Big 12's Top Three Scorers Meeting In Allen Fieldhouse

Saturday, January 14

Lawrence, KS

1 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Kansas

January 12, 2017 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
• Opponent: No. 2/2 Kansas (15-1, 4-0 Big 12)
• Date/Tipoff: Jan. 14, 2017 / 1 p.m. Central
• Series: KU leads 111-57 • KU leads 60-11 in Lawrence
• Tickets: kuathletics.com
• TV: ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen & Fran Fraschilla)
• Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 136, XM 199 (KU Radio)
• Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
• Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
• OSU Game Notes

The Basics
• The Big 12's top three scorers will be on the floor when Oklahoma State visits No. 2/2 Kansas, which will be the third top-10 squad the Cowboys will face in a 16-day span. Jayhawk senior Frank Mason III leads the league with 20.4 points per game, but OSU's Jawun Evans (18.4) and Jeffrey Carroll (16.4) aren't far behind. Not only is OSU the last Big 12 team to win in Allen Fieldhouse, but the Cowboys are the only team to beat KU in each of the last four seasons.

On the Air
• Oklahoma State and Kansas will face off on ESPN2 with Bob Wischusen and Fran Fraschilla on the call. This is the third of five possible appearances on ESPN2 for the Cowboys this season. OSU is 1-1 on the network this season, and 38-41 all-time on ESPN2. As always, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call from Allen Fieldhouse.

Oklahoma State Snapshot
• At 99-20, Brad Underwood is on the verge of becoming one of the fastest coaches to reach 100 wins in the history of college basketball. With 89 wins in his time at Stephen F. Austin, Underwood tied Brad Stevens of Butler for the most victories by any coach after three seasons. Currently, Underwood's .832 career win percentage ranks behind only Buck Freeman (.914, St. Johns, '28-31) and Adolph Rupp (.882, Kentucky, '31-34) for the best win percentage ever by a fourth-year coach.
• Phil Forte has been on fire since Big 12 play began. In league play, Forte ranks third in scoring at 17.0 points per game and he leads all players with 3.8 3-pointers per game. His 55.6 percent clip (15-of-27) from 3-point ranks third. The redshirt senior has connected on at least four 3-pointers in four of the last five games. These numbers have helped him move into 12th in the OSU career scoring list with 1,532 points, and he has closed the gap on Keiton Page for the program's all-time 3-point record. Forte now ranks second in career 3-pointers at OSU with 286, and is only 13 away from tying Page's mark of 299 makes.
• Each of OSU's last three outings were a one-possession ballgame inside the final five minutes. However, the three OSU opponents combined to shoot 78.6 percent from the floor in those final five minutes. Four of OSU's six losses this season were one-possession games in the closing five minutes.
• Oklahoma State fields one of the youngest and most inexperienced lineups in the country. Even with fifth-year senior Phil Forte and his 118 career games, OSU still ranks 279th nationally in experience according to KenPom. The Cowboys entered the 2016-17 with just 15 combined years of collegiate experience, and currently have just 233 collegiate starts on the roster. OSU's average age of 20.2 years is tied with Texas for the youngest in the Big 12.
• OSU ranks second in the Big 12 and eighth nationally in scoring at 88.6 points per game, but their high-pressure defense is the main reason why. The Cowboys rank 12th in the country with 9.1 steals per game and fifth in turnovers forced at 18.38. According to KenPom, OSU is holding opponents to an average possession of just 15.3 seconds - the shortest in the country - and they rank seventh in turnover percentage with a mark of 23.8.
• One of the nation's elite point guards, Jawun Evans is taking the nation by storm this season. The sophomore ranks second in the Big 12 in scoring at 18.4 points per game and is third in steals at 2.1 per game. KenPom currently rates him as the No. 22 offensive threat in the nation. The Naismith Trophy and Cousy Award watch list member has six 20-point games and three 30-point games this season alone, and he also earned a spot on the Maui Invitational All-Tournament team. Evans also ranks among the league's top 10 in assists (4th, 5.2 apg) and free throw percentage (5th, 78.1%), and he owns two of the Big 12's top three scoring performances this season - 35 points against UConn, and 34 points against Campbell.
• The Cowboys have cleaned up on the offensive glass this year. OSU is fifth nationally with 15.5 offensive boards per game and sixth in offensive rebound percentage at 40.4 percent. A true team effort, not one player on the team ranks inside the top 100 in the country in offensive boards. The Cowboys have pulled down 15-plus offensive boards in 10 games this year, including seven of the last 10 outings. Mitchell Solomon posted nine offensive boards against TAMU-Corpus Christi, which is only one off the school record.
• The Big 12's third leading scorer at 16.4 points per game, Jeffrey Carroll has been a scoring and rebounding machine this season. The redshirt-junior remains the Big 12's only player ranked inside the league's top eight in scoring (3rd, 16.4 ppg), rebounding (8th, 7.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (5th, .572). Carroll entered the year with a career-high scoring performance of 19 points, but he already has six games of 20-plus points this year.
• Oklahoma State pushes the tempo on offense. OSU is 10th nationally with 76.3 possessions per game, and they rank 23rd in KenPom's offensive efficiency rating. In fact, the Cowboys average 8.1 more shots per game than their opponents. OSU also knows how to get to the free throw line, where they rank 6th nationally in free throws made (20.6). The Cowboys have made 50 more free throws than the next closest Big 12 team, West Virginia.

