Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys face Syracuse in Jimmy V Classic
December 05, 2004 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State (5-0)
vs. Syracuse (7-0)
Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2004 • 8:30 p.m. (CT)
Madison Square Garden [19,763] • New York, N.Y.
Cowboys face Orange in Jimmy V Classic
Oklahoma State travels to New York City this week to face the Syracuse Orange in the second game of the Jimmy V Classic Tuesday night. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. Central Time. OSU-Syracuse is the second game of the doubleheader, with Memphis and Pittsburgh playing the first game. OSU is 5-0 this season and coming off an 81-29 win over Washington State Saturday night in Stillwater. Syracuse is 7-0 this season, and fresh off a 68-55 win over Colgate Saturday night in the Carrier Dome. SU leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State, 2-1, including a 68-56 win over the Cowboys in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 23, 2003, in Boston. OSU won the previous meeting, a 69-61 victory on March 11, 1999, in Indianapolis. Syracuse won the first meeting in the series, a 73-62 win over OSU on Dec. 5, 1986, in Syracuse, N.Y.
Tickets available
Tickets for the Jimmy V Classic are available, either by contacting the Jimmy V Foundation at www.jimmyv.org, Madison Square Garden at www.thegarden.com, or by calling Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171.
Last game
Oklahoma State held Washington State to just 10 points in the first half, and defeated the Cougars by 52 as OSU won, 81-29, Saturday afternoon. John Lucas scored a game-high 19 points while Joey Graham added 18 on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor. Frans Steyn scored a career-best 15 off the bench for Oklahoma State. The Cowboy defense limited WSU to just 16 percent shooting in the first period, with two of the four baskets coming from long range. Thomas Kelati was the Cougars’ leading scorer with eight points, four below his average. Oklahoma State had a pair of 16-0 runs and another two 13-0 streaks. The Cowboys did have 19 turnovers, but outrebounded WSU, 44-22. Lucas also had five rebounds, five assists, three steals and no turnovers. Ivan McFarlin had eight points and grabbed eight boards to break out of a mini-slump.
Cowboy continue hot shooting
Oklahoma State is shooting 54.4 percent as a team this season, and has shot at least 54 percent in four of five games so far. The Cowboys’ 63.8 percent shooting vs. the Washington State Cougars is the highest by OSU since the Texas-Pan American game last season, when the Pokes connected on 64.3 percent of their shots.
And from long range, too
The Cowboys are shooting well from beyond the three-point arc as well. In five games, OSU has connected on 30-of-71 shots from long range, good for 42.3 percent. Ivan McFarlin has made his only attempt from the arc, while Joey Graham has made 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point line. John Lucas has made 17-of-36, or 47.2 percent. Daniel Bobik was 3-of-4 from long range against SMU, and improved his shooting from beyond the arc to 38.5 percent.
Charity stripe appealing to Cowboys
Oklahoma State has improved its free-throw shooting considerably over the last three games. The Cowboys have made 47-of-55 free throws in the last three contests, good for 85.5 percent. That includes a perfect 14-of-14 against SMU in OSU’s only road game of the season so far. Oklahoma State is currently shooting 72.6 percent from the charity stripe, which ranks as the best performance of the last 20 years. The Pokes have ended the season shooting better than 70 percent only five times in two decades, the last time in 1999-2000 when OSU shot 70.1 percent from the line.
McFarlin moves into 19th place
With eight points vs. Washington State, senior forward Ivan McFarlin now has 1,166 career points, placing him in 19th place on the Oklahoma State all-time career scoring list. He is currently 23 points behind Joe Adkins, who had 1,189 points from 1997-2000. With 34 points, McFarlin will become the 16th player in school history to record 1,200 points in a career as a Cowboy.
Speaking of points
While all of McFarlin’s 1,166 points have been scored for OSU, there are a few other Cowboys that have quite a few points in their collegiate careers. With 18 points against WSU, Joey Graham now has 1,173 points in his career with stops at Central Florida and Oklahoma State. John Lucas, who spent two years at Baylor before transferring to OSU, has 1,399 points as a collegian. That total ranks 25th among all-time Big 12 players. Lucas needs just six points to move past Chris Mihm and into 24th place on the Big 12 career scoring list. Thirty points would move Lucas past Michel Morandais of Colorado and into 23rd place.
Up next for OSU
Oklahoma State will host the UAB Blazers on Friday, Dec. 10, at 9 p.m. in a game nationally televised by ESPN2. It will be the second of three-straight games broadcast by the ESPN network. After a week off for finals, OSU will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., to take on the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels on Dec. 18 at 9 p.m. Central time on ESPN2.
