Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Lions on Sunday
December 11, 2009 | Cowboy Basketball
Dec. 11, 2009
Game Info vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Date — Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009
Tipoff — 3:05 p.m.
Location — Stillwater, Okla.
Venue — Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)
Series History with UAPB — First meeting
Record vs. the SWAC — 18-0
Radio — Cowboy Radio Network
Play-by-Play • Dave Hunziker
Analyst • John Holcomb
XM Satellite Radio • Channel 231
Game Notes vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff in PDF Format 
About Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is 7-1 this season after defeating a much-improved UTSA team 61-55 last Saturday. The Cowboys took a week off for finals and the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game is the first home game immediately after finals that OSU has played since 2005. The last three seasons, the Pokes went on the road right after finals week. James Anderson leads OSU and the Big 12 Conference in scoring at 21 points per game, while Marshall Moses leads the Cowboys and the league in rebounding at 10.1 boards per contest. Oklahoma State has six players averaging eight or more points per game and four averaging double figures in scoring. On defense, eight different players have between three and seven steals, and those same eight have at least nine defensive rebounds each.
About UAPB
Arkansas-Pine Bluff is 0-6 this season and coming off a 67-53 loss at Michigan last Saturday. The Lions have yet to play a home game, having lost at Colorado (88-72), Denver (75-56), UTEP (70-52), Akron (68-65) and Arizona State (74-57). UAPB is led by sophomore guard Savalace Townsend who is averaging 13.3 points per game, the only Lion averaging double figures. Senior forward Lebaron Weathers leads UAPB in rebounding at 6.8 boards per contest. The Lions are outrebounding their opponents by an average of 7.3 rebounds per game, including averaging nearly 11 offensive boards per contest.
Quick Notes
With 1,022 points, Obi Muonelo is tied with Tony Allen for 31st place on the school career scoring list. He needs 11 to move into the top 30 and past Royce Jeffries ... James Anderson extended his streak of consecutive double-digit scoring games to 22 ... head coach Travis Ford has the second-highest winning percentage by a coach in OSU history. Only Eddie Sutton (70.9 percent) had a higher winning percentage that Coach Ford (69.8) ... Oklahoma State is 24-0 in the Ford era when shooting better than its opponent and 20-1 when making more free throws than the opposition.
Up Next
OSU will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., to take on Stanford (4-3) in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series on Wednesday at 10 p.m. CT. PLEASE NOTE ... THIS IS DIFFERENT THAN THE ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED TIME OF 9 PM. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net. The Cowboys will play La Salle (6-2) on Monday, Dec. 21, in the All-College Classic at the Ford Center. Tipoff for the second game of the doubleheader with OU-UTEP is set for 7:30 p.m.
All-Time vs the SWAC
Oklahoma State is 18-0 all time against teams currently affiliated with the Southwestern Athletic Conference, but has never played Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Cowboys are 5-0 against Jackson State, 3-0 vs. Alcorn State and Prairie View A&M, 2-0 against Grambling State, Southern and Texas Southern, and 1-0 vs. Mississippi Valley State. OSU has never played Alabama A&M or Alabama State. This season will mark the first time that Oklahoma State has played three games against SWAC schools in the same season. The Pokes hosted Southern as part of the Las Vegas Invitational and also hosted Prairie View A&M in November. OSU is 16-0 against the SWAC schools in Stillwater, having played Alcorn State in the 1980 All-College Classic in Oklahoma City and Jackson State in the 1994 Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage. While the Cowboys have barely won a few of the games (a one-point victory over Alcorn State in 1980, a couple of two-point wins and a three-point victory), the majority of the games have been blowouts, with OSU averaging nearly 25-points in victory margins, including seven by 30 or more points.
Limiting the Turnovers
While Oklahoma State isn't forcing many turnovers this season, the Cowboys are limiting their turnovers as well. OSU is averaging just 11.5 turnovers per game, the lowest average in the Big 12 Conference. It is also the lowest average in OSU history, better than the school-record low of 12.3 turnovers per game last season. The Cowboys have just 92 turnovers through eight games this season, compared to 113 through the same number of games a year ago. That is 2.6 fewer turnovers per game than this time last season. Oklahoma State is 150-32 (82.4 percent) over the past 10-plus seasons when committing fewer turnovers than the opponent.
Improving at the Charity Stripe
After struggling through the first four games from the free-throw line, Oklahoma State has improved the last four contests. After the Prairie View A&M game, all four which were inside Gallagher-Iba Arena, the Cowboys had made just 76-of-115 shots from the line, good for 66.1 percent. However, over the last four games, three of which have been away from Stillwater, OSU is shooting 78.3 percent, bringing its season percentage up above 70 percent. The Cowboys shot a season-high 87 percent (20-of-23) against Utah in the HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational.
Outshoot the Opponent
Oklahoma State has won 24 consecutive games when shooting better than its opponent from the field. The last time the Cowboys outshot an opponent percentage-wise from the floor and still lost was at Texas on March 9, 2008. In that game, OSU shot 34.3 percent compared to 34 percent by the Longhorns. However, UT made 29 trips to the free-throw line compared to just 10 by the Pokes and Texas won 62-57.
Jumping Out Early
Oklahoma State is 7-0 this season when leading at halftime and was 18-3 last year when entering the locker room with the lead. Over the past 10-plus seasons, the Cowboys are 189-20 (90.4 percent) when leading at the half. Over that same span, Oklahoma State is just 39-78 (33.3 percent) when trailing at the half, including the loss at Tulsa earlier this season when the Pokes trailed 46-31 at intermission.
Anderson Leads Big 12
Junior guard James Anderson is averaging 21 points per game this season, leading the Big 12 Conference. He is the only player averaging 20 or more points per game in the league, with Colorado's Cory Higgins second in the Big 12 at 19.7 points per game. Only seven players in OSU history have averaged 20 points or more in a season, the last being Bryant Reeves in 1994-95. Four of the seven occurred between 1990-95, when Byron Houston and Reeves each did it twice.
Anderson has scored 20 or more points five times this season and 25 times in his career. He also has five 30 point games in his career, including 30 against Southern this season. He has reached double figures in 22 straight games dating back to last season. That string is three shy of the 12th-longest streak in school history.
Moses Tops in Big 12
Junior forward Marshall Moses leads the Big 12 Conference in rebounding, averaging 10.1 boards per contest. He's just 1/100th of a rebound ahead of Oklahoma's Tiny Gallon. Moses has four double-figure rebounding games this season and 13 in his career. His 16 caroms against UTSA in the last game were two shy of his career high. The last Cowboy in school history to average double figures in rebounding was Bryant Reeves 17 years ago during the 1992-93 season when he grabbed 291 boards in 29 games.
