Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Milwaukee Friday Night
November 20, 2014 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State Cowboys
vs
Milwaukee Panthers
friday, Nov 21, 2014
- 7 pm CT -
Gallagher-Iba ArenA
Stillwater, Okla.
Television
Mike Wolfe | play-by-play
Bryndon Manzer | analyst
Cox (OKC) — 68
Cox (Tulsa) — 68
Suddenlink — 75
direcTV — 692
Dish — 417
U-Verse — 751/649
Radio
Dave Hunziker | play-by-play
John Holcomb | analyst
Satellite Radio — none
A complete list of affiliates can be found on page 5 of these notes.
Probable Starters
OSU Probable Starters Position Ht Wt Yr PPG RPG APG FG% 3FG% FT%
2 Le'Bryan Nash wing 6-7 235 Sr 17.7 8.3 3.0 .467 .000 .781
30 Jeffrey Carroll wing 6-6 205 RS Fr 9.0 5.7 0.0 .407 .250 .500
20 Michael Cobbins + post 6-8 230 Sr 4.5 4.3 1.5 ^ .500 .000 .471
12 Anthony Hickey, Jr. guard 5-11 185 Sr 4.3 3.3 4.0 .375 .143 .000
13 Phil Forte, III guard 5-11 185 Jr 17.3 2.3 4.3 * .459 .458 .875
OSU Off the Bench Position Ht Wt Yr PPG RPG APG FG% 3FG% FT%
1 Tyree Griffin guard 5-10 165 Fr 5.0 2.3 2.3 .500 1.000 .727
4 Joe Burton wing 6-6 215 Fr 4.5 2.0 0.0 .500 .000 .333
5 Tavarius Shine wing 6-5 195 Fr 4.0 3.7 0.0 .400 .000 .667
14 Marek Souèek post 7-0 240 Sr 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
15 Christien Sager wing 6-4 205 Sr 1.3 0.7 0.3 .333 .333 .500
22 Jeff Newberry guard 6-2 190 Jr 6.7 2.0 0.3 .538 .500 .500
23 Leyton Hammonds wing 6-7 205 So 5.3 2.3 0.7 .462 .444 .000
32 Anthony Allen, Jr. post 7-0 240 Jr 5.7 10.0 3.3 ^ 1.000 .000 .333
41 Mitchell Solomon post 6-9 235 Fr 1.3 5.3 0.7 .333 .000 .000
+ stats from last season; * steals per game; ^ blocks per game
MIL Probable Starters Position Ht Wt Yr PPG RPG APG FG% 3FG% FT%
23 J.J. Panoske forward 6-10 225 Jr 8.3 5.0 1.7 .667 .667 .500
31 Matt Tiby forward 6-8 230 Jr 8.0 3.7 2.0 .412 .375 .636
2 Akeem Springs guard 6-4 210 So 11.7 7.0 2.3 .325 .154 .538
25 Steve McWhorter guard 6-2 185 Sr 14.0 5.0 2.7 .484 .455 .778
30 J.R. Lyle guard 6-2 175 Jr 12.7 2.3 1.3 .542 .400 .615
Game Notes vs Milwaukee in PDF format 
Game Information
Oklahoma State hosts the Milwaukee Panthers in the opening round of the MGM Grand Main Event on Friday, Nov. 21, at 7 pm inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The game will be produced by the Cowboy Sports Network and televised on both Fox Sports Southwest Plus and Fox College Sports Pacific. Tickets can be purchased on-line at <www.okstate.com/tickets> or by contacting the OSU Ticket Office at (877) 255-4678 for as little as $10 per seat.
About Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is 3-0 this season following a 91-45 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State on Tuesday night. Three games into the season, the Cowboys are averaging 82.7 points per game and outscoring their opponents by an average of 32 points per contest. OSU is averaging 49.3 rebounds per game with a +14.0 rebounding margin. The Pokes are also forcing an average of 17 turnovers per game while committing 14.7 per contest, a +2.3 turnover margin.
