John Holcomb: Cowboys seek first conference road win as OSU prepares for Baylor showdown

I would love to tell you what to expect when the Cowboys take the floor for the first time in Baylor’s new arena Saturday night. I would love to tell you that the tallest OSU player (Abou Ousmane) and the shortest Cowboy (Arturo Dean) will likely duplicate the effort they put together in OSU’s upset of number 9 Iowa State on Tuesday in Stillwater.  But given the way this season has played out, there’s hardly any way to accurately predict what Steve Lutz’s first Cowboy team will come up with. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on things, something else shows up. 

Lutz has done a great job with a roster full of newcomers to Stillwater. Ousmane and Dean and others have worked consistently hard to become better at their craft, but the fact remains that the Cowboys will enter March without a Big 12 road win.  Of course, that could change as early as Saturday at Baylor, or Wednesday at UCF, but those are the final two chances for OSU this season.

Baylor will be playing to help secure an assumed NCAA Tournament at-large berth at the very least, and the Bears may have more motivation from an emotional sense. Longtime Baylor radio football analyst and former Bears quarterback JJ Joe died unexpectedly from a reported heart attack earlier this week. The Baylor legend was 54 years old.  The game Saturday night is insignificant in comparison, but there is always a will to bring a fan base together, and whether current Baylor basketball players knew Joe well, they will likely rally around a fan base mourning a man who meant so much to the school.

One thing to remember when it comes to unlikely outcomes: it wasn’t that long ago the Cowboys were stuck in a weird, COVID-impacted week where they played three road games in one week. There were losses at West Virginia and Texas Tech before a trip to top-ranked Baylor.  The least-likely win of the 3 came in Waco, courtesy in part of current senior Bryce Thompson’s Saturday evening effort.  Thompson is still in an OSU uniform, and the Cowboys might, just might, be ready for another road surprise.