By Dustin Ragusa
After back-to-back Big 12 wins against Kansas State and Kansas, the Cowboys suffered a loss at home to the No. 2 Baylor Bears this past Saturday. The Pokes were without Cade Cunningham and Rondel Walker in this one, two of their key players, but still put up a fight against BU and actually held a 4-point lead at halftime. However, the Bears pulled away in the second half and ended up with the 81-66 victory.
Without Cunningham and Walker, who average a combined 27.1 points per game, OSU was going to need someone to step up in the scoring department. And, they got just that from sophomore forward Kalib Boone, who recorded a career-high 21 points.
For today's post I wanted to take a look at Boone's performance in the prior six Big 12 games compared to the Baylor game and just what he did to have such a successful outing against the Bears. First, let's take a look at his per game stats from the first six conference games this season:
- Points: 6.2
- Rebounds: 3.0
- Blocks: 0.2
- Steals: 0.7
- Turnovers: 1.8
Here are some advanced stats from those same Big 12 contests:
- Average Player Efficiency (PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK − Missed FG − Missed FT - TO): 6.2
- Average Usage % (usage percentage is an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor): 10.2
- Net Points (Oliver's formula for Points Produced - Points Allowed): -0.2
Now, here are these same statistics from the matchup with Baylor:
- Points: 21
- Rebounds: 7
- Blocks: 1
- Steals: 1
- Turnovers: 0
Additionally, here are the advanced stats from Saturday:
- Player Efficiency: 25
- Usage %: 24.6
- Net Points: 9.7
As you can see from the numbers above, Boone had almost 15 more points than his Big 12 average, four more rebounds and didn't turn the ball over. He also got a block, after only recording one in the prior six conference games. Additionally, his usage percentage was up and so was his efficiency, meaning that he not only had an increased role in the offense, but also did so efficiently.
On the offensive end, Boone was very active in the pick and roll and consistently put himself in good positions to score. In the first video below you'll see Boone score off a ball screen for Isaac Likekele.
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Next, Boone shows off his jumper out of the low post.
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He stayed active off the ball throughout the entire game, even when BU started to extend its lead late in the second half, as you can see in the clip below.
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His all around effort on the offensive end was, in my opinion, the best it’s been all season. Another example is shown in the following video as he puts back his own miss.
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Boone even displayed some impressive passing skills with this assist to Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe.
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On the defensive end of the floor, he was active on the glass and his seven rebounds tied a career-high.
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In addition, Boone forced a turnover.
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And, had this block.
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Boone still has some room for improvement in his low post defense, help defense and needs to continue to get stronger during his tenure in Stillwater, but overall I liked what I saw in this one. Also, he did a great job of playing aggressively on both ends of the floor while limiting fouls. In the first six Big 12 games, he was averaging nearly three fouls per game in about 16 minutes per game. This past Saturday, Boone played 28 minutes and recorded only three fouls.
Head coach Mike Boynton talked about Boone's play after the game.
"It was huge, it's what, to be honest, what I expect from him," Boynton said. "What I’ve got to get him to understand is that we need that Kalib every game. We don’t need it just when he thinks there's an emergency going on, we need him to be that guy every day and it starts with being that guy every day in practice. Obviously he’s one of the guys that has been able to be in practice the last few days and in his preparation he was pretty focused, he knew he had a big challenge and he rose to the occasion and stepped up and performed well. Again, if we can get that kind of performance from him and [Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe], when we get those other guys back, I like what we can do this year."
Additionally, here's what Boone himself had to say about his performance.
“It was just the fact that like I told you guys I just felt that I haven’t done everything I could for my team," Boone said. "I’ve been holding back. Baylor and playing them and any team in the Big 12 then you’re excited and you play with a chip on your shoulder. I said I was going to go out there and play free whether Cade was out there or Rondel, I was going to play free.”
Hopefully we continue to see this kind of play from Boone, as it would be huge for this team as it continues on through conference play. I think he has the talent to keep it up and can build off of his performance against the Bears.