This is a guest basketball post from Ben Nemecek who mercifully watched Oklahoma State beat UMKC on Tuesday.
Oklahoma State ground out a win against a pesky UMKC team on Tuesday that featured the WAC preseason POY. The Cowboys showed some rust after a 10-day layoff following the holidays but were able to string together a few stops and made some big shots to ultimately put the game away.
1. Defense won the game
From the onset, the Cowboys asserted themselves on the defensive end. The Pokes were able to hold UMKC to 30 percent shooting and 22 percent from deep.