Oklahoma State University Athletics
Game Notes - Cowboys Travel to No. 20 West Virginia
March 05, 2015 | Cowboy Basketball
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Up Next For Oklahoma State Basketball
at No. 20/20 West Virginia
March 7, 2015 ► 1 p.m. CT ► WVU Coliseum (14,000 capacity)
Tickets: okstate.com/tickets or toll-free 877-ALL-4-OSU
TV: ESPNEWS (Clay Matvick and Bob Knight)
In Stillwater - Suddenlink 502, DirecTV 207, Dish 142, U-verse 604
In OKC - Cox 253/HD 719, DirecTV 207, Dish 142, U-verse 604
In Tulsa - Cox 253/HD 719, DirecTV 207, Dish 142, U-verse 604
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 137, XM 199 (WVU feed)
Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
Live stats: okstate.com
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The Basics
The Oklahoma State men's basketball team (18-11 overall; 8-9 Big 12) caps its 2014-15 regular season when it travels to Morgantown to face No. 20/20 West Virginia (22-8 overall; 10-7 Big 12) at 1 p.m. CT Saturday in WVU Coliseum.
On the Air
The game will be televised by ESPNEWS with Clay Matvick and Bob Knight calling the action. The game can be heard on the Cowboy Radio Network with Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb on the call.
Oklahoma State From a Distance
Fresh off an 82-70 win over TCU in Stillwater on Wednesday, Oklahoma State has the résumé of an NCAA Tournament team. Using this week's RPI rankings according to the NCAA, OSU has three wins over teams with an RPI in the top 10, six wins over teams with an RPI in the top 50 and eight wins over teams with an RPI in the top 100. Of those eight wins, four were away from Stillwater.
The Cowboys are led by senior forward Le'Bryan Nash, who ranks second in the Big 12 with 17.0 points per game. Nash has scored in double figures every game this season and is the Big 12's active leader with 1,784 career points. Junior guard Phil Forte is a key component in the Oklahoma State attack. In OSU's 18 wins, Forte averages 17.6 points on .474 pct. shooting from the field. In the Cowboys' 11 losses, Forte averages 12.3 points on .346 pct. shooting from the field.
Other key contributors include senior guard Anthony Hickey (11.0 points on .512 pct. shooting from the field and .500 shooting from three-point range the last five games), junior guard Jeff Newberry, who has emerged as a solid defensive player as the season has progressed, and Michael Cobbins, who is playing his best ball of the season in the last four games.
Oklahoma State is a formidable defensive team. The Cowboys rank in the top 50 nationally in many of the prominent defensive statistical categories and are a top-30 team nationally in steals and blocked shots.
West Virginia From a Distance
Harassing other teams and dominating the offensive glass is the name of the game for West Virginia and it is as good as it gets in both fields - literally. The Mountaineers lead the nation with 11.2 steals per game and are also tops in America with 17.1 offensive rebounds per contest. Following their last game in Lawrence, Kansas head coach Bill Self had this to say about them: "They're the scrappiest team in America. Nobody plays harder than those guys."
WVU is 11-3 at home this year and has won six of its last seven in Morgantown, with the lone loss coming to Baylor on Feb. 7. The only other teams to go into WVU Coliseum and win this year were LSU and Iowa State.
Any conversation about West Virginia must start with standout guard Juwan Staten, who averages a team-best 14.5 points and 4.6 assists per game. Staten, who went for 22 points and seven assists against Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Feb. 21, has missed the Mountaineers' last two games - losses at Baylor and at Kansas. In Staten's absence, guard Jevon Carter went for 25 points on 7-for-13 from three-point range against Baylor and guard Daxter Miles, Jr., went for 23 points on 5-for-9 shooting from three-point range against Kansas.
Team captain Gary Browne (18 points and eight rebounds against Oklahoma State on Feb. 21) played only three minutes against Baylor before leaving the game for good due to injury and did not play at all against Kansas. Head coach Bob Huggins said both Staten and Browne's status is day-to-day.
