Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Face Arkansas
December 19, 2003 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State (5-1) meets Arkansas (6-1)
on the hardwood for the 50th time in history
Saturday, Dec. 20, 2003 • 4 p.m.
Bud Walton Arena • Fayetteville, Ark.
radio - Cowboy Radio Network • internet - okstate.com • TV - CSP
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Projected Starters
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG F 23 Ivan McFarlin 6-8 237 Sr. 11.5 6.5 F 33 Jason Miller 6-8 239 Sr. 6.0 4.2 G 15 John Lucas 5-11 152 Jr. 10.8 5.5 ^ G 20 Daniel Bobik 6-4 200 Jr. 10.8 4.3 ^ G 25 Janavor Weatherspoon 6-1 165 Sr. 7.5 1.2 ^
Off the Bench
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG C 4 Frans Steyn 7-2 289 Jr. 2.8 2.8 F 14 Joey Graham 6-7 217 Jr. 10.5 4.2 G 21 Stephen Graham 6-6 213 Jr. 6.2 2.0 G 24 Tony Allen 6-4 205 Sr. 14.3 2.7 F 32 David Monds 6-7 220 Fr. 3.8 3.5
Arkansas Razorbacks
Projected Starters
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG F 23 Olu Famutimi 6-5 207 Fr. 8.6 4.6 F 24 Jonathon Modica 6-4 200 So. 21.1 3.9 C 14 Billy Pharis 6-8 230 Sr. 5.6 3.4 G 10 Ronnie Brewer 6-7 190 Fr. 13.0 5.3 G 11 Eric Ferguson 6-1 204 So. 9.9 2.6 ^ denotes assists per game
Cowboys face Razorbacks
This weekend, Oklahoma State will play the Arkansas Razorbacks for the fourth-consecutive season. Game time on Saturday afternoon is set for 4 p.m., and the game will be televised by Cowboy Sports Properties. The Cowboys are 5-1 this season after defeating Southeastern State, 93-46, Tuesday night in Stillwater. Arkansas is 6-1 this season after a 68-56 win over Louisiana Tech on Wednesday night. This will be the 50th meeting all-time between the two schools, with OSU owning a 35-14 record.
Last time out
John Lucas recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 assists, while Ivan McFarlin did the same with 19 points and 10 rebounds, as the Cowboys defeated Southeastern State, 93-46, Tuesday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena. Four other Pokes scored in double figures as Daniel Bobik scored 16 on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, Jason Miller chipped in 11 coming off the bench, and Janavor Weatherspoon and Joey Graham each pitched in 10 points. OSU shot 53.6 percent from the floor, the fifth time in six games for the Cowboys to shoot better than 50 percent. McFarlin added six blocked shots for Oklahoma State, and was 8-of-13 from the floor.
About Arkansas
Arkansas is 6-1 this season with five of those wins coming in Bud Walton Arena. The Razorbacks’ only loss was to Illinois in Chicago, 84-61. The Hogs are led by sophomore guard Jonathon Modica, who is averaging over 21 points per game. Ronnie Brewer, a freshman guard for Arkansas, is second on the squad, averaging 13 points per contest while shooting nearly 61 percent from the floor. He also has 37 rebounds and 30 assists, leading the team in both categories. The squad is outscoring its opponents by an average of over 10 points per game, but that average jumps to nearly 16 points a game when taking out the 23 point loss to the Fighting Illini.
OSU-Arkansas on television
The Oklahoma State-Arkansas contest will be the second of three games televised by Cowboy Sports Properties this season. Learfield, parent company of CSP, broadcast the OSU-BYU game from Salt Lake City, and will also televise the OSU-Texas A&M game in College Station, Texas, on Feb. 3. John Holcomb, sports director at KOTV in Tulsa, will handle the play-by-play duties for CSP, while Brydon Manzer, former Cowboy guard from 1992-94, will provide expert analysis.
Series history
Oklahoma State leads the all-time series with Arkansas, 35-14, but the Razorbacks hold a slight margin on games played in Fayetteville, 10-9. This will be the first meeting between the two schools in Bud Walton Arena. In fact, the last game played between these two teams in Barnhill Arena was on Dec. 13, 1971, as the Hogs handed the Cowboys a 90-76 loss, three seasons before Coach Eddie Sutton’s arrival in Fayetteville. A comprehensive look at the series can be found on page 4-64 of the 2003-04 Oklahoma State Cowboy Basketball Media Guide.
OSU-UofA connections
The obvious connection between Oklahoma State and Arkansas has to be Coach Eddie Sutton. Coach spent 11 years with the Razorbacks, compiling a 260-75 record over that span. He is the second-winningest coach in Arkansas hoops history. Coach James Dickey served as an assistant at Arkansas under Coach Sutton from 1981-85. Coach Dickey’s wife, the former Bettye Fiscus, was a standout performer and the all-time leading scorer for the Lady Razorbacks. Kerry Shepard, the director of guest services at Arkansas, is a 1994 graduate of Oklahoma State University, and served as the Director of Marketing & Promotions at OSU before joining the Razorback staff.
Sutton joins all-time elite
With the Cowboys’ win over Southeastern State last Tuesday, OSU coach Eddie Sutton moved into a tie for 10th place on the all-time career wins list in NCAA history. His 729 wins ties him with Jerry Tarkanian, who ended his career two years ago at Fresno State. Coach Sutton’s next victory will move him into sole possession of 10th place on the NCAA’s all-time coaching victories list. One more victory will also give Coach Sutton his 300th career victory as the head coach at Oklahoma State.
