Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Bears In Gallagher-Iba Arena Saturday Night
April 16, 2003 | Cowboy Basketball
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Oklahoma State Cowboys Probable Starters (based on last game)
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG F 23 Ivan McFarlin 6-8 237 Jr. 11.4 7.3 F 40 Andre Williams 6-8 225 Sr. 4.3 5.6 G 5 Victor Williams 5-10 187 Sr. 15.3 3.5 ^ G 24 Tony Allen 6-4 205 Jr. 15.4 5.2 G 34 Melvin Sanders 6-5 210 Sr. 12.9 4.8
Off the Bench
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG C 4 Frans Steyn 7-2 306 So. 0.5 1.0 G 25 Janavor Weatherspoon 6-1 165 Jr. 3.1 1.1 G 30 Cheyne Gadson 6-3 190 Sr. 5.6 3.1 ^ F 33 Jason Miller 6-9 245 Jr. 2.9 3.6
Baylor Bears Probable Starters (based on last game)
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG F 44 Lawrence Roberts 6-9 230 So. 14.6 9.4 C 34 R.T. Guinn 6-10 240 Jr. 9.5 5.2 G 3 Kenny Taylor 6-3 185 So. 12.5 2.3 G 13 Matt Sayman 6-4 195 Jr. 4.4 2.4 G 15 John Lucas 5-11 155 So. 14.4 4.6 ^ ^ denotes assists per game
Quickly Oklahoma State will host the Baylor Bears on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m. inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Cowboys are 19-3 overall and 8-1 in Big 12 Conference action after a 77-70 win over Nebraska Wednesday night in Lincoln. Baylor is 10-10 overall, 1-8 in league play and coming off a 79-58 loss at the hands of Kansas Tuesday night in Waco. OSU defeated the Bears, 67-64 in overtime, earlier this season.
Rankings Oklahoma State is ranked 13th in the latest Associated Press poll, and 14th in the most recent USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. The Cowboys are ranked seventh in the Ratings Percentage Index according to Collegiate Basketball News. The Baylor Bears are ranked 114th in the RPI.
On Television Saturday's game will be broadcast by the Lone Star Sports Network, part of the Baylor television package. Bill Jones will handle the play-by-play duties, while Jim Haller will provide color analysis. The game will not be televised in the state of Oklahoma.
Last Time Out For OSU Victor Williams scored a game-high 25 points, one shy of his career best, as the Cowboys struggled through the first half but rebounded in the second to earn a 77-70 victory over Nebraska Wednesday night in Lincoln. Williams, who had just five points at halftime, was 7-of-11 from the floor in the second period. Ivan McFarlin played well in the final stanza, scoring 12 points and grabbing six boards. Melvin Sanders had a career night rebounding, grabbing 13 boards to go along with 13 points for his third-career double-double. The Cowboys shot just 33.3 percent the first half, but exploded in the second, going 17-of-28 from the field, or 60.7 percent. OSU also outrebounded the Huskers, 48-35. The Pokes were down five points at half due largely to 13 turnovers. However, OSU had just four in the second half. Oklahoma State's 52 points in the final period marked the third-most the Cowboys have scored in one period this season.
About Baylor The Bears are 10-10 overall this season with their only conference win coming against Texas A&M at home, 77-69. Baylor is led by sophomore sensation Lawrence Roberts, who is averaging 14.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Fellow sophomore John Lucas is chipping in 14.4 points per contest and dishing out 4.6 assists per game. The Bears are shooting 40.9 percent from the floor, including 34.9 percent from three-point range. BU is making a league-best 9.1 three-pointers per contest. Baylor is shooting 73.6 percent from the charity stripe, averaging just over 18 trips to the line per game.
