After Solid Opener, Cowboys Hosting Golden Lions Monday

Monday, November 16

Stillwater, OK

7 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

November 14, 2015 | Cowboy Basketball

Cowboy Game Center
RV/NR Oklahoma State (1-0) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-0)
Nov. 16, 2015 • 7 p.m.
Tickets: okstate.com/tickets or toll-free 877-ALL-4-OSU
TV: Cowboy Sports Network • Fox Sports Plus (Mike Wolfe, Bryndon Manzer & Allison Gappa)
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: None
Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
Live Stats: okstate.com
Oklahoma State Game Notes

The Basics
• The Oklahoma State men's basketball team (1-0 overall; 0-0 Big 12) opened the year with a victory for the 21st straight season, and will host Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-0, 0-0 SWAC) at 7 p.m. Monday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

On the Air
• The game will be televised by the Cowboy TV Network, and will be available on Fox-Plus with Bryndon Manzer and Mike Wolfe calling the action. Allison Gappa will provide sideline reports. The game can be heard on the Cowboy Radio Network with Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb on the call.

Oklahoma State From A Distance
• OSU opened the season with a solid 91-57 win over UT Martin on Friday night. Phil Forte led the way with 24 points in just 26 minutes. Chris Olivier was effective in the paint with 14 points, while Leyton Hammonds also reached double figures with 10 points. Jeff Newberry (7 points, 8 boards, 4 blocks) and Tyree Griffin (6 points, 5 boards, 5 assists) both stuffed the stat sheet.
• Oklahoma State is now 83-24 (.776) in season openers in its history, and has won 21 straight dating back to the 1995-96 season. The Cowboys are 95-12 (.888) all-time in home openers, including 40 straight victories dating back to 1975-76. In fact, the Cowboys are 57-1 (.983) in home openers wince 1958-59. OSU is 75-3 (.962) in home openers since Gallagher-Iba Arena opened in 1938.
• Oklahoma State is one of just 22 school nationwide to play in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons, and will look to keep that streak alive in 2015-16.
• Senior Phil Forte takes center stage for the Cowboys this fall, and has the program's career 3-point record in his sights. Forte was a Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honoree, and needs just 59 three-pointers to tie Keiton Page (2008-12) for the school record. He ranked fourth in the Big 12 last year with an even 15 points per game.
• The Cowboys were picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 in a poll of the league's head coaches after finishing the 2014-15 season with an 18-14 record. Last year, the Cowboys were tabbed to finish eighth but finished the 2014-15 season in sixth place.
• Head coach Travis Ford enters his eighth season with the Cowboys, and ranks third in school history in both total wins (144) and win percentage (61.3 percent). Ford ranks behind only Eddie Sutton and Mr. Henry Iba in both categories.

UAPB From a Distance
• UAPB trailed Seattle, 33-28, at the half, but held the Redhawks to 25 percent shooting in the second half to come back and win, 58-56, on the road. Seattle led by three, 56-53, with two minutes on the clock, but JoVaughn Love hit a pair of free throws and a jumper with 28 seconds left to give the Golden Lions the lead for good. Love finished with a game-high 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds. DeShon Bayless nearly recorded a double-double for UAPB with 10 points and eight boards.
• UAPB was tabbed to finish in seventh place in the SWAC in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. The Golden Lions are coming off a 12-20 season in 2014-15, but finished in a tie for fifth place in the SWAC thanks to a 9-9 league record. UAPB played 18 road games and just nine home games last season.
• UAPB will open the year with 17 straight road games, and won't play at home until Jan. 16. On top of their games in Seattle and Stillwater, UAPB will also play at Michigan State, Cincinnati, Nebraska, Army (in Brooklyn, N.Y.), Hawaii, Virginia Tech, Iowa State, Santa Clara, Texas Tech, Ohio and Missouri. That will give the Golden Lions a grand total of 27,719 miles traveled before their first home game.
• UAPB boasted one of the most opportunistic defenses in college basketball last season. The Golden Lions ranked eighth in the country in 2014-15 with 8.8 steals per game. Tevin Hammond (2.44 SPG) and Marcel Mosley (2.07 SPG) ranked seventh and 22nd among all players nationwide, but neither return to the UAPB lineup in 2015-16.

