Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Face Beavers in MGM Grand Main Event
November 23, 2014 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State Cowboys
vs
Oregon State Beavers
Monday, Nov 24, 2014
- 7:30 pm CT -
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas, Nev.
Television -- ESPN3.com/ESPN2
Dave Flemming | play-by-play
Stephen Howard | analyst
Cox (OKC) — 28
Cox (Tulsa) — 26
Suddenlink — 32
direcTV — 209
Dish — 144
U-Verse — 602
Radio
Dave Hunziker | play-by-play
John Holcomb | analyst
Game notes vs Oregon State in PDF format 
Game Information
Oklahoma State travels to Las Vegas, Nev., and will face Oregon State in the semifinal round of the MGM Grand Main Event on Monday, Nov. 24, at 7:30 pm CT (5:30 pm PT) inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The game will be broadcast over the internet at ESPN3.com, with Dave Flemming handling the play-by-play duties and Stephen Howard providing color commentary. The Cowboys will face either Auburn or Tulsa on Wednesday, Nov. 26, in either the consolation finals (also broadcast on ESPN3.com) at 8 pm CT (6 pm PT) or in the championship finals (televised on ESPN2) at 10:30 pm CT (8:30 pm PT).
About Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is 4-0 this season following an 82-68 win over Milwaukee Friday night in Stillwater. Four games into the season, the Cowboys are averaging 82.5 points per game and outscoring their opponents by an average of 27.5 points per contest. OSU is averaging 43.5 rebounds per game with a +9.0 rebounding margin. The Pokes are also forcing an average of 17 turnovers per game while committing 13 per contest, a +4.0 turnover margin. Defensively, OSU has allowed just 55 ppg on 33.8% shooting from the floor and 26.7% from beyond the three-point arc.
Individually, junior Phil Forte leads the Cowboys in scoring, averaging 18 ppg, and also has 17 steals in four contests. Senior Le'Bryan Nash is chipping in 17.5 ppg, while senior Michael Cobbins, back for the first time Friday night, scored 15 in his debut. Anthony Allen, who sat out a one-game suspension on Friday after being called for a flagrant 2 foul in the second half on Tuesday, leads the team with 10 rebounds per contest. Anthony Hickey leads the squad with four assists per game.
About Oregon State
Oregon State is 3-0 this season, with a 67-54 win over Rice, an 86-62 victory over Corban, and a 55-42 win over ORU, all in Corvallis. The Beavers are averaging 69.3 ppg while allowing just 52.7 ppg, a +16.7 scoring margin. They are shooting 50.6% from the floor, including 37.1% from beyond the arc, but just 61.1 percent from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, the Beaver defense is allowing just 30.4% shooting from the floor, including 27.7% from long range. They have a +10.3 rebounding margin.
Oregon State has four players averaging double figures: junior guard Langston Morris-Walker (11.7 ppg), sophomore guard Malcolm Duvivier (11.3 ppg), Jarmal Reid (11 ppg off the bench) and junior guard Gary Payton II (10.7 ppg). Morris-Walker and Payton lead the team in rebounding at seven boards per contest, and Duvivier leads the squad with 11 assists.
The Beavers are coached by Wayne Tinkle, in his first season with Oregon State. He was 158-91 in eight seasons at Montana.
history with oregon state
Oregon State has dominated the all-time series with Oklahoma State, although the teams have not met since the 1971-72 season. The Cowboys won the first meeting, a 55-30 victory in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship in 1949. That game took place in Kansas City, and Oklahoma State lost to Kentucky in the title game a week later. Since then, the series has been all Oregon State. The Beavers won a one-point game in the 1967 Sun Devil Classic in Phoenix, and won back-to-back games in Oregon in December of 1970 before sweeping the Cowboys in a pair of games in Stillwater the following season.
history with Auburn
In just three games between these two schools, Auburn has a 2-1 lead over Oklahoma State, having won the first two contests before falling in the most recent game. Auburn defeated the Cowboys 112-94 in the championship game of the 1977 Marshall Tournament. OSU also lost to the fourth-ranked Tigers 81-74 in the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament when Auburn was the No. 1 seed in the region. Oklahoma State took the most recent contest with a one-point victory over the Tigers in the semifinals of the 2006 South Padre Island Invitational.
history with Tulsa
Oklahoma State is 70-37 all-time against their in-state rivals, including a 4-2 mark on neutral courts. OSU is 3-2 against Tulsa in Oklahoma City, and defeated the Golden Hurricane 71-54 in the BOK Center in Tulsa in 2010. OSU has won the last two meetings, and three of the last four. Since 1987, the Cowboys are 12-5 against the Golden Hurricane.
Last time at the Mgm grand
The seventh-ranked Cowboys defeated the No. 20 Colorado Buffaloes 78-73 in the MGM Grand Showcase on Dec. 21 of last season. Markel Brown recorded a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Marcus Smart added 18. Phil Forte scored 16 points off the bench, including four three-pointers, and Le'Bryan Nash had 15 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Despite being out-rebounded 41-30, the Cowboys shot 52 percent from the floor, and attempted 35 free throws, making 23. Colorado was just 6 of 22 from three-point range, and despite an even 14-14 on turnovers, the Cowboys outscored the Buffs 20-11 off those turnovers.
record in las vegas
Oklahoma State is 10-2 all-time in games played in Sin City. OSU made its first-ever trip to Las Vegas for a game in February of 1990, when the Cowboys lost to a ninth-ranked UNLV squad 100-84. Since then, OSU has won 10 of the last 11 games played in Las Vegas. The Cowboys defeated UNLV two more times in back-to-back seasons in 1998 and '99, and also defeated the Runnin' Rebels in 2004 in a doubleheader during the Sweet 16 season. Outside of games played vs UNLV, the Cowboys won the 2001 Las Vegas Tournament with a 95-77 victory over TCU, now a member of the Big 12 Conference. OSU lost to 10th-ranked Boston College in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational. The Pokes won the 2009 Invitational, played at the Orleans Arena, with a 77-55 victory over Utah in the championship game.