Last time out for the Bears Baylor shot just 31.5 percent and allowed Kansas to shoot 61.5 percent as the Jayhawks beat the Bears, 79-58, Tuesday night in Waco, Texas. R.T. Guinn and John Lucas scored 15 points each for BU, while Lawrence Roberts added 12 and Matt Sayman chipped in 10. However, the KU bench outscored the Baylor bench, 16-0, and Keith Langford scored a game-high 19 for the `Hawks. The game was pretty much even, other than the field goals, where Kansas outshot the Bears with 32 FGs, compared to just 17 for BU.
Series with the Bears: OSU leads, 39-11 Oklahoma State leads the all-time series with Baylor, 39-11, including an 11-game winning streak that dates back to 1998. Since the Big 12 was formed in 1996-97, OSU is 12-2 vs. the Bears. Four of BU's 11 wins came in a five-game span from 1958 until 1972. OSU is 16-1 vs. the Bears all-time in Stillwater, and Coach Sutton is 31-7 all-time vs. BU. For a complete look at the series, check out page 4-56 of the 2002-03 Oklahoma State Men's Basketball Media Guide.
Sutton vs. Bliss Coaches Eddie Sutton and Dave Bliss have a long-standing relationship in the game of basketball, dating back to their days at Arkansas and Oklahoma, respectively. In that 28-year span since they first met in 1975, Coach Sutton has a 21-1 record vs. Coach Bliss. That includes a 3-0 mark while Sutton was at Arkansas and Bliss was at Oklahoma, a 10-1 record while at Arkansas and Bliss was at SMU, a 1-0 mark when Sutton arrived in Stillwater and Bliss was at New Mexico State, and a 7-0 record since Bliss arrived in Waco.
Sutton Surpasses Haskins on Coaching List Oklahoma State's win over Kansas State on February 5 gave Coach Eddie Sutton his 720th career victory, moving him into sole possession of 13th place on the all-time career wins list. He surpassed Don Haskins, who had 719 wins, all at Texas-El Paso, and played his collegiate basketball at Oklahoma A&M under legendary coach Mr. Iba. The Miners coach for 38 years had a 719-353 career record. Coach Sutton, in his 33rd season overall, is 721-281. Include that with Mr. Iba's 767 career wins, and that's three coaches with OSU ties that have a combined 2,207 career victories.
Sutton Coaches in 1,000th Career Game Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton became the 17th coach in Division I history to coach in his 1,000th career game when the Cowboys hosted Kansas State on February 5. Saturday, Jacksonville coach Hugh Durham will coach in his 1,000th game, so there will be 18 coaches in NCAA history that have achieved that mark, including Sutton's mentor, Henry Iba, who coached in 1,105 games. Coach Sutton surpassed Gene Bartow (1,000 games coached) for 15th place on the all-time games coached list when the Cowboys played at Cincinnati. By season's end, Coach Sutton will surpass legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen, who coached in 1,010 career games.
OSU's Homecourt Streak at 17 Oklahoma State enters Saturday night's game on a 17-game homecourt winning streak, the eighth-best mark in the country. OSU has won 17-consecutive games in the friendly confines of Gallagher-Iba Arena, dating back to Jan. 15, 2002. Here is a look at the current top-10 home winning streaks:
Team Streak Next Game (Date) 1. Oklahoma 34 Oklahoma State (Feb. 19) 2. Western Kentucky 33 Arkansas State (Feb. 15) 3. Marquette 28 Louisville (Feb. 15) 4. Duke 25 Maryland (Feb. 19) 5. Hawaii 24 San Jose State (Feb. 15) 6. Southern Illinois 23 Southwest Missouri State (Feb. 19) 7. Louisiana-Lafayette 20 North Texas (Feb. 24) 8. Oklahoma State 17 Baylor (Feb. 15) Florida 17 New Orleans (Feb. 17) 10. Butler 15 Wright State (Feb. 20)
Stifling Defense Eddie Sutton has always preached solid defense, and while OSU's offense has struggled at times this season, the defense has been outstanding. Through 22 games, OSU is allowing 60.6 points per game, second-best in the league behind OU's 60.2, and has allowed an opponent to score in the 70s just four times this season. OSU is allowing its opponents to shoot just 38.5 percent from the floor, best in the conference. OSU is also averaging 9.36 steals per game (third in the Big 12 behind Kansas' 10.43 and Texas Tech's 9.60) and 5.59 blocks per contest (third in the league behind ISU's 6.25 and Colorado's 6.05).