Cowboy Streaks & Trends Entering the UAPB game
• Oklahoma State is 58-3 in its last 60 games when holding its opponent under 60 points.
• OSU has made at least one three-pointer in 485 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 13, 2001.
• The Cowboys have won their last 21 season openers dating back to the 1995-96 season. Last year, OSU took down Southeastern Louisiana, 85-55, thanks to 11 points and 11 rebounds from Le'Bryan Nash.
• After last Friday's exhibition win over East Central, the Cowboys have won 28 straight exhibition games dating back to the 2000 season.

The OSU vs UAPB Series
• This will be the fourth matchup between the Golden Lions and the Cowboys, and each game has been played since the 2009-10 season. Oklahoma State is 3-0 against UAPB with an average margin of victory of 25.3 points.
• Mashall Moses had one of his most impressive games against the Lions in 2009. Moses piled up 23 points on 10-of-11 (.909) shooting and 14 rebounds. That still stands as the ninth-best shooting night in school history, and are the most points and rebounds by any Cowboy against UAPB.
• OSU is 23-0 all-time against current members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The Cowboys took down Prairie View A&M, 74-52, last season to move to 8-0 against the SWAC in the Travis Ford era.

A Win Over The Lions Would ...
• Give the Cowboys a 2-0 start for the eighth straight season, and in 18 of the last 19 years.
• Make OSU 4-0 all-time against UAPB and 24-0 against members of the SWAC.
• Improve Travis Ford's record at OSU to 145-91 (.614), and his overall head coaching record to 335-237 (.586). The Cowboys would be 51-3 (.944) in non-conference home games and 96-18 (.842) overall in GIA under Ford.
• Improve Oklahoma State's all-time record to 1,596-1,110 (.589) in 107 seasons.
• Make the Cowboys 195-5 (.975%) in home games vs non-league foes since 1987. All-time, Oklahoma State would be 408-50 (.891%) in non-conference games inside Gallagher-Iba Arena with a win over UAPB.

Cowboy Quick Hitters - Team Notes
• OSU shot 55.9 percent from the floor against UT Martin, which is the team's best outing since shooting 56.9 percent against Texas Tech on Feb. 24, 2014 - a span of 40 games.
• The Cowboys turned the ball over just five times against the Skyhawks. The last time OSU had fewer turnovers was way back on Jan. 4, 2012 when they committed just two turnovers against Texas Tech - a span of 119 games.
• The Cowboys have started the year with a 9-1 record in each of the last three seasons, and in five of the last seven years under Travis Ford.
• The Cowboys are one of only 22 programs to play in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons.
• Only 33 teams have played in the NCAA Tournament in at least five of the last seven years. The Cowboys reached the Big Dance in 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
• Scoring depth is a key for the Cowboys. Under Travis Ford, OSU has averaged more than 70 points per game in four of his seven seasons. In those four seasons of more than 70 points per game, the third and fourth leading scorers on the team averaged a combined 24.4 points per game. In Ford's three seasons scoring under 70 points per game the third and fourth scorers averaged 18.3 points per game - a difference of 6.1 points each game.
• Dating back to 1987, Oklahoma State is 144-5 in non-conference home games. During that span, the Pokes won 80 straight over non-conference opponents in Gallagher-Iba Arena from 1987-98, which is the fifth-longest streak in NCAA history. All-time, the Cowboys are 407-50 in non-conference play in GIA.
• Oklahoma State has six Final Four appearances to its credit, including trips in 1995 and 2004. The six Final Fours rank 10th among all schools nationwide, while only 12 schools have been to the Final Four more than twice since 1995.

