Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Face Longhorns in Regular-Season Finale
March 08, 2008 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State (16-13, 7-8)
at Texas (25-5, 12-3)
Sunday, March 9 • 3 p.m.
Austin, Texas • Erwin Events Center
Series History • Texas leads, 37-34
Last Meeting • Jan. 21, 2008 in Stillwater
Outcome • Texas won, 63-61
Last Meeting in Austin • Feb. 12, 2007
Outcome • Texas won, 83-54
Television — ESPN
Play-by-Play • Ron Franklin
Analyst • Fran Fraschilla
Stillwater
SuddenLink Channel 31
Oklahoma City
Cox Cable Channel 29
Tulsa
Cox Cable Channel 25
Radio — Cowboy Radio Network
Play-by-Play • Dave Hunziker
Analyst • John Holcomb
Sideline Reporter • Bryndon Manzer
Flagship Station — KSPI (93.7 FM)
XM satellite radio — Ch. 242
Quick Notes
• Oklahoma State has won six of its last eight games, dating back to a win over Colorado on Feb. 6. Included in that span was a five-game winning streak.
• Junior guard Byron Eaton needs just three assists to become the first player in school history to record at last 100 assists in each of his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons. Darwyn Alexander had 97 his junior year and is the only other player to have 100 assists as a frosh.
Last Time vs. Texas
• The 12th-ranked Texas Longhorns escaped Stillwater with a 63-61 win five weeks ago despite being outscored 30-22 in the second half.
• Oklahoma State trailed by 10 at halftime 41-31, as UT shot 50 percent from the floor, including 5-of-11 from three-point range.
• The second period was a complete role-reversal as the Cowboy defense limited Texas to just 32 percent shooting and made 6 of 10 shots from beyond the arc themselves.
• The game was even in virtually every statistical category. UT outrebounded the Cowboys by just one, 35-34, and OSU committed just two more turnovers than the ‘Horns.
• The only difference was at the free-throw line, where Texas was 15 of 20 while the Cowboys made 11 of 14.
Series History with the Longhorns
• Following Oklahoma State’s 105-103 triple-overtime thriller with Texas last season in Stillwater, the series between these two teams was tied at 34 games each.
• Since then, the Longhorns have won three-straight games and currently own a 37-34 margin in the series.
• After losing seven of the first eight games to start the series, Oklahoma State dominated for nearly 40 years, winning 18 of the next 20 in the series up to 1964.
• The Cowboys last won in Austin on Jan. 24, 2004, the season of OSU’s last Final Four run.
Live by the Three, Die by the Three
• In Oklahoma State’s seven Big 12 Conference wins, the Cowboys are shooting 45.5 percent from three-point range and making eight treys in 17.6 attempts per game.
• In the Pokes’ eight league losses, OSU is shooting 29.7 percent from beyond the arc and making 6.8 three-pointers in 22.8 attempts per contest.
• Defensively, Oklahoma State has allowed the opponent to shoot just 31.1 percent in seven wins, compared to nearly 42 percent in the eight losses. There’s also a nearly two three-pointers per game difference by the foes between wins and losses.
Defense Stepping Up
• Comparatively speaking, Oklahoma State’s “D” has improved since Big 12 Conference play started and even moreso compared to last year’s league-games only statistics.
• OSU’s scoring defense for all games (66.3 points allowed per game) is nearly one point lower than its scoring defense for conference-games only (67.1), yet the Cowboys’ ranking has improved during league games.
• Oklahoma State allowed an average of 76 points in 16 Big 12 games last season, nearly nine points higher than this year’s average. The Cowboys have given up 1,006 points in 15 league games this year after giving up 1,216 in 16 games last season.
• OSU has allowed 80 points or more just twice in the last 20 games, and one of those was in a 93-83 win over Baylor in Stillwater.
• Nine of the last 12 league opponents have been held under 70 points, and 12 of the last 19 opponents have been held to under 65 points.
Pick Pockets
• Oklahoma State is averaging 8.28 steals per game this season which currently ranks as the fifth-highest average in school history.
• The school record is 9.03 set during the 1988-89 season. The 2002-03 Cowboys averaged 8.94 steals per game.
• The Pokes had 18 steals during the Prairie View A&M game, the second most in school history. They had 12 at halftime, establishing a school record for steals in a single period.
Eaton Establishes New Record
• Junior guard Byron Eaton has established a new school record for career steals. Entering the Texas game, he has 182 career thefts.
• He is just the fifth Cowboy in school history to have at least 10 games with four or more steals in a career.
• Eaton is only the seventh Cowboy to have recorded at least 300 assists and 150 steals in a career.
• His 61 steals this season ties for the 12th-most in a single season in school history. His 67 as a freshman rank eighth.
• He has also become just the third Cowboy in school history to record 60 or more steals in multiple seasons. Brooks Thompson had 70 in 1992-93 and 99 in 1993-94, while Tony Allen recorded 62 in 2002-03 and 72 in 2003-04.
Dove Swatting Shots
• Senior Marcus Dove has 98 career blocked shots and moved past Desmond Mason and into seventh place on the school list.
• Dove is just the fifth Cowboy in school history to record at least 100 steals and 75 blocked shots in a career. He has 131 and 98, respectively.
• Should Dove reach 100 blocked shots (he needs two more entering Sunday’s game at Texas), he would become just the fourth Cowboy in school history to have 100 steals and 100 blocked shots.
