Cowboys Put Four-Game Win Streak On Line In Morgantown

Saturday, February 4

Morgantown, WV

4 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

West Virginia

February 03, 2017 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
• Opponent: No. 7/12 West Virginia (18-4, 6-3 Big 12)
• Date/Tipoff: Feb. 4, 2017 / 4 p.m. Central
• Series: WVU leads 6-4 • In Morgantown: Tied 2-2
• Tickets: WVUSports.com
• TV: ESPNU (Rich Hollenberg & Miles Simon)
• Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
• Satellite Radio: None
• Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
• Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
• Oklahoma State Game Notes

The Basics
• A Bedlam dagger with 11 seconds remaining from Phil Forte III snapped a seven-game losing streak to the rival Sooners - including a 12-game losing streak in Norman - and gave Oklahoma State wins in their last four outings. With nine regular season games remaining, the Cowboys have clawed their way out of the Big 12 cellar and find themselves just two games behind Iowa State for fourth place. OSU has claimed victories in two consecutive Big 12 road games (a first since 2014-15), but now travel to No. 7/12 West Virginia to face a Mountaineers squad that handed them their most lopsided Big 12 loss - a 92-75 defeat to open conference play on Dec. 30.
On the Air
• Oklahoma State and West Virginia will face off on ESPNU with Rich Hollenberg and Miles Simon on the call. This is the eighth of 13 scheduled appearance on ESPNU for the Cowboys this season. OSU is 5-2 on the network this season, and 34-30 all-time on the network, which hosted its inaugural broadcast at Gallagher-Iba Arena on March 5, 2005. As always, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call.
Oklahoma State Snapshot
• Have a week, Phil Forte III. The redshirt senior became the program's all-time 3-point king in the win over Arkansas last Saturday, and just two-days later hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to beat Oklahoma in Norman for the first time since 2004. Forte is now up to 303 career 3-pointers, which ranks sixth in Big 12 Conference history and is third among all active players nationwide. Forte has been on fire since Big 12 play began, and is averaging a league-best 3.1 3-pointers per game on 48.3 percent shooting from deep, which ranks fourth.
• Jeffrey Carroll is the nation's most improved player. The redshirt junior is only playing 2.4 more minutes per game this year, but boasts a scoring improvement of +9.0 points per game over his 2015-16 season. He is the only Big 12 player averaging at least 17.0 points (17.2, 3rd Big 12) and 7.0 rebounds (7.4, 4th Big 12), and he is the nation's only active power conference player averaging 17 points or more that can claim an improvement of +9.0 points from last season. Carroll joins Bryant "Big Country" Reeves as the only Oklahoma State players to ever make the same leap from one year to the next.
• Carroll entered the 2016-17 season with a career high scoring game of 18 points, but has tied or topped that mark 13 times this season, including in seven of the last nine games. He has 10 20-point scoring games this season, including five in Big 12 play, and ranks third in scoring in league games at 18.3 per contest. Carroll is shooting an incredible 57.1 percent from 3-point in Big 12 play, which is tops in the conference.
• A minor shift in defensive philosophy has been at the heart of OSU's four-game winning streak. After five straight losses in close games (one or two possession games in the final five minutes) the Cowboys tweaked their defense and the results are staggering. Since the change, OSU ended Texas Tech's 17-game homecourt win streak, rolled over TCU in Stillwater, hammered Arkansas by 28 points in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and ended a seven-game losing streak to Oklahoma. In 160 minutes of clock time in this four-game win streak, OSU has only trailed for a total of 21:46.
• KenPom ranks the Oklahoma State offense No. 2 in efficiency behind only UCLA. At 87.5 points per game, OSU is eighth in the country in scoring, and is on pace to set a new school record for scoring average (current record: 83.5 in 1988-89). The Cowboys have scored 95 points or more eight times this season, including a school-record tying five 100-point performances. OSU averages 22.7 points per game in the first seven seconds of each possession.
• Jawun Evans is one of just three players to win multiple Big 12 Player of the Week awards this season (Jan. 30 & Dec. 5), and ranks second in the Big 12 in scoring (18.3), third in assists (5.4) and third in steals (2.0). In league play, the sophomore leads all Big 12 players with 6.1 assists per game. Evans has nine 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 owns two of the Big 12's top three scoring performances this season - 35 points against UConn, and 34 points against Campbell.
• OSU ranks eighth nationally in scoring at 87.5 points per game, but their high-pressure defense is the main reason why. The Cowboys rank 17th in the country with 8.5 steals per game and 15th in turnovers forced at 16.7. According to KenPom, OSU is holding opponents to an average possession of just 15.7 seconds - fifth shortest in the country - and they rank 24th in turnover percentage with a mark of 22.0.
• With the win at Texas Tech, Brad Underwood picked up his 100th career victory in his 122nd game, which tied him for the 10th fastest coach to reach the century mark in college basketball history. At 103-22, Underwood owns an 82.4 career win percentage, which is tops among all active coaches, and his 89 wins at Stephen F. Austin tied him with Brad Stevens of Butler for the most victories by any coach after three seasons. Underwood is also tied for the ninth-best win percentage by a fourth-year head coach.
• OSU fields one of the youngest and most inexperienced lineups in the country. Even with fifth-year senior Phil Forte and his 124 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 263 collegiate starts on the roster. OSU's average age of 20.2 years is tied with Texas for the youngest in the Big 12.
• The Cowboys have cleaned up on the offensive glass this year. OSU is sixth nationally with 14.8 offensive boards per game and sixth in offensive rebound percentage at 39.7 percent. A true team effort, only one player on the team ranks inside the top 100 in the country in offensive boards - Mitchell Solomon (80th, 2.82). The Cowboys have pulled down 15-plus offensive boards in 12 games this year, including nine of the last 15 outings.

West Virginia Connections & Snapshot
• With wins in each of the last five matchups, West Virginia has taken a 6-4 lead in the all-time series with Oklahoma State. Saturday's meeting will be the sixth straight time the Cowboys will face a ranked Mountaineers squad, including five straight meetings against a top-20 WVU team.
• Brad Underwood and Bob Huggins share a 20-plus year friendship in basketball. While at Cincinnati, Huggins recruited Underwood's players at Western Illinois and Daytona Beach CC, and when a spot opened on Huggins' staff at K-State in 2006 he brought Underwood on board. Underwood remained on staff with Frank Martin when Huggins returned to West Virginia, and the two have remained close friends ever since.
• Underwood and Huggins met on March 18 in the opening round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, and that day Underwood's No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin squad took down the No. 3 Mountaineers, 70-56, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Led by 33 points from two-time Southland Conference MVP Thomas Walkup, the Lumberjacks turned WVU over 22 times and held them to 30.8 percent shooting. Walkup was one of three SFA players with four steals on the day. Devin Williams posted 12 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Mountaineers.
• West Virginia and Oklahoma State employ similar high-pressure defensive tactics to turn opponents over, and both have been very effective. The Press Virginia defense leads the nation in turnovers forced (22.41), turnover percentage (30.3) and steals (11.6), while the Cowboys rank 15th in turnovers forced (16.7), 24th in turnover percentage (22.0) and are 18th in steals (8.5).
• Both squads also make a living on the offensive glass. WVU is third in the country in offensive rebounds per game (15.4) and offensive rebound percentage (40.3), while the Cowboys rank sixth in offensive rebounds (14.77) and offensive rebounding percentage (39.7).
• After West Virginia's victory over UMKC on Dec. 17, Bob Huggins became just the third active coach to win 800 career games. Huggins is the author of 27 20-win seasons and 30 postseason appearances in 34 seasons as a head coach.