Cowboy Quick Hitters - Player Notes
• The Cowboys got stat-stuffing performances from the point guard position against UT Martin. Tyree Griffin and Jawun Evans combined for 13 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, four steals and just two turnovers in 48 minutes.
• Friday's season opener was the 100th appearance in an OSU uniform for senior guard Phil Forte. The all-time leaders in games played by a Cowboy are Bryant "Big Country" Reeves (1991-95) and Byron Eaton (2005-09) with 136 appearances each. Forte could challenge the program's top 10 list this season.
• Phil Forte is coming off the best season of his career, and was named Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention heading into his senior season. Forte was a Third-Team All-Big 12 selection in 2014-15 after racking up 15.0 points per game, which ranked fourth in the Big 12. Known for his relentless work ethic, Forte enters his senior year with a 38.9 percent 3-point mark for his career.
• Travis Ford has coached OSU to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three years and has downed 20 ranked opponents during his time in Stillwater. But this summer, it was his playing career that earned him a spot in the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame. A prep star at Madisonville High School, Ford scored 2,676 career points and dished out 677 assists en route to McDonald's and Parade All-America honors. He went on to play at Kentucky, where he set the records for single-game assists (15), single season 3-pointers (101) and consecutive free throws made (50). Ford was apart of a magical run to the Final Four in 1993.
• Point guard Jawun Evans became the third McDonald's All-American to sign with OSU under Travis Ford's watch, and this summer he became the third Cowboy to win gold with USA Basketball at the U19 FIBA World Championships. Evans ranked second on the team with 2.7 assists per game, and the Americans were +68 points with Evans on the court over the tournament's seven games. Evans joined Marcus Smart (2013) and Matt Clark (1979) as OSU players with gold at the U19 games.
• Despite the loss of Le'Bryan Nash (17.2 PPG), Anthony Hickey (9.8 PPG) and Michael Cobbins (6.8 PPG), OSU still returns 51 percent of its scoring and reloads with a stable of new talent. A trio of players have stepped into the leadership roles this offseason - Phil Forte, Jeff Newberry and Leyton Hammonds - who were named captains by a team vote.
• Igor Ibaka, the younger brother of Oklahoma City Thunder star Serge Ibaka, joined the Cowboys from Northeastern Oklahoma this summer. Listed at 6-9, 240-pounds, Igor has proven to be a bruiser in the paint. He averaged 14.0 points and ranked 27th in the NJCAA with 9.8 rebounds per game for NEO in 2013-14. Igor also ranked 14th in the NJCAA with a 64.0 field goal percentage.
• Head coach Travis Ford was in need of a veteran paint presence, and he got just that with the signing of Chris Olivier in June. A 6-8, 230-pound forward, Olivier graduated from Eastern Illinois in the spring with a degree in Organizational Professional Development, and will be eligible immediately for the Cowboys. He averaged 13.0 points on 54.2 percent shooting for EIU last year, but led the Panthers in league play with 15.9 points per Ohio Valley Conference game. Olivier is a 52.6 percent shooter for his collegiate career.
• Travis Ford fortified his 2015-16 signing class in July with versatile four-star wing Davon Dillard. ESPN ranked Dillard the No. 3 player in the state of Indiana and the No. 21 small forward in the nation after averaging 16.0 points per game for Our Savior New American School (N.Y.). Renowned for his explosive athleticism, Dillard chose OSU over offers from Indiana, Pittsburgh, California, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Purdue, Creighton and others.
• It's not uncommon to hear about a multi-sport star in football and baseball (see Brandon Weeden), but OSU walk-on Codey McElroy is attempting a college basketball career after a stay in minor league baseball. A native of Frederick, Okla., McElroy played baseball in college at Eastern Oklahoma State, Texas and Cameron, when was drafted in the 19th round by the Atlanta Braves. He played two years in the Braves system, and advanced as far as Single A play for the Rome Braves. After batting .210 with an OPS of .588 in 80 minor-league games, McElroy hung up his cleats in favor of basketball shoes, and the OSU coaches have been impressed with his motor and work ethic.
• A summer of team-building, both on and off the court, spawned this year's team motto - together and toughness. Stylized as "TNT", the players break each huddle by saying the motto, and it's even found its way onto the player's practice gear. Travis Ford and the Cowboys spent the summer doing a unique teambuilding activity each week. The players cooked for each other in "Cowboy Chefs" nights, played paintball and even took a trip to the water park.
• Marcus Smart, Markel Brown, James Anderson, Michael Cobbins and Darrell Williams all saw significant action in the NBA Summer League this July. Anderson, who recently signed a two-year deal with the Sacramento Kings, joined Smart in leading their teams in scoring, while Brown finished the summer with seven straight double-digit scoring games. Cobbins and Williams both picked up key minutes that could help them find a roster spot this fall.