Seeding for next week’s conference tournament, seeding for the NCAA Tournament and a chance to finish Big 12 play with a winning record are at stake Saturday, when No. 20 BYU hosts slumping Oklahoma State at the Marriott Center.
But the Cougars (9-8, 21-9) have put all those incentives on the back burner, for now. Simply put, they want revenge.
The Cowboys (4-13, 12-18) handed BYU its most damaging loss of the season on Feb. 17 in Stillwater, upsetting the Cougars 93-83 by going 11 of 22 from 3-point range and leading the contest wire-to-wire. The 93 points was the most any opponent has scored against BYU this season, and the normally high-scoring Cougars couldn’t keep up. They were a chilly 8 of 35 from beyond the arc and 31 of 71 (43%) from the field.
Oklahoma State won its next game, 80-76 at Cincinnati, and believed it had turned its season around with the back-to-back wins over Big 12 newcomers. But the Cowboys haven’t tasted victory since then.
“Yeah, it is definitely a payback game for us. We went and dropped one at their place, so they are coming in and (it is) just a payback game,” BYU senior Spencer Johnson said Thursday.
“I think we beat ourselves,” he said. “We turned it over too much. … We missed a couple (scoring) opportunities. We are at our best when we are on our toes, playing downhill and the ball is flying around and we are just really confident in our decisions.”
Revenge isn’t a word uttered a lot at BYU, which generally doesn’t dwell on losses much under coach Mark Pope. But Johnson, who will be honored before the game with fellow seniors Jaxson Robinson and Tredyn Christensen, said that setback at Gallagher-Iba Arena still stings.
Oklahoma State took a 49-34 lead at halftime, and got career games from freshman Brandon Garrison (21 points) and first-time starter Jamyron Keller (22 points).
“They have one coming, and as long as we do the things that make us successful, and we don’t turn the ball over and hit our free throws, and hit shots, and play aggressively and confidently, it should take care of itself,” Johnson said.
The Cougars will also be out to recover from Wednesday’s 68-63 loss to No. 6 Iowa State, a loss that Johnson said will not be easy to forget.
Johnson said playing his final game at the Marriott Center will be “kinda weird.” It may or may not be the last game for Robinson, who has another year of eligibility remaining if he decides not to turn pro, but this is definitely it for Johnson.
“Four years here has been incredible,” Johnson said. “I have been super blessed to just have a great career and be able to play for four years at BYU.”
Pope said that Johnson has made dramatic improvement in each of his four seasons in Provo.
“This year he has just made incredible, incredible strides as a playmaker,” Pope said. “He has had some games where he just puts on a magical show as a playmaker. And he has taken on more and more of a leadership role. Three years ago, you felt he wouldn’t be in a leadership capacity because it just wasn’t a natural state to him. But it is now.”
Another loss to the Pokes would be incredibly damaging to BYU’s postseason plans.
If BYU wins and Kansas loses at No. 1 Houston, BYU would get the fifth seed in the Big 12 tournament and play Wednesday morning in a second-round game at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City because BYU owns the tiebreaker over Kansas, having beat the No. 7 Jayhawks last week in Lawrence.
But if BYU loses and finishes 9-9 in league play, it could drop to an eight seed if Texas Tech, Kansas, TCU and Oklahoma all win Saturday.
The all-time series with OSU is tied 4-4.
BYU is hosting Oklahoma State in Provo for the first time since 1972, a 96-69 BYU win. BYU legend Kresimir Cosic had 31 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists that night at the Marriott Center.
