Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State fans watching the Cowboys' afternoon home tip against No. 19 BYU may have been asking themselves one question.
Where has Jamyron Keller been all season?
BYU might also like to know.
The freshman from St. Matthews, South Carolina, who averaged 5.1 points per game, was unconscious from the field in his first career start, scoring a season-high 22 points on 8-of-8 shooting, with four 3-pointers, as Oklahoma State never trailed in a 93-83 win over the Cougars at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Fellow freshman Brandon Garrison added 21 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Cowboys, who shot 60% from the field and 11-of-22 from 3-point range. Quion Williams supplied 15 points, four rebounds and four assists for Oklahoma State (11-14, 3-9 Big 12) as the No. 136 team in the NET handed the Cougars their first Quad 3 loss of the year.
"He shot it great," BYU coach Mark Pope said of Keller. "He was 8-for-8 today and was 1-of-15 since December from the 3-point line. That's a credit to him. That's what you do when you have an opportunity, you go and seize it. It's a real credit to him so he should be super proud. That's how you respond as an athletic and he certainly did that really well tonight. He played a tremendous game and with a ton of confidence and physicality."
With the loss, BYU is 3-5 in Quad 1 opportunities, 3-1 in Quad 2, and 12-1 in the final two quadrants.
Fousseyni Traore led BYU (18-7, 6-6 Big 12) with 17 points and four rebounds; and Trevin Knell supplied 16 points, two rebounds and two assists for the Cougars, who shot just 8-of-35 from deep and outscored the hosts 49-44 in the second half.
Jaxson Robinson had 14 points, three rebounds and three assists for a BYU team that finished 36-30 on the glass, 21-5 in second-chance points, 38-36 in the paint and 20-12 on the break.
DOWN GOES NO. 19 🚨@OSUMBB defeats BYU by 10 at home. pic.twitter.com/N5wxcLWYYP
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 17, 2024
But the Cougars got down early, and couldn't recover in the Pokes' wire-to-wire win, giving up 11 points on eight turnovers — including six of them in the first half.
"Huge kudos to Oklahoma State, I thought they played great," said Pope, who noted the Cowboys scored 27 points in the first nine minutes as the visitors had two stops during that span. "We really didn't have answers. They were terrific sharing the ball. They were terrific shooting the ball. Jamyron Keller stepped in the starting
lineup and took incredible advantage of that opportunity. Ton of credit to them. Proud of guys, we had fight but didn't have answer for this team tonight."
It's tough to win on the road in the Big 12, and even more difficult when allowing an opponent to shoot above 60% for most of the game and 50% from 3-point range.
Oklahoma State couldn't have started the game much stronger on offense, shooting as high as 74% from the field including 5-of-7 from 3-point range to open up a 35-20 lead on a jumper by Garrison with 7:39 left in the first half.
Keller drained his first five shots, including a pair of triples, en route to 13 points in the first half. Garrison added 8 points, three rebounds and two assists for the Pokes, who scored 11 points off six turnovers en route to a 35-26 lead with five minutes left in the half.
Williams' putback with one second remaining helped Oklahoma State end the half on an 8-0 run, as a team that shot 43% from the field with just one double-digit scorer shot 61% from the field with three players scoring 9 or more points in the first half.
AND 1 😤@JamyronKeller can't be stopped! pic.twitter.com/R2RlwxpXBv
— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) February 17, 2024
Knell scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers to help BYU pull inside of double digits — but rarely closer.
The Cowboys entered Saturday's game with one player averaging double-figure scoring, but had five against the Cougars.
Javon Small played anything-but, totaling 14 points, six assists and four rebounds with four turnovers and a blocked shot. John Wright added 13 points and three rebounds for the Cowboys in a rotation that rotated just eight deep.
"We were right there," Knell said. "We were knocking on the door on their 10-point lead that they had for most of the game. They made really, really tough shots. That's something we are going to hone in on going into next week is that we just need to guard our yard and guard without fouling. There were a couple of times they got to the rim and finished on an and-1. If we could have limited those, we would have been right there."
BYU returns home Tuesday to host No. 12 Baylor.
