Oklahoma State shows it's capable of more in upset of Kansas

Oklahoma State fell behind No.8 Kansas in the first half Saturday and it appeared the Jayhawks were on their way to an easy road win.

But the Cowboys erased an 11-point halftime deficit in the opening minutes of the second half and took a lead. They controlled the flow of the game the rest of the way and held off the Jayhawks late to secure a 67-62 win.

This one will be remembered as the Cowboys most complete team effort of the season. This one will be remembered for the Cowboys' defense in the second half. This one will be remembered for valuable contributions off the bench from Mitchell Solomon, Tavarius Shine and Tyree Griffin.

Most importantly, this one will be remembered in March.

In a season with no big expectations to live up after the departures of Marcus Smart and Markell Brown, Oklahoma State is positioning itself nicely for an NCAA Tournament bid and possibly a fun run in March. If the Cowboys can play more consistently the way they did on Saturday both home and away, they can beat a lot of teams.

They pulled off the upset over the Jayhawks despite making just three of 18 3-point attempts. They forced the Jayhawks into 18 turnovers and crashed the boards as a team to keep things even there and more often than not allow only one shot for Kansas. The Jayhawks had only three more made field goals than turnovers. t was far from thing of beauty on the offensive end for the Jayhawks. Bill Self was down to his final timeout with more than 5 minutes left in the game.

Credit the Cowboys for that. Something definitely turned around for them at halftime. They outscored the Jayhawks 37-21 in the second half.

Wayne Selden Jr. made four of five 3-pointers and scored 15 points to lead the Jayhawks. He seemed to hit big shots to keep Kansas close but the Jayhawks didn't get the ball in his hands or Perry Ellis' hands often enough with the game on the line.

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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo

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