Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Mercer Bears Wednesday Night
December 17, 2008 | Cowboy Basketball
Mercer Game Info
Date — Wednesday, December 17
Tipoff — 7 p.m.
Location — Stillwater, Okla.
Venue — Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)
Series History — OSU leads, 1-0
Last Meeting — Dec. 18, 2005
Outcome — OSU won, 97-61
Radio — Cowboy Radio Network
Play-by-Play • Dave Hunziker
Analyst • John Holcomb
Reporter • Bryndon Manzer
Flagship Station • KSPI (93.7 FM)
About Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is 6-3 this season and coming off an 82-59 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday afternoon. The Cowboys have five different players averaging double figures, with senior guard Terrel Harris leading the pack at 15.9 points per game. Sophomore guard James Anderson is averaging 15.3 points per contest, while junior guard Obi Muonelo is chipping in 14.7 points and grabbing a team-high 9.9 rebounds per contest. Senior guard Byron Eaton is averaging a career-best 11.9 points per game and dishing out 6.4 assists per contest. Freshman guard Keiton Page is scoring 10.3 points per game off the bench. As a team, OSU is averaging 81.3 points per game, including an average of 31 points per contest coming from beyond the arc. The Pokes are making 10.3 treys per game and shooting 40.8 percent from long range, including 45.1 percent (32 of 71) over the last three contests.
About Mercer
Mercer is 6-3 overall this season and has victories on the road at Alabama (72-69) and at Auburn (78-74). The Bears also took Georgia Tech to overtime before falling at home 82-76. Mercer is led by junior guard James Florence who is averaging 15.8 points and 4.2 assists per game. Junior center Daniel Emerson is second on the squad, averaging 15.1 points per contest, as well as a team-high 10 rebounds per game. Senior forward Calvin Henry is the only other Bear averaging double figures at 11 points per contest. As a team, Mercer is shooting 43.5 percent from the floor, but just 31.8 percent from beyond the three-point arc. The Bears are outrebounding their opponents by an average of 6.5 boards per contest, but have committed six more turnovers per game than their opponents. Mercer’s only loss on the road this season was a 71-53 setback at Dayton when the bears were down 22 at halftime.
Quick Notes
Byron Eaton became just the fourth player in school history to record 1,000 points and 400 assists in a career ... Terrel Harris needs just 26 points to become the 32nd player in school history to score 1,000 points in his career ... Obi Muonelo and Randy Rutherford are the only two players in school history to connect on eight or more three pointers in a game. Rutherford has done it three times, Muonelo twice ... Muonelo became the 17th player in school history to connect on 100 or more treys in a career ... Mercer freshman forward Marquisse Jackson is from Bartlesville, Okla. ... Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman is no stranger to the state of Oklahoma. He spent 14 years coaching at Southern Nazarene, Oklahoma Baptist at Oklahoma. He was also the head coach at UT-Pan American when OSU won 96-61.
Up Next
The Cowboys travel to Oklahoma City this weekend to face Rhode Island (8-3) in the O’Reilly All-College Classic on Saturday, Dec. 20. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. inside the Ford Center. The game will be televised on ESPN Classic. OSU will take four days off for the holidays before returning to Stillwater for practice on December 25. Oklahoma State will host Arkansas State on Monday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m. inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