Coming up Big on Offense While Oklahoma State is well-known for its unbreakable defense, the Cowboy offense has been coming into its own. For the season, OSU is one of two teams, the other being Colorado, to have four players ranked in the Big 12's top 30 scorers. Tony Allen ranks 14th at 15.4 points per game, while Victor Williams is 16th at 15.3 points per contest. Melvin Sanders is 25th at 12.9 ppg, and Ivan McFarlin is 30th, averaging 11.4 points per contest.
Vic Williams vying for spot on All-Big 12 Senior guard Victor Williams has been solid all season long, and has stepped up his game since conference play began. Overall this season, he is averaging 15.3 points per contest as well as 3.5 assists per game. However, through nine league contests, those averages have gone up. Victor ranks fifth in the league in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game. His assists average in league games is at 3.89 apg, seventh-best in the Big 12. He is tied for second in steals per game at 2.22, and his 76.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line ranks ninth in the league. Victor is shooting 46.2 percent from the floor and 39.5 percent from beyond the arc, which rank 14th and 13th, respectively in the Big 12. His 1.89 three-point field goals made per game ranks ninth, and his 1.09 assist-to-turnover ratio also ranks 14th. That's eight statistical categories in which Vic ranks among the Big 12's best.
Vic Hits Magical 1,000 Point Mark With 24 points vs. Texas Tech, senior Victor Williams became the 24th player in school history to record 1,000 points in a career. He surpassed Brooks Thompson, who had 996 points in his two-year career. Against Nebraska, Vic scored a season-high 25 points, moving his OSU career total to 1,100 and 22nd place on the all-time list. Victor needs 13 points to move past Richard Dumas for 21st place. Vic has 1,331 points in his career at the Division I level, including 245 as a freshman at Illinois State.
Williams Reaches 400 Assists in Career With four assists vs. Nebraska, Victor Williams has 313 dishes in his three-year career at Oklahoma State. That ranks him 12th on the OSU career assists list. Next on the list is No. 11 Bill Self, who had 317 assists for OSU from 1982-85. Vic has 416 career assists, including a game-high nine vs. Texas A&M on Feb. 21, 2001, and a season-high 126 last season. He had a season-high eight dishes at Texas A&M. Victor currently has 77 assists this season, an average of 3.5 per game.
Allen Living up to Expectations Junior transfer Tony Allen is doing it all for Oklahoma State. The 6-4 guard leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.4 points per game this season, and is an all-around player for the Cowboys. He had a career-high 29 points vs. Texas A&M. He has made at least one three pointer in 16 of OSU's 22 games, and is shooting 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from beyond the arc. He had a career-high nine rebounds vs. Texas A&M in College Station, and had career bests in assists (7) and steals (5) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Chicago native is averaging 5.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals per contest. Defensively, Tony is joining Melvin Sanders as one of the top stoppers on the squad. He limited A&M freshman phenom Antoine Wright to just 15 points on 14 shot attempts, and held OU's Ebi Ere to six points, 12 below his average, on 2-of-10 shooting.
Sanders the Stopper Senior guard Melvin Sanders is one of the top defensive players in the league and perhaps the country. He is typically assigned to the opposing team's top offensive player, regardless of height, and should be considered for postseason honors based not only on his defensive presence, but his offensive output as well. Offensively, Melvin is third on the squad in scoring, averaging 12.9 points per game. He's been extremely consistent, scoring at least eight points in all but one game this season. Defensively, however, Melvin is as good as it gets.
