Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Head to Big 12 Championship
March 09, 2010 | Cowboy Basketball
March 9, 2010
2010 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship
First Round vs. Oklahoma
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 • 6 p.m.
Kansas City, Mo. • Sprint Center (18,879)
Series History -- OU leads, 126-91
Last Meeting -- Feb. 13, 2010 in Stillwater
Result -- Oklahoma State won 97-76
in Big 12 Championship -- OSU leads, 2-0
Last Meeting -- March 12, 2009
Result -- Oklahoma State won 71-70
Television -- Big 12 Network
Play-by-Play • Dave Armstrong
Analyst • Reid Gettys
Oklahoma City • KOKH-34 (Cox Ch. 11)
Stillwater • KOKH-34 (SuddenLink Ch. 11)
Tulsa • KJRH-2 (Cox Channel 9)
Radio -- Cowboy Radio Network
Play-by-Play • Dave Hunziker
Analyst • John Holcomb
Sirius Satellite Radio • Channel 125
XM Satellite Radio • Channel 231
Game Notes for Big 12 Championship in PDF Format 
Bedlam III
For the second-straight year, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma will play a third game during the season. The Sooners won the first game in Norman 62-57 in overtime, while the Cowboys won the matchup in Stillwater 97-76. Last year, OU won both regular-season games before OSU upset the No. 6 Sooners 71-70 in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. This will mark the third time that the bedlam rivals will meet in the Big 12 Championships. OSU defeated OU 60-57 in the quarterfinals of the 1999 tournament. It marks the 10th time they will play a game in Kansas City, with Oklahoma holding a 5-4 edge.
Big 12 Championship
Oklahoma State is 18-11 all-time at the Big 12 Championship, and has won at least one game in all but two of the 13 tournaments so far. The Cowboys are 7-0 all-time in the first round, including a 3-0 mark as the No. 7 seed versus the No. 10 seed. OSU is 2-0 all-time against Oklahoma since both schools joined the Big 12 Conference, including a 71-70 win over the No. 2 seeded Sooners at last year's tournament. Wednesday's game will be the ninth Big 12 Championship game for senior Obi Muonelo, tying him for third on the tournament games played list, just one behind the school record set by Terrel Harris and Byron Eaton last year.
Individual Notes
James Anderson ranks 3rd nationally in scoring -- the highest finish a Cowboy has ever had was 5th by Ed Odom (24.2 ppg) in 1979-80 ... Anderson needs three points to move into 5th place and 28 for 4th on the school single-season scoring list ... Marshall Moses needs five rebounds to move past Obi Muonelo's total of 252 rebounds last season and into 4th place for most rebounds by a Cowboy junior ... Obi Muonelo is just five 3-pointers shy of tying the OSU record at the Big 12 Championship ... Matt Pilgrim is averaging 11.4 points and 9 rebounds over his last nine games while shooting 79.6% (43 of 54) from the floor ... Keiton Page is averaging 13.3 points and 3.9 assists in the last eight outings ... Page has connected on 23 consecutive free throws and 39 of his last 40 (97.5%).
Team Notes
OSU is shooting 41% from long range over that span, making 76-of-186 ... the Cowboys have won 31 of their last 34 games (91.2%) when shooting 50% from the floor ... Oklahoma State is 36-1 in the Ford era when shooting better than their opponent ... OSU is 4-4 against top-25 foes this season, including a 2-1 mark against top-10 teams ... over the last two seasons (aka the Ford Era), the Cowboys are averaging 8.83 treys per game.
Anderson Named Big 12 Player of the Year
James Anderson has been named the Big 12 Conference's Player of the Year both by the league office in a vote of the head coaches and by the Associated Press. It is the first time an Oklahoma State player has been a unanimous selection for conference player of the year since Bryant Reeves was honored as a sophomore in 1992-93.
Anderson becomes the sixth Cowboy in school history to be named the league's top player, joining Byron Houston (AP, 1991), Reeves (Big Eight/AP, 1993), Reeves (Big Eight, 1995), Tony Allen (Big 12, 2004) and John Lucas (AP, 2004).
Anderson was also a unanimous selection for All-Big 12 First Team honors, making him the ninth Cowboy in the 14 years of the Big 12's existence to make the top squad.
Anderson Garners All-America Status
James Anderson has been named a first-team All-American by Sporting News, it was announced Tuesday morning. The Cowboy junior joins Scottie Reynolds of Villanova, Ohio State's Evan Turner, John Wall of Kentucky and Maryland's Greivis Vasquez.