An Oklahoma State Win Would...
► Be the Cowboys' fifth in their last six matchups with West Virginia.
► Improve the Cowboys to 3-0 against West Virginia in Morgantown. OSU's two previous trips to WVU Coliseum resulted in a 73-57 victory in 2013 and a 73-72 triumph in 2014.
► Mark the Cowboys' third straight road win over a ranked opponent. OSU toppled No. 25 Texas in Austin and No. 16 Baylor in Waco in its last two road tilts against ranked foes. For perspective on that, only twice in OSU history have the Cowboys won three consecutive road games over ranked opponents (it happened during the 1950-51 season and again spanning the 1956-57 season into the 1957-58 season).
► Mark the Cowboys' sixth over a team ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press poll this season, their seventh over a team with an RPI in the top 50 and their ninth over a team with an RPI in the top 100.
► Mark just the third time in school history and the first time since 2003-04 that OSU has beaten at least six teams ranked in the AP top 25 in the same season. The Cowboys beat seven in 1991-92, eight in 1994-95 and nine in 2003-04.
► Send the Cowboys into the postseason riding a two-game win streak.
► Mark the 21st time that OSU has beaten an opponent ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press poll since Travis Ford took over as head coach in 2008-09.
Streaks & Trends Entering the West Virginia Game
► The Cowboys have won four of their last five against West Virginia.
► Oklahoma State has won its last two road games played against ranked opponents (65-63 in overtime over No. 25 Texas on Feb. 4 and 74-65 over No. 16 Baylor on Feb. 9).
► In the last two games, Oklahoma State has averaged 46.5 second-half points per game. In its three games prior to that, OSU averaged 32.3 second-half points.
► Oklahoma State is 57-3 in its last 60 games when holding its opponent under 60 points.
► In the span of the last six games, the Cowboys are shooting better from the field (.455 pct.), better from three-point range (.423 pct.) and better from the free throw line (.783 pct.) than their season averages of .439 pct. shooting from the field, .351 pct. shooting from three-point range and .729 pct. shooting from the charity stripe.
► Including a 36-point eruption last game vs. TCU, the Oklahoma State bench has averaged 23.3 points per game the last three games. In the five games prior to that, the bench contributed only 4.6 points per game.
► Oklahoma State is 7-1 this year when outrebounding its opponent.
► Oklahoma State has been outrebounded or matched in the rebounding column by 10 of its last 11 opponents and has allowed 14.4 offensive rebounds per game over the span of the last five games.
► Oklahoma State's last five opponents have made nearly as many free throws (94) as the Cowboys have attempted (95).
► Le'Bryan Nash has led the team in scoring in each of the last eight games.
► Le'Bryan Nash is shooting 13-for-21 from the field (.619 pct.) and 13-for-15 from the free throw line (.867 pct.) in the last two games.
► Le'Bryan Nash has scored in double figures in 28 consecutive games (all of his games this season).
► Michael Cobbins has turned in his three highest scoring outputs vs. Big 12 opponents this season in the last four games, highlighted by a 10-point, 11-rebound effort at Texas Tech.
► Michael Cobbins has led the team in rebounding in each of the last four games.
► Michael Cobbins has blocked at least one shot in 24 of his 26 games this year and in 30 of his last 33 games, dating back to last season.
► In the last four games, Anthony Hickey has converted on 11 of his last 17 from three-point range (.647 pct.), a significant upgrade from the .322 pct. conversion rate he averaged before his current hot streak.
► After scoring just two points in Oklahoma State's first 15 Big 12 games this season, Jeffrey Carroll has scored 21 points in the last two and has drained 5-of-8 from three-point land during that stretch (.625 pct.)
► OSU has made at least one three-pointer in 481 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 13, 2001.
The Series
Oklahoma State is 4-2 all-time against West Virginia and is 2-0 against the Mountaineers in WVU Coliseum. Since West Virginia joined the Big 12 prior to the 2012-13 season, OSU owns a 4-1 series advantage.