McFarlin a Warrior Ivan McFarlin is the prototypical Coach Sutton player, a "warrior". I-Mac is the toughest player on the team, and certainly one of the hardest workers in the league. He scored a career-high 24 points vs. UMKC and, three games later, broke that with a 27-point performance against BYU. In the UMKC game, McFarlin also had 14 rebounds, recording the eighth double-double of his career. Ivan leads the conference with a 58.5 percent shooting percentage from the floor. He is averaging 11.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest, including 66 boards on the offensive glass.
Cowboys Host Block Parties On two occasions this season, Oklahoma State has blocked 13 shots in a single game, the third-best mark in school history. OSU had 13 deflections vs. Hartford, and did the same at Wichita State. In the game against Kansas State, the Cowboys blocked 12 Wildcat attempts. This season, OSU has 123 blocked shots as a team, an average of 5.59 per game and the third-most in the Big 12 Conference behind Iowa State and with Colorado. Four players have at least 10 blocked shots this season, led by Andre Williams' 61. Ivan McFarlin has 20, while Tony Allen has 17. Jason Miller has 11 deflections for the Cowboys.
Williams Elite Shot Blocker Senior forward Andre Williams has 190 career blocks, and is in fourth place on the school career blocked shots list. He leads the team with 61 deflections so far this season, and next on the list is Bryant Reeves, who had 194 blocked shots in his OSU career. Andre's 61 blocks this year are the seventh-most in a single season. Andre had a career-high eight deflections vs. Wichita State, and had seven vs. Kansas State. The only games this year in which he failed to block a shot was vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and at Texas. He is currently averaging 2.77 blocks per game this season, and is second in the league behind Colorado's David Harrison.
A Trio of Thieves Oklahoma State has 206 steals this season, led by Victor Williams' 51. Tony Allen has 44, while Melvin Sanders has 39. Those three Cowboys rank first, fourth and seventh, respectively, in the Big 12 in steals per game. Kansas is the only other school in the league that has two individuals in the Top Eight. As a team, OSU is third in the league, averaging 9.36 thefts per contest.
Sanders Has String of Starts Cowboy senior Melvin Sanders has started every game of his Cowboy career, and has moved into fifth-place on the consecutive starts list. Sanders needs three more starts to tie Bryant Reeves, who started 87 consecutive contests from 1993-95, and four starts to tie Darwyn Alexander. Five starts would tie Melvin with Adrian Peterson for second place, and six starts would move Melvin into sole possession of second-place on the consecutive-starts list.
Up Next: its Bedlam II Oklahoma State will travel to Norman, Okla., on Wednesday, Feb. 19, for part II of the Bedlam series. Game time inside the Lloyd Noble Center is set for 8 p.m., and the game will be televised by ESPN Regional. Oklahoma is 16-4 overall and 7-2 in the Big 12, tied with Texas for third place in the standings. The Sooners play at Texas Tech Saturday afternoon.
Miscellaneous Notes The Cowboys' 8-1 conference record through nine games ties three other seasons as the best start since 1951, a span of 52 years, and only twice since 1965, a span of 38 seasons ... the Cowboys have shot better from the charity stripe away from Gallagher-Iba Arena (74.1 percent) than at home (59.4 percent) ... Oklahoma State has 61 dunks this season, led by Melvin Sanders' 19 ... OSU has taken 13 charges in 22 games, led by Ivan McFarlin's six ... Oklahoma State has won 17-straight home games, dating back to last season, the eighth-longest streak in the nation.
RPI Rankings Oklahoma State ranks seventh in the Ratings Percentage Index, according to Collegiate Basketball News, and has beaten six top-50 teams and is 9-3 vs. the top 100. However, with seven games remaining on the regular-season schedule, the Cowboys may have their toughest road ahead of them. According to the RPI posted on Feb. 14, OSU has four of its seven games remaining vs. teams in the top 40, and two of those three are as the visiting team. Oklahoma State has three games vs. teams ranked between No. 40 and 115, and two of those four are in the friendly confines of Gallagher-Iba Arena.