While at Arkansas
When Coach Eddie Sutton arrived in Fayetteville prior to the 1974-75 season, no Razorback coach had produced more than two 20-win seasons. He was the first coach in school history to reach the 200 victory plateau, which he did in 251st game. He led the Hogs to nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including the Final Four in 1978. Arkansas won five Southwest Conference championships in his 11 seasons at the helm of the Razorbacks. Coach Sutton has the best winning percentage in school history for a coach with a minimum of 150 games, and he coached such players as Ron Brewer, Sidney Moncrief, Marvin Delph, Darrell Walker, Scott Hastings, Alvin Robertson, Joe Kleine and Jimmy Dykes.
OSU vs. non-conference opponents
Oklahoma State’s Cowboys have enjoyed considerable success at home vs. non-conference opponents. However, OSU has also been successful overall vs. non-league foes. Since the 1997-98 season, Oklahoma State has a 68-10 (87.2 percent) record in regular-season non-Big 12 contests. That includes a 10-0 record in 1997-98, a 9-3 mark in 1998-99, an 11-1 record in 1999-2000, a 9-2 mark in 2000-01, a 13-1 record in 2001-02 and an 11-2 finish last year. The Cowboys are 5-1 in non-league games so far this season.
McFarlin graduates a semester early
Senior forward Ivan McFarlin, who was a partial qualifier when he first arrived at Oklahoma State, walked across the stage last week and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in university studies with an emphasis in family relations and childhood development in 3-1/2 years. He will, in all likelihood, regain a year of eligibility and be a senior once again next season.
I-Mac moving up career lists
McFarlin broke the career 700 point plateau with 15 against the Northwestern State Demons in the first game this season. He began the season with 688 points, and now has 757 in his career. He recorded his second double-double of the season and the 16th of his career with 19 points and 10 rebounds vs. Southeastern State in OSU’s last contest. With three blocked shots vs. Northwestern State, Ivan also moved into the top 10 on the career deflections list. He deflected a career-best four shots against Colorado State, and after a career-best six blocks against Southeastern State, he now has 77 career blocked shots and sole possession of ninth place on that list. He needs 15 blocks to move past Johnny Pittman and into eighth place.
Lucas dishing the rock
Junior John Lucas dished out a career-high 11 assists vs. Southeastern State in the Cowboys’ last game, and recorded his first double-double as a Poke with 10 points as well. He has dished out 33 assists in his first six games as a Cowboy, an average of 5.5 per game and the second-best per game average in the Big 12 behind Kansas’ Aaron Miles, who has one more assist than John does. Lucas also has just 13 turnovers, an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.54-to-1 and the sixth-best mark in the league. John is averaging two steals per contest, and is a perfect 12-of-12 from the line so far this season.
Bobik coming up big time
Junior transfer Daniel Bobik recorded career highs in both points and assists in the Cowboys’ game vs. BYU, scoring a team-high 18 points and dishing out a game-high eight assists. Bobik is averaging 10.8 points per game this season for OSU, shooting nearly 58 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from beyond the arc. He is averaging 3.5 rebounds per game, and is second on the team with 26 assists, an average of 4.3 per game. Daniel has 12 steals and 11 turnovers, a 2.36:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. In two seasons at Brigham Young, Bobik averaged 5.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game, and had a single-season best of 34 assists his sophomore season.
Offensive explosion
So far this season, Oklahoma State has five different players averaging double figures in scoring. Tony Allen leads the offensive barrage, averaging 14.3 points per contest. Ivan McFarlin is chipping in 11.5 points per game, while John Lucas and Daniel Bobik are both averaging 10.8 points per game. Joey Graham is averaging 10.5 points per contest. Meanwhile, eight of OSU’s 10 regular players are shooting 50 percent or better from the floor, including four that are shooting above 60 percent. Janavor Weatherspoon is shooting 65.4 percent, while Stephen Graham is connecting on 64 percent of his shots. Jason Miller is shooting 62.5 percent, while McFarlin has made 27-of-45 shots from the floor, or 60 percent. As a team, the Cowboys are shooting 53.8 percent from the field, leading the Big 12 Conference. OSU’s 83.8 points per game is second-best in the league behind Texas’ 96.7. Oklahoma State has finished just four seasons in school history averaging 80 points or more per game, and just once in the Eddie Sutton era of defensive dominance.
Working on defense
While Oklahoma State’s offense has been quite potent, the defense has been playing well, too. The Cowboys are giving up just 61.3 points per game, while allowing 39.2 percent shooting from the floor and 34 percent shooting from beyond the three-point arc. The OSU defense has forced 125 turnovers, and scored an average of 23 points per game off those miscues. The defense has taken 13 charges as a team, led by Ivan McFarlin’s five. Jason Miller has taken four charges, while Joey Graham and John Lucas have taken two each.
Minimize miscues
Through six games of the season, Oklahoma State has improved dramatically in three categories in the Big 12 statistical rankings. Last year, OSU finished the season ranked 11th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio, averaging just 0.86 assists for every one turnover. So far this year, the Pokes lead the league in the same category, averaging 1.44 assists for every turnover. The Cowboys lead the league in assists, averaging 19.7 dishouts per game. Oklahoma State was 10th in that category last year, averaging just 12.75 assists per contest. OSU’s turnover margin of +7.17 ranks second in the conference to Oklahoma’s +9.14. OSU has 82 turnovers in six games, an average of 13.7 per game, while forcing an average of 20.8 per contest.
