Missing star freshmen Cade Cunningham due to coronavirus protocols, Oklahoma State (10-4, 4-4 in the Big 12) beat short-handed Iowa State 81-60 Monday night in Ames.

On Saturday without Cunningham, OSU fell to No. 2 Baylor 66-81 Saturday in Stillwater.

The Cowboys managed a lead at halftime Saturday but Baylor’s Jared Butler scored 22 points to lead the Bears to the win.

“Man, he’s ridiculous,” Baylor’s Davion Mitchell said of Butler. “He can really play the game of basketball. He’s not cocky with it. He loves playing with us. And when he was making those shots, he was telling us ‘good pass.’ It’s just like, he didn’t really care about himself. He cared about his teammates playing.”

Cunningham, rated the No. 1 basketball prospect in the nation, hasn’t been practiced and although he was cleared on Saturday, OSU coach Mike Boynton said he wasn’t ready to play. Rondel Walker was also not available to the Cowboys due to an arm injury.

OSU only had eight players available.

Kalib Boone had a career high 21 points for OSU Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Pokes.

“There’s no doubt that part of it is we were gassed,” Boynton said. “We weren’t able to sustain it. That’s not an excuse, it’s reality.”

As part of the Big 12/SEC annual challenge, OSU will host Arkansas (12-4, 4-4 in the SEC)  at 3 p.m. Saturday.