Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys host Broncos before the holidays
December 22, 2003 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State (6-1) hosts
Texas-Pan American (3-7) before the holidays
Monday, Dec. 22, 2003 • 7:05 p.m.
Gallagher-Iba Arena • Stillwater, Okla.
radio - Cowboy Radio Network • internet - okstate.com • TV - none
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Projected Starters
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG F 23 Ivan McFarlin 6-8 237 Sr. 11.7 7.4 F 33 Jason Miller 6-8 239 Sr. 5.4 4.0 G 15 John Lucas 5-11 152 Jr. 11.3 4.9 ^ G 20 Daniel Bobik 6-4 200 Jr. 10.6 4.1 ^ G 24 Tony Allen 6-4 205 Sr. 15.4 3.7
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. 10.9 4.3 G 21 Stephen Graham 6-6 213 Jr. 5.3 1.7 G 25 Janavor Weatherspoon 6-1 165 Sr. 6.4 1.1 ^ F 32 David Monds 6-7 220 Fr. 3.3 3.0
Texas-Pan American Broncos
Projected Starters
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG F 11 Matt Berry 6-5 205 Jr. 8.2 4.6 F 32 Allen Holcomb 6-5 230 Sr. 10.1 5.6 C 10 Andrius Sakalys 6-6 220 Sr. 9.0 3.0 G 2 Eric Montalvo 6-3 170 Jr. 4.7 3.8 G 3 Sergio Sanchez 5-10 160 Jr. 12.2 3.6 ^ ^ denotes assists per game
Cowboys host Broncos
Monday night, Oklahoma State will host the Texas-Pan American Broncos at 7:05 p.m. in Gallagher-Iba Arena. Is will be OSU’s final game before Christmas. The Cowboys are 6-1 after a 73-58 win over Arkansas in Fayetteville Saturday afternoon, while UTPA is 3-7 overall after falling to Rice, 69-58, Saturday night in Houston. This will be the seventh meeting between these two schools on the hardwood, with OSU enjoying a 4-2 margin in the series. OSU is 4-0 against the Broncos all-time in Stillwater.
Last time out
Tony Allen scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first-career double-double, and Ivan McFarlin had 13 points and 13 assists for a double-double himself as the Cowboys defeated Arkansas, 73-58, Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville. OSU shot 51 percent for the game while limiting the Razorbacks to just 35 percent. The Cowboys also outrebounded the Hogs, 42-31. Despite turning the ball over 18 times, the Pokes gave up just 10 points on those miscues. Oklahoma State went to the free-throw line 27 times, and did much better from the charity stripe, shooting over 70 percent for the first time this season. John Lucas added 14 points for the Cowboys, including three on an impressive halfcourt shot just before the first-half buzzer.
About Texas-Pan American
The Broncos are 3-7 this season, including wins over Texas A&M-International, Southwest Assemblies of God, and a double-overtime win over Texas-San Antonio. UTPA is led by junior guard Sergio Sanchez, who is averaging 12.2 points and 3.6 assists per game. Senior forward Allen Holcomb is the only other Bronco averaging double-figure scoring at 10.1 points per contest. Three others are averaging at least eight points per game. UTPA is shooting just 38.6 percent from the floor as a team, and is being outscored by an average of 2.8 points per contest. The Broncos are coached by Bob Hoffman, who is in his 16th season as a head coach and has a 388-164 record. He is 57-70 in his fifth season at UTPA.
Series history
Oklahoma State leads the all-time series with Texas-Pan American, 4-2, including a spotless 4-0 mark in Stillwater. The Broncos won the first-ever meeting between these two schools, a 66-62 victory on Dec. 18, 1968, in Edinburg. OSU won the next two, both in Stillwater, in 1969 and 1978, before another UTPA victory in Edinburg in 1979. The Cowboys won the first meeting between the two schools in the Sutton era, an 82-72 win on Dec. 17, 1994, in Stillwater. OSU also won the last meeting, a 103-71 victory over UT-Pan American on Nov. 15, 1997.
Sutton joins all-time elite
Head Coach Eddie Sutton took over sole possession of 10th place on the NCAA Division I all-time victories list with the Cowboys’ 73-58 win over Arkansas on Saturday afternoon. Coach Sutton is now 730-289 in his 34-year career at the Division I level, and his 730 victories rank as the 10th most in that category. With the win Saturday, Coach Sutton also picked up his 300th win as the head coach at Oklahoma State. His record at OSU is 300-125 in his 14th season.
