers on the top-seed line. Had the Cowgirls won two more maybe even all three games in the Big 12 Tournament, it felt like they could jump up to a No. 6 seed where the competition would cap at someone like TCU who Oklahoma State would have just beaten in the conference tourney. Hoyt said this game cost the Cowgirls a seed-line. It’s unclear if she meant OSU could have moved up or will now move down. If OSU drops a nine seed, then nothing really changes. Now, it might benefit Cowgirl fans to root for the committee to hate OSU a little and seed them 10th or even 11th, which would make the initial game tougher on paper, but get the Cowgirls away from teams like South Carolina. 4. Timmer is toughHaleigh Timmer entered the second half with 1 point, shooting 0-of-2 from the floor and only 50% at the free-throw line. She also had one rebound, one blocked shot and one turnover. She finished with 13 points to finish third on the team. It was her first time scoring 10+ since Feb. 16 against Utah. In the 10 games leading up to this one Timmer averaged 7.7 points and hit double digits only three times. In the last game, Timmer went 0-of-4 from the floor to finish scoreless against Kansas. She doesn’t exactly fill up the stat sheet consistently in other ways. It doesn’t mean Timmer hasn’t helped OSU recently, but she sorta morphed into the unsung hero lately as several others stepped into the spotlight. Yet, when the game was on the line, the Cowgirls repeatedly turned to the senior. Timmer drained her first made 3-pointer since Feb. 21st with 46 seconds left to play, cutting OSU’s deficit down to two points. Timmer had missed 10 consecutive 3-point attempts at the time including three on Friday. Timmer then gets the ball on an inbounds play and gets the shot off before the foul earning her two free throws. She drains both to make it a 3-point game with 14 seconds left to play. Then in the game’s final seconds Timmer steps back and delivers what should have been the highlight of the season when she knocks down a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer. 5. Can Oklahoma State win outside GIA?Oklahoma State is 5-6 on the road and 2-2 in neutral site games this season, leading some to speculate that the Cowgirls can’t hit the same highs outside of Gallagher-Iba Arena. Hoyt dismissed that notion last week. Despite Friday’s result I tend to believe she’s right to do so because she acknowledged that the team did need to change things up on the road and did so before travleing to Iowa State last week. Considering Oklahoma State beat the Cyclones by 11. Iowa State projects as a No. 9 seed according to ESPN, but I’d argue they would be higher if injuries hadn’t derailed the middle portion of the season. Depending on how seeding works out in the NCAA Tournament, I’m probably firmly in the optimistic camp for the Cowgirls’ chances. With one minute left in the game, I like many, thought oh here we go again. It felt like Oklahoma State had given away another winnable game, blinking first despite holding a seven-point lead halfway through the third quarter. Then Timmer came alive and Amari Whiting grabbed her game-high 10th rebound to give Oklahoma State a chance to stay within reach. And Oklahoma State’s defense forced the jumpball call. That kinda resolve late looked a lot like a team capable of putting real fear in most of the bracket in two weeks. Maybe, just maybe, the Cowgirls needed to learn one more lesson before getting there. “We lost more than we wanted to this year,” Hoyt said on Tuesday. “We didn’t lose a lot, but we did lose some games that we shouldn’t have lost in our minds. But I’m really grateful for those lessons and takeaways, because I think that those lessons make you bulletproof, if you will. And that’s the whole point, is to be as bulletproof as possible going into March. And I feel like more than ever we are that. I think, you know, last year, maybe our record was better, but we were not as bulletproof going into March, honestly, we just weren’t because we didn’t have to learn those hard lessons.”
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TULSA — The Big 12 Championships were expected to be a two-horse race between Oklahoma State and Iowa State, and after one session in Tulsa, that looks to be the case. Oklahoma State leads the team race after the opening session, with the Cowboys and the Cyclones running away from the field. The Cowboys put nine of their 10 wrestlers into the semifinals, which is more than any other team. Iowa State has eight wrestlers still competing for a Big 12 title. Here’s a look at the team standings and some storylines from Session 1: Team Standings
Forrest Flying in First Big 12sHigh school phenom turned freshman phenom Jax Forrest didn’t look too troubled in his first two matches at Big 12s. He finished both of his bouts in the first period, teching Iowa State’s Garrett Grice 15-0 and beating South Dakota State’s Cale Seaton 19-4. Forrest needed only one takedown in that opening bout. After he got it, he rolled Grice over for four sets of four nearfall points. Forrest let Seaton up some, as the Cowboy scored five takedowns in his quarterfinal match — again, all in the first period. Northern Iowa’s Julian Farber, the 5 seed, will meet Forrest in Friday evening’s semis. Forrest beat Farber via a 19-4 tech in a dual at the end of January. That’s A Lot of BonusThe Cowboys wrestled 18 matches in the opening session, and 13 of those ended in bonus point victories. Troy Spratley, Forrest, Sergio Vega, Landon Robideau, Alex Facundo and Konner Doucet all had a 100% bonus rate in the opening session. Taylor has long preached unrelenting offense, and the bonus points help the Cowboys in the team tally. Ryder, Swiderski Return from InjuriesThe Cowboys only loss of the opening section came in the 184-pound quarterfinals, where Zack Ryder fell to Iowa State’s Isaac Dean 6-2. Ryder suffered a shoulder injury in the Cowboys’ dual against Northern Iowa back on Jan. 30. That injury had kept Ryder out until the Cowboys’ season finale against Iowa. Ryder appeared to reaggravate it in the match with Dean, needing injury time on two occasions, which essentially awarded Dean two points. Ryder looked good in his first match, pinning Cal Baptist’s David Alonso in the second period. “He’s doing fine,” said David Taylor of Ryder. “Part of this time of the season. You’re gonna get banged up a little bit. Gotta refocus and get ready for the next match. There’s a lot of people in this room that are banged up, so just gotta refocus. I thought he did a good job of refocusing. Things don’t go your way, and did a really good job of refocusing. It’s a tough match giving up injury points, but that’s just what happens when you call injury time. There’s really nothing else he could’ve done in that moment. “Really proud of him for his fight and his effort. Just something he’s gonna have to get his mind right for what’s next.” Casey Swiderski had been out of the Cowboy lineup since OSU’s dual win against Iowa State on Feb. 1, but he returned to the mat Friday morning. With his left knee wrapped, Swiderski gutted out wins against Willie McDougald (West Virginia) and Gabe Willochell (Wyoming). It wasn’t Swiderski’s cleanest work, but he got the job done. “Casey really hasn’t wrestled in a month,” Taylor said. “He hasn’t missed a beat. He’s out there, and he looks good. He was on the hunt today. … He’s doing a really good job. Lots of scoring opportunities, so it’s just capitalizing on those. He’s a gamer, and he’ll continue to feel better as the tournament goes on.” Fun SemisAs previously mentioned, the Cowboys are littered throughout Friday night’s semifinal round. Here are two matches that will be particularly exciting. 174: Alex Facundo vs. MJ Gaitan — The 174-pound bracket went chalk, which means top-seeded Facundo will get 4 seed MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) in the semis. The two wrestled in the dual on Feb. 1, where Facudno won 4-2. It’s big both in the team race along with individual glory. 197: Cody Merrill vs. Joey Novak — Merrill and Novak (Wyoming) didn’t meet in the regular season. Merrill entered the weekend as the No. 7 guy at 197 nationally, per Intermat, while Novak sits at No. 3. David Taylor After the Opening Session
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