Oklahoma State advanced to the Elite Eight of the National Invitational Tournament. In a weird game inside Gallagher-Iba.
More than 9,500 orange-clad fans filed into the warm confines of GIA to see their NCAA-snubbed Cowboys take it to the Stanford Cardinal.
Oklahoma State got off to a hot start in the first quarter and it seemed it would be no problem for the Pokes to absolutely cruise past the scrappy Stanford Cardinal.
The Cowboys got a little ambivalent during the home stretch of the first half. What was a double digit lead for much of the first half, was cut to just one by Stanford.
Then the oddities started to set in.
Oklahoma State got two possessions in a row to start the first half … on different ends of the court.
A Lindy Waters three ball ended up in between the hoop and the net – resulting in a jump ball to OSU – then the ref realized that they FORGOT TO SWITCH SIDES OF THE COURT.
Oklahoma State showed signs of pulling away throughout the second half, but Stanford came back each and every time.
The game got chippy in the third quarter after a Stanford player accidentally – at least it appeared that way – hit Cameron McGriff right in the gonads, which led to McGriff giving the Stanford big-man a shove and a resulting technical foul.
Later on, Jeff Carroll went coast-to-coast on, what would have been, a GIA rocking, dagger dunk. A Stanford defender wanted none of that, as he hit Carroll in the arm as hard as he possibly could, and was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul.
After Mitchell Solomon fouled out to an OSU standing-ovation, the Cowboys executed and got the job done. Advancing to the quarterfinals of the NIT.
UP NEXT – Oklahoma State will host Western Kentucky Wednesday (3/21) at 7:00 p.m.
LAST UPDATED – 3/20/2018 6:00 a.m.
Photo via Twitter // @OSUMBB
