Tough Baylor Road Test Awaits Cowboy Basketball

Tuesday, January 5

Waco, TX

7 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Baylor

Photo by: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

January 04, 2016 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
• Opponent: Baylor Bears (10-3, 0-1 Big 12)
• Date/Tipoff: Jan. 5, 2016 / 7 p.m. Central
• Tickets: baylorbears.com/tickets or call (254) 710-1000
• TV: ESPN2 (Dave Flemming & Miles Simon)
• Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 93, XM 200 (both Baylor radio)
• Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
• Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
• OSU Game Notes

The Basics
• Oklahoma State (9-4 overall; 1-0 Big 12) opened Big 12 play with a win over TCU, and now takes to the road to battle Baylor (10-3, 0-1 Big 12) on Tuesday night on ESPN2. The Cowboys are 54-22 all-time against the Baylor, including a regular-season sweep over the Bears last season. Last season, OSU was 8-2 against teams from the Lone Star state.

On the Air
• ESPN2 will have all the action between the Cowboys and Bears. Dave Flemming and Miles Simon will have the call from Waco, Texas. As always, the game can be heard on the Cowboy Radio Network with Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb.

Oklahoma State Snapshot
• The Cowboys took down TCU, 69-48, on Saturday behind a standout defensive effort, and have been coming together as a defensive unit over the last five games. OSU held the Frogs to 48 points, 30.0 percent shooting and a 1-of-17 (.059) clip from 3-point. The Cowboys turned TCU over 15 times and blocked eight shots.
• The Cowboys have held their last two opponents under 50 points, and didn't allow either team to score more than 24 points in a half. The last time OSU held back-to-back opponents under 50 points was in Dec. of 2012 (UT Arlington, 44 and Tennessee Tech, 42). Should OSU do the same against Baylor, it would be the first time OSU held three straight opponents under 50 points since 1962-63.
• The Cowboys field a solid defensive unit that ranks second in the Big 12 and 22nd nationally in scoring defense at 62.3 points per game. OSU is holding its opponents to 38.2 percent shooting, which also ranks second in the league and 23rd in the country. The Cowboys defense starts at the rim, where they rank second in the Big 12 and 28th in the NCAA with 5.5 blocked shots per game.
• Freshman Jawun Evans continues to make strides - and spectacular no-look passes - as the Cowboy point guard. Evans was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after racking up a game-high 17 points to go with a career-high seven rebounds against Florida. The Dallas native now ranks sixth in the Big 12 with 4.31 assists per game, which is seventh among all freshmen nationwide.
• Three of OSU's four losses this season have been by three points or less, including the team's last two losses which came at the hands of Florida and Missouri State.
• OSU has a knack for getting to the free throw line, and making opponents pay from the charity stripe. The Cowboys rank fifth in the Big 12 in total free throws made (223) and lead the league and rank 13th nationally with a free throw mark of 75.9 percent. Jeff Newberry leads the OSU efforts from the free throw line. At 50-of-57 (.877), Newberry ranks fourth in the league and 36th nationally.
• Senior Phil Forte injured his elbow in the first half of the win over Towson, which snapped his streak of consecutive games played at 102. The senior hadn't missed a single game in his career up to that point. Forte was a Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honoree, and needs just 55 three-pointers to tie Keiton Page (2008-12) for the school record.
• Head coach Travis Ford enters his eighth season with the Cowboys, and ranks third in school history in both total wins (152) and win percentage (61.5 percent). Ford ranks behind only Eddie Sutton and Mr. Henry Iba in both categories.

Baylor Snapshot
• The Bears have one of the best forward combos in the country in Taurean Prince and Rico Gathers. Prince ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 15.6 points per game, while Gathers leads the Big 12 in rebounding at 10.2 boards per game and is averaging a double-double with 13.9 points per game.
• No one in the country shares the basketball like Baylor - literally. The Bears lead the country with 21.5 assists per game thanks in large part to point guard Lester Medford. The senior ranks second in the Big 12 and 14th nationally with an average of 6.5 dimes per contest.
• Baylor opened Big 12 play with a 102-74 loss at Kansas on Saturday afternoon in Lawrence. The Jayhawks surged out to a 22-4 lead to open the game and didn't look back. Taurean Prince had 13 of his 17 points in the second half, while Lester Medford added 15 and Rico Gathers just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. It was the Jayhawks' sixth straight win over Baylor - which has never won in 14 trips to Lawrence.
• Baylor is a perfect 9-0 at home this year, including wins over NCAA Tournament participants Stephen F. Austin (97-55), New Mexico State (85-70) and Texas Southern (72-59), as well as NIT quarterfinalist Vanderbilt (69-67).

Inside the Series with Baylor
• The Bears and Cowboys will be meeting for the 77th time in a series that dates back to 1918. OSU leads the overall series, 54-22, while the Bears hold a slight, 8-7, edge in the Travis Ford era.
• OSU has won four of the last six games against the Bears, including a regular-season sweep of Baylor last season. Prior to last year, the last time the Cowboys swept two regular season games with Baylor was in 2006.
• The Cowboys are 17-16 all-time against Baylor in Waco, but the Bears are 10-9 against OSU in the Ferrell Center, which opened in 1988.
• In a March 3, 2007 matchup against the Bears in Waco, Cowboy junior JamesOn Curry dropped 40 points in one of the best individual scoring performances of the Big 12 era. Curry's tally is still tied for the most by a Cowboy in Big 12 play, and are the most by a junior in a single game.