Oklahoma State has had a player named All-American by Sporting News just seven times since the publication began naming All-America squads in 1943. Anderson is the first Cowboy to be named since Byron Houston was a second-team selection in 1992. Anderson is just the fourth Cowboy to be named a first-team selection and the first since since Gale McArthur in 1951. Bob Kurland was a two-time first-team All-American according to Sporting News in 1945-46.
Anderson also received first-team All-America honors from Yahoo!Sports, announced Monday morning. He joins Reynolds, Turner, Wall and DeMarcus Cousins of Kentucky.
A Scoring Machine
This season, James Anderson has averaged 19 points or more against every team in the Big 12. He finished the conference portion of the season averaging 24.1 points per game, the fifth-highest average by a Big 12 player in league history.
He enters the postseason with an 18 ppg career scoring average, the second-highest average in school history with Byron Houston's 18.7 ppg average the only one ahead of him.
Anderson currently has 1,762 career points, making him the fourth-most prominent scorer in school history and ranking him No. 14 among all-time Big 12 scorers. He needs just 60 points to move into the top-10 in conference history and he's just at the end of his junior season.
Anderson has also scored more points through his first three years in a Cowboy uniform than any other player in school history. Houston held the top spot for 19 years with 1,691 points.
More Notes on Anderson's Season
• James Anderson is averaging 22.9 points per game this season, leading the Big 12 Conference. He is the only player in the league averaging 20 or more points per game, as LaceDarius Dunn of Baylor ranks second at 19.2 points per contest.
• Only seven players in OSU history have averaged 20 points or more in a single season, the last being Bryant Reeves in 1994-95.
• Anderson's current average would rank second in school history behind Ed Odom's school-record 24.2 points per game in 1979-80. Byron Houston averaged 22.7 ppg in 1990-91.
• Anderson has scored 20 or more points 21 times this season and 41 times in his career. His 41 career 20-point games are the third-most in school history. He trails just Reeves (56) and Houston (55). Anderson also has nine 30-point games in his career, leading all active Big 12 players and the third-most in school history.
• He has reached double figures in 44-straight games dating back to last season. That string is the second-longest streak in school history. Only Bryant Reeves (50) had more consecutive double-figure scoring games.
• Anderson has 686 points this season, the sixth-most points in a single season in school history. He needs two points to move past Byron Houston and into fifth place on the OSU single-season scoring list. Another 28 points will move him past Bryant Reeves and into fourth place.
He Scores, She Scores
Combined with the Cowgirls' Andrea Riley (25.5 points per game), the duo has a chance to become just the third pair of players from the same school to lead the Big 12 in scoring in league history. Cory Carr and Alicia Thompson of Texas Tech both led the league in scoring in 1996-97 and again in 1997-98. Both averaged better than 23 points per game in each of those two seasons.
No duo in the country is averaging more than Anderson and Riley's 48.5 points per game. Corin Adams (19.1 ppg) and Reggie Holmes (22.3 ppg) from Morgan State are second at 41.4 points per game. Ohio State's Evan Turner (19.5 ppg) and Jantel Lavender (20.9 ppg) are third. The fourth-best scoring duo in the country is Landry Fields (22.1 ppg) and Nnemkadi Ogwumike (18.0 ppg) from Stanford.
Anderson Academic All-Big 12
As if what he does on the court isn't enough, junior James Anderson has been named an Academic All-Big 12 Second Team selection for his efforts in the classroom. This comes a year after he was named Academic All-Big 12 First Team as a sophomore. To qualify for Academic honors, student-athletes must possess a 3.0 grade point average, either overall or through the last two semesters.
Muonelo Named All-Big 12
Senior guard Obi Muonelo was named an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection by the league head coaches. It is his first such honor, and extends Oklahoma State's streak of seasons with at least two Cowboys honored by the league to 14. Muonelo was one of nine players named as an honorable mention selection.
Other Cowboys Garner Postseason Honors
The Kansas City Star announced its All-Big 12 Specialty teams on Monday, and the Cowboys were well-represented there also. Obi Muonelo was named to the all-underrated team, while Matt Pilgrim was listed on the all-newcomer squad. Keiton Page was named to the all-imrpoved team. The Oklahoman released its specialty teams, with Pilgrim garnering all-newcomer and all-bench accolades, while Muonelo was again named to the all-underrated team.
Muonelo Moves Up Scoring Chart
With 13 points against Nebraska, senior guard Obi Muonelo now has 1,342 career points, positioning him in 16th place on the OSU career scoring list. Muonelo scored a career-best 444 points last season when he averaged 12.7 points per game. He's averaging 13.4 points this season. Muonelo was five points shy his sophomore year of averaging 10 points per game and a chance to become the seventh player in school history to average double figures in all four seasons. Muonelo needs 22 points to move past JamesOn Curry and into 15th place on the school list.
