Dec. 30—Aside from one game, the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team has made its way through the nonconference schedule. Now, the Cowboys are on the verge of their Big 12 Conference slate.

OSU coach Mike Boynton and the Pokes will head north for a matchup with defending national champion Kansas at 1 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.

The Cowboys (8-4) will enter the matchup after a roller coaster start to the season. Boynton and Co. were able to take care of business in situations they were expected to but faltered in others, as in a 1-point loss to Southern Illinois.

“We lost some games we didn’t wanna lose that we’re disappointed in,” Boynton said Dec. 15. “But from my perspective, you build the schedule not to lose, but to learn and figure out who you are so that you’re playing your best when the calendar turns to conference play.”

And the Pokes did learn. They discovered a lot about themselves throughout their first dozen games, actually.

They learned they possess a defense that’s capable of limiting opponents to 61.5 points per game, a figure that’s the 32nd-best mark in the country. They learned that their up-tempo offense has caused an average of 15.1 turnovers per contest. and they learned that they could hang with some of the better teams in the nation, losing to then-No. 8 UConn by only 10 points and Virginia Tech — which won the ACC Tournament in March — by a handful.

The Cowboys will carry all of that knowledge into their matchup with the No. 4 Jayhawks (11-1), who enter the contest with their lone blemish being a 64-50 loss to Tennessee toward the end of November.

But there isn’t cause for concern, Boynton said. The season isn’t going to be lost before conference play even begins, and he knew that between his team’s loss to Virginia Tech and win over Wichita State.

“I think you just gotta step back,” Boynton said. “There’s still a lot of season to play and a lot of opportunities for this team still.”

OSU will have momentum riding into the Sunflower State, too. The Cowboys have won each of their two games since they lost to Virginia Tech on Dec. 11 in Brooklyn.

Their 59-49 win over Wichita State saw them at both their best and near their worst.

Defensively, it was the least amount of points the Cowboys have allowed all season, and it marked the Shockers’ lowest output on the season. Offensively, it was OSU’s second-lowest scoring total all season, trailing only the 56 points they posted in an overtime loss to UCF.

And then they strung together consecutive wins for only the second time this season, following their triumph over Wichita State with an 81-58 rout of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. It was a performance that left Boynton “pleased with the efforts on both ends of the court.”

The Cowboys will now head into their biggest contest of the year thus far. That’s how it will be until the end of February. There aren’t any easy teams in the Big 12 this year, with the leaguewide average in the NET rankings coming out to 30.6. The next closest was the SEC — home to Tennessee, Kentucky and Auburn — at 57.2.

That means every game is an opportunity, though. In a conference filled with success from top to bottom, each contest is a chance to add another highlight to a resume that will decide whether or not the Pokes reach the NCAA Tournament in March.

Boynton knows that. His players do, too. It’s a sense of urgency they’ll carry throughout the next 18 Big 12 games, and it all starts Saturday in The Phog.

“Every game we play in conference play can move the needle forward,” Boynton said Dec. 15. “There are no bad losses available.”