Defensively, OSU has allowed just 50.7 ppg on 29.1% shooting from the floor and 21.9% from beyond the three-point arc.
Individually, senior Le'Bryan Nash is leading the Cowboys with his 17.7 ppg and 8.3 rpg. Junior Phil Forte is averaging 17.3 ppg, and leads the squad with 13 steals. Junior Anthony Allen is averaging 10 rebounds, 5.7 points and 3.3 blocked shots per game, and senior Anthony Hickey leads OSU with 12 assists in the first three games.
About milwaukee
Milwaukee is 1-2 this season, including a 70-68 loss to IUPUI at home on Wednesday. The record also includes an 83-73 loss at Auburn last Friday and a 75-54 victory over Minnesota-Crookston on Monday.
Milwaukee is led by senior guard Steve McWhorter who is averaging 14 points per game and 2.7 assists per contest. J.R. Lyle is second on the squad with 12.7 ppg, while Akeem Springs is averaging 11.7 points and a team-high seven rebounds per game. Three other players (J.J. Panoske, Cody Wichmann and Matt Tiby) are all averaging at least eight points per contest.
As a team, Milwaukee is shooting 45% from the floor, including 36.6% from beyond the three-point arc. The Panthers have committed just 27 turnovers in three games, but forced just 36. They have a +3.0 rebounding margin.
Milwaukee is coached by Rob Jeter, who is 151-143 in his 10th season as head coach of the Panthers.
vs non-conference foes in gia
Oklahoma State went 7-0 last season in non-conference home games. The Cowboys are 189-4 (97.9%) in home games vs non-league foes since 1987. During that span, OSU won 80-straight contests from 1987-98, which ranks as the fifth-longest streak in NCAA Division I history. All-time, Oklahoma State is 402-49 (89.1%) in non-conference games inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
history with milwaukee
This will be the first-ever meeting between Oklahoma State and Milwaukee on the hardwood. In fact, the Cowboys have only played two games against current members of the Horizon League since 1957. OSU defeated Cleveland State 92-66 on Dec. 21, 1981, and defeated Detroit 90-56 on Nov. 22, 2005. Oklahoma State is 11-6 all-time against the Detroit Titans, as both were members of the Missouri Valley Conference from 1950-57. The Cowboys have never faced Green Bay, Illinois-Chicago, Oakland, Valparaiso, Wright State or Youngstown State.
milestone for ford
Friday night's game vs Milwaukee will be the 100th home game under Coach Travis Ford. Through 99 home games with Ford at the helm, the Cowboys have compiled a record of 85-14 (.859). Of those 14 losses, 10 have been against ranked opponents, and seven of those were vs top-10 teams. OSU has defeated nine ranked foes inside Gallagher-Iba Arena under Ford, including three top-10 teams.
Going to the line
Two seasons ago, Le'Bryan Nash started the season with a bang, going to the free-throw line 44 times in his first four games. After returning from the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, where he had at least 12 attempts from the line in all three contests, he mentioned that he'd like to lead the country in free-throw attempts. However, his attempts decreased dramatically over the course of the season, and he had only three games where he had 10 or more attempts from the line for the rest of the slate.
Early this season, Nash is on track once again to lead the nation in FT attempts. Through three games, he has attempted 32 charity tosses, nearly 11 per game. Last season, the nation's leader in free-throw attempts was Antoine Mason of Niagara. He attempted 357 FTs in 33 games, an average of 10.8 attempts per contest.
Carroll steps up
In just his third game as a Cowboy, and his first-career start, redshirt freshman Jeffrey Carroll stepped up to the challenge, recording a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds against Northwestern Oklahoma State. He was 7 of 14 from the floor, including 6 of 8 from inside the arc. And, he accomplished all this in just 17 minutes on the court.