From Long Range
• Oklahoma State is averaging 21.1 attempts from long range this season. The school record is 18.9 attempts per game in 1998-99.
• OSU has attempted 611 long balls, the third-most in school history. The 1998-99 squad attempted 643, while the 1993-94 team attempted 619.
• The Cowboys are averaging 7.45 makes this year, the second-most in school history. The school record is 7.59 during the 1993-94 season.
• The Cowboys attempted 34 three-point shots at North Texas earlier this season, the most in school history.
• OSU made 14 treys at Missouri, one shy of the school record and tied for the most against a Division I school in school history.
• On the flip side, OSU limited Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to just 1-of-18 shots from three-point range, establishing a Gallagher-Iba Arena record with at least 10 attempts. The previous low was 1-of-17 by Baylor on Jan. 20, 1999.
• The Pokes held Northwestern State to 1-of-16 makes from long range and limited Texas Tech to just 1-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc.
Freshman Phenom
• With 12 points at Texas Tech, James Anderson became just the ninth Cowboy freshman in school history to score 300 points in his rookie season. He needs just six more points to become the second freshman to score 400 points.
• He has already secured the record for most treys made (61) and attempted (159) by a frosh in school history. JamesOn Curry was 45-of-104 in his inaugural season and held the previous record for both categories.
• With four points against Oklahoma, he surpassed Byron Houston for second place on the list.
• In his first official game in an OSU uniform, Anderson scored a game-high 29 points, tying the school record for most points by a freshman. Byron Houston had 29 against Kansas State on Jan. 25, 1989.
• Anderson’s 29 points were also the fourth-most by any Cowboy in a season opener, regardless of class.
Other Rookies Stepping Up
• Freshmen posts Ibrahima Thomas and Martavius Adams have shown dramatic improvement over the second half of the season.
• Over the last 19 games — all starts — Thomas is averaging 6.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
• In his first 10 games, the Senegal native was averaging 4.1 points and 2.9 rebounds per contest.
• Adams played a career-high 30 minutes against Kansas.
• In the last eight games, he is averaging 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
• Prior to the last eight contests, he was averaging just 2.3 points and 1.8 boards per contest.
Harris, Eaton Like the Freebies
• Terrel Harris would lead the Big 12 Conference in free-throw shooting if he had enough makes to qualify. He’s two made free throws shy of the minimum.
• Byron Eaton is second in the league in free-throws, connecting on 80.8 percent of his freebies.
• Eaton was 14 of 16 from the free-throw line against Baylor and 16 of 18 vs. Kansas.
• It was the most free-throws made in a game by a Cowboy since Rick Anderson made 17 at Kansas on Feb. 6, 1985. It was the most attempts by a Poke since Bryant Reeves attempted 19 vs. Missouri on Jan. 22, 1995.
Oklahoma State No. 2 at the Charity Stripe
• Oklahoma State is shooting 72.5 percent from the free-throw line this season, ranking second among Big 12 teams.
• Baylor leads the league, shooting 73.9 percent from the charity stripe.
• Three other league squads are shooting 70 percent or better from the line.
Cowboys Third in Big 12 in Steals
• Oklahoma State averages 8.28 steals per game, the third-highest average of any Big 12 team this season.
• Kansas leads the league, averaging 9.07 per contest.
• Nebraska is second in the Big 12, averaging 0.15 steals per game more than the Pokes.
Three Cowboys Rank in the top-10
• Three Cowboys are ranked in the top-10 individually in the Big 12 Conference in steals per game.
• Kansas’ Mario Chalmers leads the league, averaging 2.34 steals per game.
• Byron Eaton is second with 2.10 steals per game. Marcus Dove is fifth at 1.83 per game.
• Terrel Harris ranks eighth with 1.45 per contest.
Cowboys No. 3 in Long-Range Shooting
• Oklahoma State averages nearly 7.5 three-pointers made per game, the third-highest average of any Big 12 team this season.
• Baylor leads the league, averaging 8.66 treys per contest.
• Texas is second in the Big 12, averaging 7.80 three-pointers per game.
• Kansas is fourth, averaging 6.87 treys per game.
Sutton Wins and Wins Big
• Sean Sutton won four games over ranked opponents in his first season as the head coach, including victories over two top-10 foes. He is now 6-9 vs. ranked teams, including 3-4 vs. top-10 opponents.
• His Cowboys were ranked as high as No. 9 in the polls in his initial season.
• Among eight Big 12 head coaches in either their first or second season, Sutton ranks first in victories with 38. He is third when sorted by winning percentage, behind Mark Turgeon at Texas A&M and Kansas State’s Frank Martin, both in their first year as head coach.
• Sutton has been involved with the Cowboy Basketball program for 17 seasons, including two as a player, 13 as an assistant to his father and two as the head coach.
• During that span, OSU has compiled a 386-168 record.
• While Sutton has been a member of the coaching staff, Oklahoma State has turned out three All-Americans, 44 all-conference selections and 20 academic all-league honorees.
• OSU has made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, including six Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and two Final Fours.
OSU Among Best in Big 12
• Oklahoma State is one of four school in the Big 12 that has won at least 100 games over the past five seasons.
• Only Kansas and Texas have more victories.
• OSU’s .679 winning percentage ranks third in the league as well.
• The Cowboys’ 2004 Final Four appearance is the last by a Big 12 squad.
• Only OSU, Kansas and Texas have two Sweet 16 appearances in the last five seasons.
