Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Open League Season in Columbia
January 06, 2006 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State (10-4, 0-0)
at Missouri (7-4, 0-0)
Saturday, January 7, 2006 • 7:05 p.m.
Mizzou Arena [15,061] • Columbia, Mo.
Television — Cowboy Sports Network/ESPN FullCourt
Play-by-Play • John Holcomb
Analyst • Bryndon Manzer
Reporter • Chad McKee
Stillwater
Cox Communications Ch. 11
Heartland Wireless Ch. 34
Oklahoma City
Cox Communications Ch. 11
Tulsa
Cox Communications Ch. 10
Heartland Wireless Ch. 29
Radio — Cowboy Sports Network
Dave Hunziker & Tom Dirato
Flagship Station - KSPI 93.7 FM (Stillwater)
SIRIUS Satellite Radio - Channel 181 (Mizzou feed)
internet - www.okstate.com
Cowboys Open Conference Play
Oklahoma State travels to Columbia, Mo., this week to open Big 12 Conference action vs. the Missouri Tigers. The game is set for 7:05 p.m. inside Mizzou Arena on Saturday, Jan. 7. It will be the league opener for both teams. OSU is 10-4 overall this season and coming off a 69-49 win over Pepperdine in Malibu on Tuesday night. The Tigers are 7-4 overall and coming off a 73-44 victory over Louisiana-Monroe in Columbia on Monday night.
On Television
Saturday’s game will be televised within the state of Oklahoma by the Cowboy Sports Network and Cox Communications. John Holcomb of KOTV Channel 6 in Tulsa will handle the play-by-play duties while former Cowboy Bryndon Manzer will provide color commentary. The game will be aired on KTFO-UPN TV-41 in Tulsa, KSWO (Cable only) in Lawton, and on KOCB-WB TV-34 in Oklahoma City and Stillwater. The game will also be shown on ESPN FullCourt.
Last Time Out
Torre Johnson scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds as the Cowboys dominated Pepperdine 69-49 Tuesday night in Malibu, Calif. Johnson, wearing jersey No. 0 because his uniform did not make the trip, was 10-of-14 from the floor and had five offensive rebounds. Meanwhile, the rest of the Cowboys weren’t too shabby, either. Mario Boggan and Jamaal Brown each scored 11 points, and Brown also dished out six assists. JamesOn Curry scored 10 points for the Pokes, who limited the Waves to just 27.1 percent shooting from the floor. The only saving grace for Pepperdine was the 28 trips to the free-throw line. Otherwise, the score might have been even worse. Only two Waves scored more than five points, and only one — freshman point guard Michael Garrity, 13 points — scored more than 10. OSU outrebounded Pepperdine, 42-26.
Miscellaneous Notes
Oklahoma State will open conference play on the road for the fourth-consecutive season and for the seventh time in nine seasons ... OSU is 5-4 in Big 12 league openers ... the last time the Cowboys opened league play in Columbia was during the 1990-91 season, Coach Sutton’s first year at OSU ... Oklahoma State lost that game 80-79 in overtime.
Cowboys Racking up Weekly Honors
For the fifth time in seven weeks, a Cowboy has won one of the Big 12 Conference’s weekly awards. For the week ending Jan. 1, Cowboy junior Mario Boggan was named the Big 12’s Rookie of the Week. It was his second such honor this season. He started both games last week and averaged 21.5 points and six rebounds. Boggan scored a career-high 27 points on 11-of-14 field goals in an 84-64 win versus Arkansas State. For the week, Boggan shot 81 percent (17-of-21) from the floor in the two games. He was also 9-of-11 (.818) from the free throw stripe. David Monds and JamesOn Curry were named the Big 12 Player of the Week the previous two weeks. Byron Eaton was named the Rookie of the Week for the period of Dec. 18, the same week Curry was named POW. It was first time since Dec. 2, 2002, that the Player and Rookie of the Week came from the same team. That week, Bernard King and Antoine Wright of Texas A&M won the awards. Torre Johnson have also been named Rookie of the Week this season.
First time since ‘89
Coach Eddie Sutton and his staff elected to start three freshmen against the Arkansas State Indisns, the first time since 1989 that has occurred. Byron Eaton has started all 14 games this season, while Kenny Cooper and Terrel Harris have both started the last two games. The last time that happened was on March 21, 1989, when Byron Houston, Darwyn Alexander and Corey Williams all started as freshman in the final game of the season against St. John’s in the second round of the NIT. Since then, 15 freshmen have started at least one game their initial season at Oklahoma State, including current Cowboy Roderick Flemings, who has started four games this year.
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 that year after suffering a back injury.
About the Tigers
Missouri is 7-4 overall this season, including a 7-1 mark in Columbia. The Tigers have won their last three games, all at home. Missouri is led by junior guard Thomas Gardner who is averaging 19.9 points per game. He is shooting 45.4 percent from the floor and 45.7 percent (37-of-81) from beyond the three-point arc. Senior center Kevin Young leads the team with 8.9 rebounds per game, while sophomore guard Jason Horton is averaging 4.4 assists per contest. As a team, Mizzou is averaging 70.3 points per game, with a 4.3 scoring margin. The Tigers have a +4.2 rebounding margin and a +0.1 turnover margin. They’re averaging just over 6,400 fans per game. Quin Snyder is the head coach of Missouri, and brings with him a 123-84 record in his seventh season at MU.
Series History with MU
Missouri leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State, 70-38, including a 42-6 mark in Columbia. Since the Big 12 formed in 1996-97, OSU is 6-4 vs. the Tigers. The Cowboys won last year’s meeting in Stillwater 78-68. In the last meeting in Columbia, the Tigers pulled out a thrilling 93-92 win in double overtime. In fact, 10 games in the series have gone into extra periods, with Mizzou owning a 7-3 mark in those games. The last time Oklahoma State defeated Missouri in Columbia was on Feb. 21, 2000, when the Cowboys handed the Tigers an 84-72 loss in the Hearnes Center.
