Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Mustangs Saturday night
December 02, 2005 | Cowboy Basketball
SMU (3-2) at Oklahoma State (5-1)
Saturday, December 3, 2005 • 7:07 p.m.
Gallagher-Iba Arena [13,611] • Stillwater, Okla.
Television — Cowboy Sports Network
Fox Sports Southwest (OKC & Texas)
Play-by-Play • John Holcomb
Analyst • Bryndon Manzer
Reporter • Jim Traber
Stillwater
Cox Communications Ch. 37
Heartland Wireless Ch. 16
Oklahoma City
Cox Communications Ch. 37
Tulsa
Cox Communications Ch. 10
Heartland Wireless Ch. 29
Radio — Cowboy Sports Network
Dave Hunziker & Tom Dirato
Flagship Station - KSPI 93.7 FM (Stillwater)
internet - www.okstate.com
Cowboys Host Mustangs
Oklahoma State will host the SMU Mustangs on Saturday, Dec. 3, inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:07 p.m., and the game will be televised by the Cowboy Sports Network. OSU is 5-1 this season and coming off an 80-62 win over UNLV Wednesday night in Stillwater. SMU is 3-2 overall this season and coming off a 78-67 win at Texas State Thursday night.
On Television
Cowboy Sports Network will televise the game in Oklahoma on stations across the state. In Tulsa, the game will be on KTFO UPN-41, while in Lawton, the game can be seen on KSWO ABC-7. In Oklahoma City and throughout the state of Texas (excluding the Dallas and Houston areas), the game can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest. John Holcomb of KOTV Channel 6 in Tulsa will handle the play-by-play duties, while former Cowboy Bryndon Manzer will provide color commentary. Jim Traber will serve as courtside reporter.
Last Time Out
Five different Cowboys scored in double figures, led by Torre Johnson’s 17 points off the bench, and OSU routed UNLV 80-62 Wednesday night inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. JamesOn Curry added 16 points while Byron Eaton chipped in 13 and Mario Boggan and David Monds each added 11. The Pokes forced 27 turnovers, allowing the Runnin’ Rebels to shoot the ball just 41 times. However, they took advantage of OSU’s lack of defense in the post, shooting 56 percent from the floor. Oklahoma State scored 31 points off UNLV’s turnovers and took a 21-point lead with 14 minutes remaining.
About the Mustangs
SMU is 3-2 this season and coming off a 78-67 win over Texas State on Thursday night. The Mustangs have also beaten Centenary and Long Island at home, but lost to Toledo at home and Louisiana-Monroe on the road. SMU is led by the duo of guard Derrick Roberts and forward Devon Pearson. Roberts leads the team with 16.2 points per game, while Pearson is adding 15.2 points and a team-high 10.6 rebounds per contest. SMU is outrebounding its opponents by an average of nearly 8.5 boards per contest. The Mustangs are also averaging five blocked shots per game, led by Pearson’s seven. Jimmy Tubbs is in his second year as head coach of SMU. He was an assistant at SMU for 12 years before a two-year stint at Oklahoma.
Series vs. SMU
This will be the 25th meeting between OSU and SMU. Oklahoma State is 18-6 all-time vs. the Mustangs, including an 8-2 mark inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. OSU has won the last eight meetings, all in the Eddie Sutton era. Eleven of the 24 matchups took place prior to 1926. In the last eight contests, the Cowboys have outscored the Mustangs by an average of more than 18 points per game. OSU won last year’s meeting in Dallas, 76-57.
Starting the Season off Right
Oklahoma State is 50-6 (.893) in the month of November under Coach Eddie Sutton, including a 34-2 (.944) mark in the last eight seasons. The lone loss prior to last weekend was to the College of Charleston at the 2002 Great Alaska Shootout. In fact, three of the six losses in November under Sutton have come at the Great Alaska Shootout. OSU lost twice in the 1994 event.
Balanced Attack
In six games this season, Oklahoma State has had 25 double-figure scoring games. Yet, no player has scored more than 18 points in a single game. That’s quite a balanced attack. On the perimeter, guard JamesOn Curry has had five double-figure scoring games, while Byron Eaton has had three and Roderick Flemings two. In the post, Mario Boggan and Torre Johnson have each had five double-figure scoring games, while David Monds has had four and Kenny Cooper has had one. OSU has five players averaging at least nine points per game.
Coach Sutton Tied for fifth all-time
Coach Eddie Sutton has earned 786 victories as a Division I coach, tying him with Lefty Driesell for fifth place on the all-time career coaching victories list. Driesell, who ended his career at Georgia State in 2003, was 786-394 in 41 seasons. Bob Knight of Texas Tech is the only active coach ahead of Sutton in career wins. In his 36-year head coaching career at the high school, junior college and Division I level, Coach Sutton has accumulated a record of 988-365, good for 73 percent winning percentage in 1,353 games.
Freshman a Rarity in the Starting Lineup
True freshman Byron Eaton was in the starting lineup for OSU’s season opener against Texas-Arlington. It marked the fourth time in the Sutton era that a true freshman was a starter in the season opener. Bryant Reeves started for the Cowboys his freshman season in 1991-92 and started all 34 games that year. Adrian Peterson started the season opener as a true freshman in 1995-96 and started 26 games. Alex Webber started the season opener in 1996-97 but started only two games after suffering from a ruptured disc. Out of 80 starters in the season opener in Sutton’s 16 seasons as head coach, only five percent have been true freshmen.
Cowboys in the Big 12 Statistics
Oklahoma State leads the Big 12 Conference in only one statistic — field goal percentage. The Cowboys are shooting 50.9 percent through six games this season. Texas A&M is second at 50.6 percent through three games, while Kansas State is third at 49.1 percent through four contests. Iowa State (48.8 percent) and Texas (48 percent) round out the top-five teams.
Individually, David Monds is tied for the league lead in free-throw percentage, connecting on 18-of-21 shots from the charity stripe, good for 85.7 percent. Richard Roby of Colorado has also made 18-of-21 from the line. Byron Eaton is second in the conference in steals, averaging 3.2 thefts per game. JamesOn Curry is fifth in assists with an average of 5.2 per game, and Mario Boggan is fifth in field-goal percentage, connecting on 62.5 percent of his shots.
