Big 12/SEC Challenge Sends Cowboys To Auburn Saturday

Saturday, January 30

Auburn, AL

7 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Auburn

NCAA Basketball: Texas Christian at Oklahoma State

Photo by: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

January 29, 2016 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
Matchup: Oklahoma State (10-10, 2-6 Big 12) at Auburn (9-10, 3-5 SEC)
Date/Tipoff: Jan. 30, 2016 / 7 p.m. Central
Tickets: auburntigers.com/aubtix
TV: ESPN2 (Joe Tessitore & Sean Farnham)
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 81 & XM 81
Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
Live Stats: auburntigers.com
Oklahoma State Game Notes

The Basics
• Oklahoma State (10-10, 2-6 Big 12) puts its 1-1 record in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on the line against Auburn (9-10, 3-5 SEC) on Saturday night. In honor of Coaches vs. Cancer Suits & Sneakers week, the Cowboys coaching staff will sport their best Nikes to help raise awareness for the fight against cancer.

On the Air
• ESPN2 will have all the action between the Cowboys and Tigers starting Saturday at 7 p.m. Central. Joe Tessitore and Sean Farnham will have the call. As always, the game can be heard on the Cowboy Radio Network with Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb. Sirius and XM channel 81 will carry the Auburn radio call.

Oklahoma State Snapshot
• OSU led No. 17/18 Baylor for 25:07, but the Bears made the plays in the closing minutes to hold off the Cowboys in a 69-65 loss at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Wednesday. The Cowboys led, 63-62, with 2:06 remaining, but Baylor finished the game on a 7-2 run. Chris Olivier led OSU with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, which is his best scoring performance since November.
• Freshman Jawun Evans is the two-time defending Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, and is coming off a nine-point, 10-assist performance against Baylor on Wednesday. Over the last five games, the 6-foot point guard is averaging 19.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game - all team highs. Over that same span he's shooting 51.4 percent from the floor, including a 6-of-10 clip from 3-point, and 85.7 percent from the line. He posted the third biggest scoring game in school history with 42 points against No. 2 Oklahoma, and followed it up with 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds in the win over No. 3 Kansas. He leads all Big 12 freshman in scoring, field goal percentage, assists, free throw percentage, assist/turnover ratio and defensive rebounds, and he already ranks third among all freshmen in OSU history in total assists with 103.
• Four of OSU's six losses in league play have come on the road, where those opponents have combined for a 42-5 (89.4 percent) home record. Those four road opponents combined to shoot 45.1 percent from the floor against OSU.
• Last week's victory over No. 3/3 Kansas gave the Cowboys a 66.7 all-time win percentage at home against opponents ranked in the Associated Press top three, which is the best in college basketball history according to ESPN.
• The Cowboys field a solid defensive unit that ranks second in the Big 12 in scoring defense at 66.9 points per game. OSU is holding its opponents to 40.4 percent shooting, which ranks third in the league. The Cowboys defense starts at the rim, where they rank third in the Big 12 with 4.6 blocked shots per game. The Cowboys have held their Big 12 opponents to 72.1 points and 43.0 percent shooting, which ranks third and fourth in the league, respectively.

Auburn Snapshot
• Tiger guard Kareem Canty is one of the country's most explosive players. The junior ranks fourth in the SEC with 18.4 points per game and is also third in the league with 5.5 assists per game. The Marshall transfer is the fastest Tiger to 100 assists since 2006-07, and he is only four 3-pointers away from the Auburn single-season top-10 list.
• Bruce Pearl is in his second year at the helm of the Tiger program. He is 1-2 in his career against the Cowboys, and all three games were neutral site contests in his time at Tennessee. This will be the third head-to-head matchup between Pearl and OSU head coach Travis Ford; OSU 77, Tennessee 75 (March 20, 2009 • NCAA Tournament) & Tennessee 92 Eastern Kentucky 58 (Nov. 25, 2005 • Knoxville, Tenn.).
• Auburn is one of the nation's best 3-point shooting teams. In fact, they rank as one of the best from beyond the arc in SEC history. The Tigers make 9.58 three-pointers per game, which is the fifth highest mark in the history of the SEC, and the best since Florida in 2012.

Inside the Auburn Series & Big 12/SEC Challenge
• This will be just the fourth meeting in the series between Auburn and Oklahoma State, and all three previous meetings have taken place at neutral-site tournaments. The two squads first met at the Marshall Tournament in Huntington, W.Va. on Dec. 10, 1977 (Auburn 112, OSU 94), and then met 21 seasons later in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. Top seeded Auburn took down No. 9 seed OSU in the second round in Indianapolis, 81-74. The Tigers and Cowboys most recently met in a non-conference tournament in South Padre Island, Texas in 2006, where the Cowboys picked up their first victory over Auburn, 66-65.
• The Cowboys are 1-1 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge after splitting home-and-home matchups with South Carolina in the previous two seasons. No. 9 OSU took down the Gamecocks, 79-52, at Gallagher-Iba Arena in 2013. USC returned the favor in Columbia, 75-49, the following year.
• Auburn is 0-2 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge after falling to No. 17 Iowa State in Ames (99-70) in 2013 and Texas Tech in Lubbock (46-44) in 2014. The Tigers are also 0-3 all-time at home against Big 12 teams at home.
• The Big 12 went 7-3 in the 2013-14 Big 12/SEC Challenge, and was 6-4 in 2014-15, which give the league a 13-7 record in the challenge overall. Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma and TCU are all 2-0 against their SEC foes.
• The 112 points given up to Auburn in the 1977 matchup in Huntington, W.Va. is still the third most ever allowed by a Cowboy squad. The Tigers made an OSU opponent record 51 field goals that day.