Oklahoma State basketball: Cowboys rout Texas Tech

“I'm very proud of the team for paying attention this week and understanding what we wanted to get accomplished,” Ford said. “And what I wanted to see today. I'm happy with that. I'm happy with the way we responded this week … because I wasn't sure how much we'd have left for this game.

“But I thought we got better this week. We went hard. I don't know that I've ever gone as hard as we went this week, during this time of year. But I knew it was going to make us a better basketball team eventually.

“I didn't know about today, but down the road, next game, two weeks, it'll pay off, I think.”

There was plenty for the Cowboys to feel good about.

Defense and rebounding, two key talking points during the week, were much improved. Philip Jurick grabbed a game-high 11 boards and Michael Cobbins had nine. While the Red Raiders missed 33 shots, they were only able to produce five offensive rebounds.

It was a feel-good game, too, with 12 Cowboys playing and nine scoring, including Soucek, who drilled a 3-pointer in his first appearance since spraining a knee in at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in mid-November.