Muonelo Among Elite
Muonelo became just the fifth player in an elite group among Cowboy Basketball players. He's one of 34 players in school history to score 1,000 points in a career. He's one of just 15 players who have recorded both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career. Out of those 15, he is one of just five who have also recorded an additional 200 assists and 100 steals. The other four are: Byron Houston, Chianti Roberts, Adrian Peterson and Randy Rutherford. Muonelo currently has 1,342 points, 579 rebounds, 215 assists and 103 steals. His 579 boards rank as the 13th-most by a Cowboy. He is 21 away from becoming the 13th OSU player in school history with 600 career rebounds.
Cowboys Among League Leaders in Rebounding
Junior forward Marshall Moses ranks sixth in the Big 12 Conference in rebounding, averaging 8.6 boards per contest. He trails Texas' Damion James (10.2 rebounds per game), Baylor's Ekpe Udoh (9.8 rpg), Kansas' Cole Aldrich (9.7) and the Iowa State Cyclone duo of Marquis Gilstrap (9.4) and Craig Brackins (8.6). Moses has 10 double-figure rebounding games this season and 19 in his career. His 18 caroms against Colorado on Jan. 20 tied his career high, set originally against Baylor last season. Junior forward Matt Pilgrim ranks ninth in the Big 12 for rebounding at 6.9 boards per contest, while James Anderson ranks 14th with six rebounds per game.
Three-Point Threats
Obi Muonelo and James Anderson became the third and fourth players in school history to connect on 200 or more career three-point shots this season. With four makes at Texas, Muonelo moved past Adrian Peterson and into second place on the career three-pointers made list. He also ranks second on the career attempts list with 616 while Anderson is fourth with 575 attempts from long range. Keiton Page has made 126-of-334 shots from long range, tied for the 13th-most treys made in a career in Oklahoma State history. This season, Muonelo is shooting 42.9 percent from beyond the three-point arc, while Anderson is shooting 35.9 percent. Page is good for 35.8 percent. This year marks the first time since the 3-point line was installed in 1986-87 that three different Cowboys have hit 60 or more treys in the same season.
Boxing Out
The Big 12 Conference and the StatCrew software program began keeping two more statistical categories this season -- defensive rebound percentage and offensive rebound percentage. It basically assigns a quantitative figure to boxing out on the offensive and defensive ends of the court. Oklahoma State leads the league in the defensive rebound percentage category, so I decided to figure out exactly what it means. Excluding deadball rebounds, it determines what percentage of an opponents' missed shots result in a rebound for OSU, or how the Cowboys rebound on the defensive end of the court. OSU leads the Big 12 Conference at 72.4 percent, while Nebraska ranks second at 70 percent. This season's team has the highest defensive-rebound percentage since rebounds were broken down into offensive and defensive boards on the statistics sheets in 1986-87. No other squad has ever grabbed more than 70 percent of an opposing team's missed shots. Second on the list is the 2004-05 Sweet 16 team which obtained 69.3 percent of the foe's missed shots.
Halftime Leads
Oklahoma State is 19-3 this season when leading at halftime and was also 18-3 last year when entering the locker room with the lead. Over the past 10-plus seasons, the Cowboys are 202-23 (89.8 percent) when leading at the half. Over that same span, Oklahoma State is just 40-83 (32.5 percent) when trailing at the half, including a win over Kansas State this season despite trailing by three at intermission.
Outshoot the Opponent
Oklahoma State has won 36 of the last 37 games when shooting better than its opponent. OSU lost for the first time in the Ford Era when the Cowboys outshot Texas Tech in Lubbock, yet still lost the game. The Red Raiders made 46 trips to the charity stripe compared to just 22 by the Pokes. Prior to that contest, the last time OSU outshot an opponent percentage-wise from the floor but lost was at Texas on March 9, 2008. In that game, OSU shot 34.3 percent compared to 34 percent by the `Horns. However, UT made 29 trips to the line compared to just 10 by the Pokes and Texas won 62-57.
Defensive Improvement
Coach Ford preaches hard-nosed, aggressive defense, and that's exactly what he's getting this season. Through 30 regular-season games, OSU is giving up just 67.6 points per game this season compared to 74.8 points per game through the same number of games a year ago. That's 7.2 fewer points per contest. The Cowboys' opponents are shooting 41.6 percent from the floor this year, compared to 44.3 percent through 30 games last season. Oklahoma State has held nearly twice as many (19 of 30) opponents under 70 points this season, compared to just 10 of the first 30 a year ago.