Kansas Connections & Snapshot
• The Jayhawks have won 12 straight Big 12 titles, and are currently riding a 48-game win streak at Allen Fieldhouse that dates back to a Jan. 5, 2014 loss to San Diego State.
• Oklahoma State is the last Big 12 squad to win in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks were riding a 33-game home court winning streak before the Cowboys won 85-80 on Feb. 2, 2013. Markel Brown led the way for OSU with 28 points, and Marcus Smart had 25 points and added a mid-court backflip that served as an exclamation point on the victory. All-time, OSU is 57-111 overall against Kansas and 11-60 in Lawrence.
• As a player and assistant coach at rival Kansas State, Brad Underwood is no stranger to the Jayhawks or Allen Fieldhouse. After transferring from Independence CC, Underwood played for Jack Hartman in 1984-85 and 1985-86. After his playing career, Underwood went into coach, and later returned to Manhattan with Bob Huggins in 2006-07 as the director of operations. He stayed on staff as an assistant coach (2007-11) and later associate head coach (2011-12) under Frank Martin.
• Oklahoma State is the only team to beat Kansas in each of the last four seasons. Over that span, the Cowboys are 4-5 against KU, with a win in Lawrence and a 3-1 record in Gallagher-Iba Arena. In fact, Oklahoma State has taken five of the last seven from Kansas in GIA, including the last three meetings. Overall, OSU is 34-32 inside GIA against the Jayhawks.
• Former Cowboy Bill Self is facing his alma mater for the 27th time as a head coach, including four meetings in his time at Oral Roberts and 22 at Kansas. Self's record against OSU is 15-11 (14-8 with KU, 1-3 with ORU), but he is 3-8 inside Gallagher-Iba Arena (3-6 with KU, 0-2 with ORU).
• Self was a four-year letterman at OSU under Paul Hansen from 1981-85, and his 319 career assists still rank 14th in school history. Only two OSU point guards had more 10-assist games than Self, who piled up six. His junior season of 1983-84 saw him rack up 126 assists with a 2.42 assist/turnover ratio, which is still the seventh-best ratio by a Cowboy. After graduating in 1985, Self would spend seven season as an assistant coach at OSU under Leonard Hamilton and Eddie Sutton (1986-93).
• How even has the series been recently? The last nine head-to-head meetings overall between the two teams have been decided by an average of 4.7 points. In that span, KU holds a slight 660-649 edge in the scoring margin.