Non-Conference Record in Gallagher-Iba Arena
Oklahoma State will continue the non-conference home portion of its schedule when the Cowboys host Texas-Pan American on Monday night inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Pokes are riding a current 32-game home non-conference winning streak that dates back to 1998. OSU has won 111 of its last 112 non-conference games held in Gallagher-Iba Arena since Jan. 7, 1987. The only loss during that span was an 83-81 loss to Florida Atlantic on Dec. 1, 1998, when the Cowboys were ranked 11th in the nation. That loss broke a string of 79-consecutive home non-league wins for OSU. Dating back to 1981, Oklahoma State is 140-7 (.952) in those types of games. The Cowboys have not allowed more than 66 points in 27 of their last 28 home non-conference contests.
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 69-10 (87.3 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 6-1 in non-league games so far this season.
UTPA connections
The Broncos have several connections to the state of Oklahoma. Head coach Bob Hoffman, who began his collegiate coaching career as the women’s coach at Southern Nazarene in 1988, graduated from Oklahoma Baptist in 1979. He returned to OBU in 1990 as the head men’s basketball coach, and was there nine years before heading to south Texas. All three assistant coaches are also OBU graduates. Sophomore forward Derrick East played high school basketball at Lookeba-Sickles High School and calls Binger, Okla., home. Junior forward Matt Berry is a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa. Senior forward Andrius Sakalys spent two seasons at Eastern Oklahoma College.
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.
Ivan ranks among school’s best
McFarlin, who has grabbed double-figure rebounds in each of the last two games, ranks among the best rebounders of all-time in OSU history. He currently has 549 caroms in his three-year career, ranking 16th all-time. He needs just 15 boards to move into 14th place on the school career list.
I-Mac moving up other career lists
McFarlin began the season with 688 points, and now has 770 in his career. He needs just 30 points to become the 40th player in school history to record 800 points in an OSU career. Ivan recorded his third double-double of the season and the 17th of his career with 13 points and 13 rebounds vs. Arkansas in OSU’s last contest. Ivan has 78 career blocked shots, ranking him ninth all-time in school history. He recorded a career-best six blocks against Southeastern State, and needs 14 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, and recorded his first double-double as a Poke with 10 points as well. He has dished out 34 assists in his first seven games as a Cowboy, an average of 4.9 per game and the third-best per game average in the Big 12 behind Iowa State’s Curtis Stinson and Kansas’ Aaron Miles. Lucas also has just 14 turnovers, an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.43-to-1 and the sixth-best mark in the league. John is second in the league in free-throw shooting, connecting on 17-of-18 shots from the line so far this season. He also made ESPN Sportscenter’s top plays of the week today for his midcourt heave against Arkansas.
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 10.6 points per game this season for OSU, shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor and 50 percent (13-of-26) from beyond the arc. He is averaging 3.4 rebounds per game, and is second on the team with 29 assists, an average of 4.1 per game. Daniel has 12 steals and 12 turnovers, a 2.42:1 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 15.4 points per contest. Ivan McFarlin is chipping in 11.7 points per game, while John Lucas is averaging 11.3 ppg. Joey Graham is averaging 10.9 points per contest, and Daniel Bobik is scoring 10.6 points per game. Meanwhile, eight of OSU’s 10 regular players are shooting 50 percent or better from the floor, including three that are shooting above 60 percent. Jason Miller is leading the team at 64 percent, while Janavor Weatherspoon is shooting 63 percent. Stephen Graham is connecting on 61.5 percent of his shots. As a team, the Cowboys are shooting 53.4 percent from the field, leading the Big 12 Conference. OSU’s 82.3 points per game is second-best in the league behind Texas. 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 also been playing well. The Cowboys are giving up just 60.9 points per game, while allowing 38.5 percent shooting from the floor and 31 percent shooting from beyond the three-point arc. The OSU defense has forced 137 turnovers, and scored an average of 20.7 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 seven 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 are third in the league in the same category, averaging 1.27 assists for every turnover. The Cowboys are third in the Big 12 in assists, averaging 18.1 dishouts per game. Oklahoma State was 10th in that category last year, averaging just 12.8 assists per contest. OSU’s turnover margin of +5.29 ranks third in the conference behind Oklahoma and Texas. OSU has 100 turnovers in seven games, an average of 14.3 per game, while forcing an average of 19.6 per contest.
Coming up
Oklahoma State will take a few days off for Christmas before returning to practice on the evening of Dec. 26. OSU’s next matchup is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 30, when the Cowboys host Samford.
