Inside The Game: Cowboy Hoops Taking On East Central Nov. 6

Exhibition: Oklahoma State (0-0) vs. East Central (0-0)
• Friday, Nov. 6 • Tipoff: 7 p.m. Central
• Gallagher-Iba Arena • Stillwater, Okla.
• Tickets: FREE Exhibition (Visit okstate.com/tickets or toll-free 877-ALL-4-OSU for future games)
• TV: Fox Sports Plus (Bryndon Manzer and Mike Wolfe)
• Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
• Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
• Oklahoma State Game Notes
• Live Stats

The Basics
• The Oklahoma State men's basketball team (0-0 overall; 0-0 Big 12) hosts its exhibition game against regional foe East Central (0-0, 0-0 GAC) at 7 p.m. CT Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611 capacity). The exhibition is a tune-up for the Nov. 13 season opener against UT Martin, which tips off the 106th season of Cowboy basketball.

• 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 62 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 (143) and win percentage (61.1 percent). Ford ranks behind only Eddie Sutton and Mr. Henry Iba in both categories.
East Central From a Distance

• For the first time in the NCAA era of East Central basketball, the Tigers checked in on the preseason Division II poll. ECU will open the year as No. 25 in the DII Bulletin Preaseason poll.

• Stirling Thomas was named an honorable mention DII Bulletin Preseason All-American. Thomas helped lead ECU to a 21-10 overall record in 2014-15, with the team advancing to the Great American Conference Championship game. It marked the first time since 1997-98 that ECU had made a conference tournament final and the 21 wins were the most in a season since joining the NCAA. Thomas, an Elgin, Okla., native, was a Daktronics All-Central Region Second Team, All-GAC First Team and GAC All-Tournament Team selection a year ago after averaging 19.3 points per game. Thomas also added 91 assists, five blocks and 41 steals, while shooting .432 (193-of-447) from the field and .404 (97-of-240) from beyond the arc.

• On top of facing the Cowboys, the Tigers will also take on UTEP (Nov. 7) in exhibition play. The first official games of the year for ECU will be at the GAC/NSIC Challenge in Warrensburg, Mo., starting on Nov. 13.

• Head coach Ja Havens is entering his third season with the Tigers, who have improved each year under his guidance. He helped ECU go from eight wins the year prior to his arrival, to 15 wins in 2013-14 and 21 victories last season. Havens grew up in Stillwater, and is the son of National High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame member Jerry Havens.

Exhibition Extras
• The Cowboys are 54-4 in exhibition tilts since 1973, including a 49-1 record since the 1989-90 season.

• The Cowboys have won 27 consecutive exhibition games dating back to Nov. 9, 2000. On that day Athletes First topped the Cowboys in GIA, 96-95. That loss in 2000 ended a 22-game win streak in exhibition games, which dated back to a Nov. 22, 1988 loss to an outstanding Soviet team that included Arvidas Sabonis, Sharunas Marchulenis and Alexandr Volkov.

• In last year's exhibition tilt, Le'Bryan Nash recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes to help the Cowboys take down Missouri Western, 74-35, on Nov. 8, 2014. Fellow senior Anthony Hickey also scored 11 points and recorded five steals. OSU posted a 12-1 run to end the first half to go into the locker room with a 38-18 lead.

• Since 1973, OSU has reached the century mark 19 times in exhibition games, including five times under Travis Ford.

• The Cowboys are a perfect 12-0 in exhibition games in the Travis Ford era.
The East Central Series

• East Central leads the all-time regular-season series against OSU, 2-1, although the two Tiger wins came in back-to-back games in 1929. The last regular season meeting between these two schools was on Nov. 30, 1981 (OSU won 86-64).

• These two programs last met for an exhibition game on Nov. 7, 2007 in Gallagher-Iba Arena, where the Cowboys rolled the Tigers, 98-48, thanks to 28 points from James Anderson. Marcus Dove recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Obi Muonelo finished with 17 points. OSU forced 29 Tiger turnovers while racking up 24 assists to just eight turnovers of their own. Byron Eaton dished out nine assists in just 16 minutes.

Cowboy Tidbits
• Sophomore Jeffrey Carroll will be celebrating his 21st birthday against East Central on Friday.

• Jawun Evans became the third Cowboy to win gold at the FIBA U19 World Championships with USA Basketball (joins Marcus Smart in 2013 and Matt Clark in 1979).

• Phil Forte, Jeff Newberry and Leyton Hammonds were named captains for the Cowboys this season.

• Forward Igor Ibaka is making his debut for the Cowboys, and is the younger brother of Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka.

Inside The Game: Cowboy Hoops Taking On East Central Nov. 6

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Players Mentioned

Jeffrey Carroll

Jawun Evans

Leyton Hammonds

Igor Ibaka

Le'Bryan Nash

Jeff Newberry

Oklahoma State University Athletics