Oklahoma State Basketball: Leyton Hammonds improvement could be huge

Oklahoma State basketball’s senior forward Leyton Hammonds is averaging 16.0 points per game in the last two games, a huge improvement for him this season.

The Oklahoma State basketball team has seen huge improvement under first year head coach Brad Underwood. Players like junior forward Jeffrey Carroll and senior forward Mitchell Solomon are worlds ahead of where they were at this time last season under former head coach Travis Ford.

Yet, the player who has come through is the biggest way recently is senior forward Leyton Hammonds, who led the Pokes in scoring in their last victory against the TCU Horned Frogs where he scored 21. Altogether, Hammonds has 32 points in the last two games. In the three games previous, Hammonds had three points combined.

Hammonds has always been known to Pokes fans as a power forward with a respectable jump shot and the capability of stretching his range to the three-point line. However, he has shot better than 50 percent from three-point range in the last two games.

Given the fact that OK State already has many good outside shooters, most notably senior shooting guard Phil Forte, if Hammonds can continue his torrid pace from outside the arc then the Pokes floor spacing will be scary. Carroll and sophomore point guard Jawun Evans are very shooting outside shooters as well.

This also gives Underwood more versatility on the offensive side of the floor. The pick and roll offense can now become much more effective with four players in the normal starting lineup that are threats from the three-point line. Moreover, there is less pressure on Evans and Carroll to have to create all the offense.

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Hammonds gets another chance tonight to prove his worth in Bedlam against the Oklahoma Sooners at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater. He is now fourth in points per game and third in rebounds per game of all players on the OK State roster. Hammonds averages 7.4 points per game and 4.7 rebounds. Those averages still have a lot of room for improvement.