Scoring streak
Against Northwestern Oklahoma State, the Cowboys went on an early 20-0 run against the Rangers from the 18:52 mark until there was 13:34 left in the first half. That run tied for the longest run since the 2000-01 season, matching the 20-consecutive points the Cowboys scored against Siena on Nov. 20, 2001.
Since the 1996-97 season, OSU has had five runs of 20 or more points:
21 vs Texas A&M (Jan. 24, 2001)
21 at North Texas (Nov. 29, 2000)
21 vs SMU (Dec. 21, 1996)
20 vs Northwestern Okla State (Nov. 18, 2014)
20 vs Siena (Nov. 20, 2001)
Rebounding records
Oklahoma State recorded 60 rebounds against the Rangers, just the fourth time in school history that the Cowboys have reached that mark, and the first time 1973.
65 vs Colorado at Kansas City (Dec. 29, 1972)
64 vs Kansas (March 5, 1973)
61 vs Oklahoma at Kansas City (Dec. 28, 1972)
60 vs Northwestern Okla State (Nov. 18, 2014)
In the three previous games, there was no distinguishing between team and deadball rebounds. So, it's quite possible that the total on Tuesday night is a school record. It's certainly a modern-day record.
Oklahoma State outrebounded the Rangers by 35 (60-25), which is also a school record. The previous record was a +32 rebounding margin against MacMurray on Dec. 11, 1967. In that game, the Cowboys outrebounded the opponents 52-20.
Nash Leads big 12
Senior Le'Bryan Nash has 21 career 20-point games, leadin the Big 12 Conference's active players. TCU guard Kyan Anderson is second in the league with 15. Cowboy junior Phil Forte ranks fifth in the conference with 11 games of 20 or more points. Here is a look at the players with at least 10 20-point games.
Player, School 20-point Games
Le'Bryan Nash, OSU 21
Kyan Anderson, TCU 15
Juwan Staten, WVU 13
George Niang, ISU 12
Phil Forte, OSU 11
Perry Ellis, KU 9
Buddy Hield, OU 9
Marcus Foster, KSU 8
Cowboys in the Big 12 Statistics
Oklahoma State is the only Big 12 team to have played three games. Statistically, several Cowboys rank among the league's top players statistically.
> Le'Bryan Nash ranks fourth among Big 12 scorers, averaging 17.7 ppg. Phil Forte is sixth at 17.3 ppg.
> Forte leads the league in steals with 13 in three games. His 4.3 average leads the conference. Jeff Newberry is seventh at 2.3 spg, while Anthony Hickey is 11th with 1.7 steals per contest.
> Anthony Hickey is tied for ninth among Big 12 players, averaging four assists per game. Nash is tied for 15th with three assists per contest.
> Anthony Allen ranks fourth in the league lead in rebounding, averaging 10 rebounds per contest. Nash is 12th at 8.3 rpg.
> Allen ranks second in blocked shots, averaging 3.3 per game.
> Forte ranks second in three-pointers made per game (3.7) and 12th in three-point percentage (.458).
> As a team, Oklahoma State leads the Big 12 Conference in steals, averaging 12 per game. The Cowboys led the league last season in steals, averaging 7.65 thefts per game.
> OSU ranks second in blocks per game with seven per contest, trailing Texas Tech's eight blocks per game.
> The Cowboys' 49.3 rebounds per game trails only West Virginia, which is averaging 49.5 boards per contest.
Cobbins' career numbers
> Michael Cobbins ranks eighth in school history for career blocked shots with 111 entering his senior season. He needs three to move into seventh and 47 to move into sixth place.
> His 1.5 blocks-per-game average over a career ranks seventh in the school record books.
> Cobbins has 295 career defensive rebounds, ranking 19th, and his 121 offensive rebounds ranks 25th.
> He ranks 23rd in rebounds per game at 5.6 rpg.