Forte on offense, defense
Junior Phil Forte is currently leading the team in scoring, averaging 18 points per game. He's scored at least 17 points in all four contests, with a 20-point output against Milwaukee. He is shooting 45.2 percent from three-point range, connecting on 14 of 31 attempts. With 14 treys this season, he has tied Joe Adkins for seventh place with 182 in his career.
He's also leading the team in steals, averaging 4.3 per game. He has 17 thefts this season, nearly half his single-season best of 37 as a freshman, in just four games.
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 four games, he has attempted 39 charity tosses, nearly 10 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. Nash is shooting 82.1 percent from the line.
He's bAAAACK
After sitting out first three regular-season games due to an NCAA mandate, senior Michael Cobbins was back in the starting lineup against Milwaukee. In his first game in 325 days (he missed the entire conference portion of last year's schedule due to an Achilles injury), he scored a career-high 15 points while grabbing six rebounds and blocking three shots. His three deflections move him past Markel Brown and into seventh place on the OSU career blocked shots list.
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. In four games (two starts), Carroll is averaging 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds.
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
Phil Forte, OSU 12
George Niang, ISU 12
Buddy Hield, OU 10
Perry Ellis, KU 9
Marcus Foster, KSU 8
One-two punch
Phil Forte and Le'Bryan Nash rank third and fourth, respectively, among Big 12 scorers, averaging 18 and 17.5 ppg. Oklahoma's Buddy Hield (23 ppg) and Iowa State's Georges Niang (20 ppg) rank first and second.
from downtown
Oklahoma State also leads the Big 12 Conference in three-pointers made per game. The Cowboys are averaging 8.8 treys per game, while Oklahoma is second at 8.5 per contest. Phil Forte is tied for second in the league at 3.5 per game, while Jeffrey Carroll is tied for 13th at 1.5 per game. Leyton Hammonds is tied for 15th at 1.3 treys per contest. Oklahoma State has led the Big 12 Conference in three pointers on three occasions since the league formed in 1996-97: 2005 (8.3 per game), 2009 (8.4 per game) and 2010 (9.1 per game).
ROBBERY IN PROGRESS
Oklahoma State leads the Big 12 Conference and ranks eighth nationally in steals as a team, averaging 12.3 thefts per contest. The Cowboys led the league last season in steals, averaging 7.65 thefts per game. Phil Forte leads the league in steals with 17, more than double any other player in the league. His 4.3 average is two steals per game higher than Baylor's Kenny Chery, and ranks fifth nationally. Jeff Newberry is tied for third at 2.0 spg, while Anthony Hickey is ninth with 1.8 steals per contest.
block party
Oklahoma State is averaging 6.8 blocked shots per game early this season, including 10 by Anthony Allen, who leads the Big 12 Conference at 3.3 blocks per game. He is among nine Cowboys who have blocked at least one shot so far. Mitchell Solomon has four blocks (tied for 11th in the Big 12 at 1.0 bpg), while Le'Bryan Nash and Michael Cobbins each have three (Cobbins has only played one game). Leyton Hammonds and Anthony Hickey each have two, while Jeffrey Carroll, Jeff Newberry and Tavarius Shine each have recorded one blocked shot.
Other big 12 statistical rankings
> Hickey is tied for eighth among Big 12 players, averaging four assists per game. Nash is 14th with 2.8 assists per contest.
> Hickey is third in assist-to-turnover radio, averaging 3.2 assists per turnover.
> Anthony Allen is tied for second in the league in rebounding, averaging 10 rebounds per contest. Nash is 13th at 7.5 rpg.
> The Cowboys lead the league in scoring margin, putting an average of 27.5 more points per game on the scoreboard than their oppoentns. OSU is second in scoring offense (82.5 ppg) and third in scoring defense (55.0 ppg).
OSU receiving votes
Oklahoma State is receiving six points in the 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 two points.
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.
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.
Cobbins' career numbers
> Michael Cobbins ranks seventh in school history for career blocked shots with 114. He needs 44 to move past Ivan McFarlin and into sixth place.
> Cobbins' 1.5 blocks-per-game average over a career ranks seventh in the school record books.
> Cobbins has 299 career defensive rebounds, ranking 18th, and his 123 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 18th in career points at OSU with 1,377 and 23rd in career scoring average at 13.9 ppg. He needs just two points to move past Obi Muonelo and Bob Mattick and into 16th place for career points.
> Nash's 59 consecutive starts streak (active) is the 19th longest in school history. His next game will be the 100th of his career.
> 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 459, and needs 30 to move past JamesOn Curry and into seventh place.
> He is tied for seventh in school history for three-pointers made in a career with 182. He needs one to move past Joe Adkins and into sole possession of 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 140 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
