Boynton Era Officially Begins Friday Against Pepperdine

Friday, November 10

Stillwater, Okla.

7:30 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Pepperdine

November 08, 2017 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
• Opponent: Pepperdine (0-0, 0-0 WCC)
• Date / Tipoff: Nov. 10, 2017 / 7:30 p.m. Central
• Site: Gallagher-Iba Arena (Stillwater, Okla.)
• Series: OSU leads 5-1, 3-1 in GIA
• Tickets: Start at $10 at okstate.com/tickets or 877-ALL-4-OSU
• TV: Fox College Sports (Mike Wolfe, Bryndon Manzer & Allison Gappa)
• Webcast: Fox Sports Go
• Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
• Satellite Radio: None
• Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com

• Oklahoma State Game Notes
• Pepperdine Game Notes

STILLWATER - Mike Boynton will coach his first official game when his Oklahoma State Cowboys host Pepperdine in Gallagher-Iba Arena on Friday night.

The Cowboys are coming off a 20-win season that included the program's fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last five seasons. OSU boasted the nation's most efficient offense in 2017, but lost three of its top four leading scorers to graduation and the NBA. OSU is expected to be led by wing Jeffrey Carroll, who was just named one of college basketball's top-100 players by CBS Sports.

The Cowboys posted an 85-65 exhibition win over Arkansas-Monticello last Friday. OSU used a height advantage to grab 26 offensive boards, which it turned into 28 second-chance points. Had it been a real game, the 26 offensive rebounds would have tied for the third most in school history and the most since OSU had 29 against Midwestern State in 1989.

This will be the 109th season of Oklahoma State basketball, and the Cowboys are 84-24 (.778) in season-openers. In fact, OSU has won 22 straight season openers dating back to a loss in the 1994-95 season opener to BYU in the Great Alaska Shootout. The Cowboys are 96-12 (.889) all-time in home openers, including 41 straight home-opening wins in GIA dating back to 1974-75.

Boynton is also making his debut as the 20th head coach in OSU history. Since Mr. Henry Iba made his debut in 1934-35, new OSU head coaches are 8-2 in their first games leading the program.

The matchup between the Cowboys and the Waves will air nationwide on Fox College Sports at 7:30 p.m. Central. Mike Wolfe, Bryndon Manzer and Allison Gappa will handle the on-air duties. As always, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call from the historic white maple floor of GIA.

Boynton was one of the architects of last season's NCAA Tournament squad for OSU, and plans to employ a similar up-tempo attack and high-pressure defense the Cowboys used last year. OSU's offense in 2016-17 ranked as the nation's most efficient according to KenPom, and broke the school record for points per game with 85.7. The Cowboys' overall roster size jumped nearly two-thirds of an inch on average from last season, which gives OSU additional size on the perimeter to extend the defense.

Carroll, a Preseason All-Big 12 selection, used a combination of size (6-6, 220), athleticism and shooting ability (44.4 3fg%) to become one of the nation's premier wings last year, and will step into the spotlight for OSU this fall. As a junior, Carroll upped his scoring average by +9.3 points to 17.5 per game. That jump is second only in school history to Bryant "Big Country" Reeves (+11.4), and was the nation's second largest jump by a power conference player last year (John Collins, Wake Forest: +11.9 ppg).