Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Basketball Releases 2006-07 Schedule
September 08, 2006 | Cowboy Basketball
“This will be one of the most challenging and difficult non-conference schedules we've played in a long time,” Sutton said. “We're involved in one tournament and three games that will be part of a doubleheader at neutral sites.”
The Cowboys have 12 games guaranteed to be televised nationally, including four non-conference contests. Ten of those 12 games will be televised on the ESPN network (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU), while the Texas Tech game at Lubbock on Feb. 24 will be televised by CBS.
“We have an opportunity to play 12 times on national television this season,” said Sutton. “Every one of our Big 12 games will be on TV. We're the only team in the league to have all 16 games either regionally or nationally televised. This is great exposure for both our players and our program.”
Oklahoma State opens the season with an exhibition game against Pittsburg State on Friday, Nov. 3. Following an exhibition against Oklahoma Baptist on Nov. 7, the Cowboys will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 10, against Florida Atlantic.
OSU begins the season with five home contests, including two that will serve as the first and second rounds of the South Padre Island Invitational. The semifinals and finals will be played in South Padre Island, Texas, with the Pokes playing Auburn on Nov. 24 on College Sports Television and either Wisconsin or Missouri State on Nov. 25, possibly on CSTV.
A trip to New York City and an appearance in the Jimmy V Classic against Syracuse will take place on Dec. 5 inside Madison Square Garden in an ESPN-televised game. The Cowboys play Northern Arizona as part of the San Diego SLAM at the Cox Arena in San Diego on Dec. 9 and will play Tennessee on Dec. 18 in Nashville. That game will also be televised by ESPN.
“We're very excited about going back to New York and playing in the Jimmy V Classic,” said Sutton. “We're also looking forward to going to San Diego and playing Northern Arizona.”
Oklahoma State will play Pittsburgh in the 71st annual O'Reilly All-College Classic as the second game following the Oklahoma-Tulsa contest at 6 p.m. ESPN2 will televise both games.
“The All-College Classic is always a great event and playing Pittsburgh will be a very competitive and tough game,” Sutton said.
In all, the Cowboys will play eight games against teams ranked in the ESPN.com summer top 25 poll, including three non-conference foes — No. 4 Pittsburgh, eighth-ranked Wisconsin and No. 21 Syracuse.
“We'll see a lot of different styles throughout our non-conference schedule,” Sutton said. “The fact that we're playing so many quality teams will better prepare us for Big 12 Conference play.”
Oklahoma State opens the conference portion of its schedule on Jan. 6 as the Cowboys host Baylor in an ESPNU-televised game. Back-to-back road games at Kansas and Nebraska precede an ESPN2 matchup with the Texas Longhorns on Jan. 16 inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
OSU's first of two Big Monday matchups will take place on Jan. 22 as the Pokes host bedlam-rival Oklahoma. The second will be at Texas on Feb. 12. As Sutton stated, all 16 conference games will be televised on either CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN Regional.
“We are committed to playing a very competitive non-conference schedule every year,” Sutton said. “Kids come to Oklahoma State to play the best teams in college basketball. Our staff has worked very aggressively in trying to secure elite programs coming to play in Gallagher-Iba Arena in the future.
“We have the best fans in college basketball and they deserve to see us play some of the elite teams from across the country.”
The 31 regular-season games and 17 home contests will both be school records for a single season. The previous record for home games was 16 contests on four different occasions, most recently during the 1997-98 season.
