Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Face Akron in Puerto Rico Tip-Off
November 13, 2012 | Cowboy Basketball
Nov. 13, 2012
Game Notes vs Akron in PDF format
Puerto Rico Tip-Off
First Round vs Akron
11:30 am (9:30 am CT) | Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012
Bayamon, P.R. | Coliseo Ruben Rodriquez (12,000)
Television -- ESPNU
Doug Sherman * play-by-play | Dino Gaudio * analyst
Cox (OKC) * 253 | Cox (Tulsa) * 253 | Suddenlink (Stillwater) * 503 | DirecTV * 208 | Dish * 141
Radio -- Cowboy Radio Network
Dave Hunziker * play-by-play | Bryndon Manzer * analyst
Game Information
Oklahoma State travels to Bayamon, Puerto Rico, this week to compete in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The games will be played in the Coliseo Ruben Rodriquez. The Cowboys will face Akron in the first game of the tournament at 11:30 am local time (9:30 am CT) on Thursday, Nov. 15. That game will be televised on ESPNU, with Doug Sherman handling the play-by-play duties and Dino Gaudio providing expert analysis.
OSU's second-round opponent will be either Tennessee or UNC-Asheville. Other teams competing in the tournament are Massachusetts, North Carolina State, Penn State and Providence. A complete bracket can be found on page 23 of these game notes.
About Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is 1-0 this season following a 73-65 win over UC Davis in the Cowboys' season opener. Markel Brown and Le'Bryan Nash each scored 16 points in the victory, pacing four Pokes in double figures. Freshman sharpshooter Phil Forte scored 13 points with three three-pointers, while senior Jéan-Paul Olukemi chipped in 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Nash also tied for team-high honors with seven rebounds, matching freshman Marcus Smart. The Cowboy rookie finished with eight points, seven boards, seven assists and just one turnover in 34 minutes.
Of the eight players who saw the court in Friday night's contest, only Brown finished the season last year. Four newcomers played against UC Davis, and the three others did not finish the season last spring due to injury. Olukemi, who started against the Aggies, missed the final 20 games last year after suffering a torn ACL. Nash, who also started against UC Davis, missed the final five games last season with an injured hand. Philip Jurick, who played just three minutes against the Aggies, missed the Big 12 Tournament last year with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
This will mark Oklahoma State's first trip outside of the United States for a regular-season basketball tournament in school history, and just the seventh time that the Cowboys have traveled outside the Continental U.S. during basketball season. OSU has played four times in Hawaii, most recently in 2007, and has traveled to Alaska twice to compete in the Great Alaska Shootout.
About Akron
Akron finished 22-12 last season and lost to Northwestern in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. The Zips return four starters and six of their top-eight scorers from a year ago. However, Demetrius Treadwell and Nick Harney have been suspended for the first three games of the season and will miss Thursday's first-round contest of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Senior center Zeke Marshall led Akron in scoring (10.4 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 rpg) last season, while junior guard Alex Abreu (a native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico), averaged 9.7 points and five assists per game a year ago.
Akron is 1-1 on the season, having lost its season opener to Coastal Carolina 74-70 in overtime in Conway, S.C. The Zips defeated John Carroll 97-53 on Monday night. Freshman Jake Kretzer is leading the team with 13.5 points per game, while senior guard Brian Walsh is chipping in 13 ppg. Senior center Zeke Marshall is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 8.5 boards per contest. As a team, Akron is shooting 48 percent from the floor, including nearly 39 percent (24 of 62) from beyond the arc.
In-Season Tournaments
Oklahoma State has compiled a 148-99 record all-time for in-season tournaments, including a 62-15 mark in the All-College Classic, the nation's oldest consecutive in-season tournament in the country. The Cowboys won 13 All-College Classic titles in 25 appearances. OSU was 25-41 in the Big Eight Holiday tournament, which ran for 20 consecutive years from 1958-78. The Cowboys have played in the Preseason NIT three times, winning the championship in 1991 season and reaching the "final four" in 2011. OSU is 52-34 in other in-season tournaments, winning eight titles, including most recently: the 2009 HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational, the 2006 South Padre Island Invitational, and the 2001 Las Vegas Tournament. The Cowboys competed in the 2010 Anaheim Classic and defeated Murray State 66-49 in the third-place game.
Series History vs the Field
Oklahoma State is 7-2 combined all-time against participants in this year's Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The Cowboys are 1-0 all-time vs UMass, NC State and Penn State, and 2-1 all-time against Providence and Tennessee. The last time OSU played one of the teams was on March 20, 2009, when the Pokes defeated Tennessee 77-75 in the NCAA Tournament.
OSU has never played Akron or UNC Asheville, the other two teams on the top half of the bracket with the Cowboys and Volunteers. Oklahoma State's only meetings against UMass and NC State both came in the NCAA Tournament. The Cowboys one matchup with Penn State came in the 1952 All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City. OSU played a pair of neutral-site games against Tennessee in 2005 and `06. The Pokes' last game against Providence came in the first round of the 2001 Las Vegas Tournament.
OSU Ties With the Other Teams
• Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford and assistant coach Steve Middleton both came to OSU from UMass, where they spent three years rebuilding the Minutemen program.
• OSU assistant coach Chris Ferguson was an assistant coach at Tennessee from 1997-2003 and was the associate head coach for the Volunteers from 2003-05.
• Cowboy senior Philip Jurick spent his freshman season as a redshirt at Tennessee in 2008-09. None of the current Volunteers were on the team that season.
• Josh Richardson, a sophomore guard for Tennessee, is a native of Edmond, Okla., and attended Santa Fe High School. Edmond is approximately 45 minutes from Stillwater.
• Cowboy senior Jéan-Paul Olukemi and UNC Asheville senior Jon Nwannunu both played at Vincennes College in Indiana. However, Olukemi played just one season in 2008-09 and Nwannunu played the following year for one season.
• OSU freshman Kamari Murphy and Providence senior Vincent Council both attended Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. Murphy was a freshman in 2007-08, Council's final year playing for the Railsplitters.
Freshmen Make Immediate Impact
Oklahoma State had four newcomers play in the season opener, including three freshmen. All three made an immediate impact for the Cowboys. Forward Kamari Murphy and guard Marcus Smart both started for OSU, and guard Phil Forte played 31 minutes for the Pokes.
Murphy played 24 minutes and scored seven points while grabbing six rebounds and blocking four shots. That number is tied for the ninth-most blocks in a single game by a Cowboy freshman in school history. Smart finished with eight points, seven rebounds and seven assists. His seven dishes are tied for the fifth most in a single game by an OSU freshman, and are the most ever by a Cowboy rookie in a season opener. Forte finished with 13 points off the bench, connecting on three three-pointers and also recording two steals.
Cutting Back on Turnovers
With just nine turnovers against UC Davis last Friday, Oklahoma State has had three-straight games will single-digit turnovers. The Cowboys had seven and nine, respectively, in their games against Texas Tech and Missouri in the Big 12 Championship last season. In fact, in eight of the last 13 games, OSU has had fewer than 10 turnovers, and only once during that span have the Cowboys committed more than 14 turnovers. After averaging 14.2 turnovers over the first 21 games of last season, Oklahoma State averaged just 9.6 turnovers over the final 10 games.
