STILLWATER — Oklahoma State Marshall Moses hears what people say. He can tell the way he’s treated is different.

He doesn’t blame them for it. He put himself in the situation, but he isn’t hiding from it.

“It does bother me a little bit,” Moses said. “I don’t isolate myself from it at all. I look it right in the face every day. I get up and face it every morning with no fear because I put myself in this position and I’ll get myself out of it. That’s just how I feel.”

Moses is going through the most emotional season in his career. It’s a season that has seen a massive drop of in his shooting percentage, and has been punctuated by some big highs and big lows.

He was arrested for marijuana possession, for which he was suspended. He was benched against Texas Tech last weekend for initiating a heated confrontation with fellow forward Matt Pilgrim in the Big Monday loss at home to Texas, which he takes full responsibility for.

His teammates are doing their best to keep him in good spirits, but Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford thinks Moses just needs to stop worrying.

Moses was once a player that was just happy to play and happy to work for his teammates. That was just last year — a year that happened very quickly. There were plenty of positives in a short span. Now, in a season where Moses needed to prove he deserved everything he was given, he’s struggled to do that.

“He just needs to play hard and do all the little things, the intangible things, and be a guy that goes out every night trying to prove himself and don’t worry about the other things,” Ford said. “… He needs to find that again. Once he does that, he will get back to where he was at. But he doesn’t need to think too hard about it. It’s not hard to figure out. Just work hard, do the right things, have a great attitude. If you do those things, good things happen. But anything outside of that, he will struggle.”

It’s been one thing after another for Moses. And that can be tough not to think about. First it was the struggles shooting, which have continued after an incredible shooting performance his sophomore year.

Then it was the arrest. The bad air was nearly gone when Moses and Pilgrim nearly went toe-to-toe during a media timeout.

Moses isn’t sure when he’ll start again, or even when he’ll get in the game Saturday against Oklahoma. He just knows that when he does, he’s going to play his heart out for Ford and the fans and his teammates.

“I’m working every day to get better at basketball, be a better person and clear my name for whoever thinks I’m a bad guy,” Moses said. “It may not seem like a lot but it’s tough to deal with, especially when you are a college athlete and a student. It’s no excuse.”

Moses has seen players go through this type of situation, but never thought he would have to. Even his close friend, Kentucky point guard John Wall, went through it.

Now that he has, he knows how it feels.

“I just never knew what it would feel like,” Moses said. “I’ve always seen guys go through it. But now I know what it feels like. The guys who make it through, I have a different kind of respect for them.

“It’s tough to make it through and I’m tough, so I know I’m going to make it through. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”