Tonight, those nine days will weigh heavily on the minds of the Cowboys as they host Missouri in their first game since the Jan. 27 plane crash.
The game tips off at 7 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN Plus, Cox Cable channel 4 in Stillwater.
It was in the middle of last week that OSU coach Eddie Sutton revealed the attitude of himself and his team.
“Life does go on,” Sutton said. “We’ve got to pull ourselves together and go forward and become stronger people.”
While that may not be easy for the Cowboys (13-4, 4-2 Big 12), they do have players with a world of talent who have dedicated their season and more to the 10 people lost in the crash, including players Nate Fleming and Daniel Lawson.
Guard Maurice Baker is the Big 12’s hottest player, leading the league in scoring in conference games.
Forward Andre Williams has established himself as the league’s premier shot blocker, and he complemented Fredrik Jönzén in recent games to give the Cowboys a powerful inside tandem.
“This season, and as long as I’m here, is going to be dedicated to Dan and Nate,” Williams said of his former roommates and friends, Lawson and Fleming.
On the court, OSU will face a Tiger team that is loaded with offensive talent. Missouri (14-6, 5-2) features the league’s No. 1 and No. 4 scorers. Forward Kareem Rush averages 21.9 points a game and guard Clarence Gilbert averages 17.9.
Missouri is riding a two-game winning streak, the second being a 75-66 win over Big 12-leading Kansas on Jan. 29 in Columbia, Mo. However, the Tigers have lost three games in a row on the road, to Kansas State, Virginia and Nebraska, respectively.
Overall, Missouri is 2-4 on the road, while the Cowboys have not lost this year inside the 13,611-seat Gallagher-Iba Arena.
After tonight’s game, Oklahoma State travels to Nebraska on Wednesday and Kansas on Saturday.
But tonight’s focus will only be on the Tigers and a return to the flow of the basketball season.
To do that, the Cowboys will have help from an arena of cheers that sound a little louder than normal and fans that stand a little longer than normal.
Oklahoma State basketball is back on the court.
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