> For Big 12 games only, Cobbins' 60 blocked shots ranks fourth in school history. He needs just 17 to move past Ivan McFarlin (76) and into second place behind Andre Williams (119).
nash's career numbers
> Le'Bryan Nash could become just the seventh player in school history to average double figures in all four seasons in a Cowboy uniform. He averaged 13.3 ppg as a freshman, 14.0 ppg as a sophomore and 13.9 ppg as a junior. The others are Ronnie Daniel (1973-77), Olus Holder (1974-78), Matt Clark (1978-83), Byron Houston (1988-92), Adrian Peterson (1995-99) and Ivan McFarlin (2001-05).
> Nash is the Big 12's active leader in 20-point games with 21, tying for the 13th most in OSU history.
> He ranks 19th in career points at OSU with 1,360 and 23rd in career scoring average at 13.9 ppg.
> Nash's 58 consecutive starts streak (active) is tied for the 21st longest in school history.
> He has 736 career points in Big 12 Conference games, ranking sixth for a Cowboy.
> He is the 22nd player to attempt 1,000 shots in a career for Oklahoma State.
> He is just the fourth player in school history to record 100 or more free throws in each of his first three seasons.
forte's career numbers
> Phil Forte holds the school record for three-point percentage in a game, connecting on all six attempts from long range at Oklahoma on Jan. 27, 2014.
> He tied Joe Smith for the longest streak of consecutive free-throws made with 43.
> His overall career free-throw percentage of 88.7 ranks second in school history behind John Lucas' school record 89.5 percent.
> Forte sits in eighth place in school history for three-pointers attempted in a career with 452, and needs 37 to move past JamesOn Curry and into seventh place.
> He is eighth in school history for three-pointers made in a career with 179. He needs four to move past Joe Adkins and into seventh place.
> He became the fifth player in school history with 100 three-pointers made in a season; the previous four were all seniors (Brooks Thompson in 1993-94, Randy Rutherford in 1994-95 and Keiton Page in 2011-12).
> Forte needs 160 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
newcomer notes
> Mitchell Solomon is the 20th player to join Oklahoma State's basketball team after being named to the Super 5 team by The Oklahoman since 1980. He has chosen to wear No. 41 on his jersey. He's the first Cowboy to don that number since Joe Atkinson in 1983.
> Tyree Griffin is the second Cowboy to be named Mr. Basketball in the state of Louisiana in the last five seasons. Markel Brown was Mr. Basketball in Louisiana in 2010.
> Anthony Hickey is a native of Hopkinsville, Ky., which is located just 35 miles due south of Madisonville, where coach Travis Ford went to high school.
> Anthony Allen, who hails from Kingston, Jamaica, is the 10th Cowboy in school history to have a hometown outside the United States. He is just the second to come from the Caribbean, as Robert Vigil, a member of the OSU basketball team in 1977-78, was from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
> Jeff Newberry, who is originally from Atlanta, Ga., was already familiar with the state of Oklahoma. Before playing last season at New Mexico Junior College, he spent one season at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami, Okla.
> Tavarius (pronounced “tuh-VAR-us”) Shine, who spent a prep year at Fork Union Military Academy, will turn 21 before he completes his freshman year at OSU.
OSU receiving votes
Oklahoma State received six votes in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll. There are seven Big 12 teams receiving votes, with Kansas leading the charge (fifth with 1,306 points). Texas is second (10th with 1,061), Iowa State is third (14th with 746) and Oklahoma rounds out the teams in the top 25 (18th with 466). Kansas State is receiving 29 points, while Baylor received one point.
random note-ables
> Oklahoma State has the highest winning percentage of all the current league schools against Kansas since the Big 12 formed in 1996. The Cowboys are 8-20 vs the Jayhawks during that span. Texas is second at 7-19.
> Phil Forte and Christien Sager are the first Cowboys to be named Academic All-District in the same season. They are the first student-athletes to receive that honor since 2002, and just the second and third since 1969.
> Leyton Hammonds' older brother Justin is a senior on the basketball team at Air Force this season.
> The four coaches on staff have coached a combined 46 players to the NBA in their careers.
