Cowboys Hosting No. 1 Kansas On Senior Day Saturday

Saturday, March 4

Stillwater, OK

5 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Kansas

March 02, 2017 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
Opponent: No. 1/1 Kansas (27-3, 15-2 Big 12)
Date/Tipoff: March 4, 2017 / 5 p.m. Central
Series: KU leads 112-57 • In GIA: OSU leads 34-32
Tickets: okstate.com/tickets or 877-ALL-4-OSU (Sold Out)
TV: ESPN (Rich Hollenberg & Miles Simon)
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 84, XM 84
Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Oklahoma State Game Notes

The Basics
• Oklahoma State (20-10, 9-8 Big 12) had its five game winning streak snapped by a red-hot No. 24 ranked Iowa State team in Ames on Tuesday. The Cowboys have still won 10 of their last 12 games, with the only losses coming to ranked opponents by a combined six points. Now, the Cowboys turn their attention to No. 1 Kansas (27-3, 15-2 Big 12), which has already clinched its 13th consecutive Big 12 regular season title. National player of the year candidate, Frank Mason III, leads a potent Jayhawk attack that has won seven straight games. OSU, however, boasts the best home win percentage against AP top-three teams (.667) in the nation. Oklahoma State will pay tribute to a pair of seniors, Phil Forte III and Leyton Hammonds, who have combined to play 249 career games at OSU.

On the Air
• Oklahoma State and Kansas will face off on ESPN with Rich Hollenberg and Miles Simon on the call. This will be OSU's third appearance on ESPN this season. The Cowboys are 1-1 this year and 57-53 all-time on ESPN. As always, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call from the historic white maple floor.

Oklahoma State Snapshot
• COWBOY QUICK HITTERS: As a team, OSU had made 35 consecutive free throws before missing at Iowa State, which broke the school record and tied the Big 12 record ... OSU is officially locked into the No. 5 seed for next week's Big 12 Championship, and could face West Virginia, Baylor or Iowa State ... Jawun Evans has made 22 consecutive free throws and Phil Forte III has connected on 20 straight ... According to KenPom, OSU has faced the nation's No. 2 strength of schedule ... Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology report has the Cowboys as a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The last team to make the NCAA Tournament field after falling in their first six conference games was 1985-86 Maryland.
• The Cowboys will pay tribute to a pair of seniors that have been instrumental to OSU's success. Phil Forte III will leave OSU as the program's all-time 3-point king with 323 makes to his credit. He currently ranks seventh in school history in scoring at 1,709 career points, and his 88.2 percent clip from the free throw line ranks second in school history. Saturday's game will move Leyton Hammonds into 25th place in school history in career appearances at 118. He has scored 650 career points and hauled in 353 career rebounds, including a team-high 143 boards in 2015-16.
• Three-time Big 12 Player of the Week Jawun Evans is one of just four power conference players nationwide averaging at least 16 points and 6 assists in conference play. Evans ranks second in the Big 12 with 18.6 points and 6.0 assists per game, and he is fourth in steals at 1.9 per contest. KenPom currently ranks Evans seventh in their national player of the year ranking. In the final five minutes of the last 12 games, Evans is averaging 5.9 points on 65.6 percent shooting, and is 30-of-34 (88.2 percent) from the free throw line.
• On Jan. 18, OSU fell to 0-6 in league play following a home loss to K-State. What a difference a month can make. The Cowboys are now in fifth place at 9-8 having won 10 of their last 12, and the two losses were by a combined six points. The Cowboys are currently +9.0 games better than last year's 12-20 season, which is tied for the ninth biggest improvement in the country. With one Big 12 game left to play, OSU has already won six more league games than last season (3-15), which is tied for the largest turnaround in conference play in school history (with 2012-13).
• Jeffrey Carroll is the nation's most improved power conference player, and in the conversation for the best wing player in the Big 12. Carroll ranks fourth in the Big 12 in scoring (17.0), eighth in rebounding (6.7) and fourth in 3-point percentage (.436). If those numbers hold, Carroll would be just the fourth player in league history to finish in the top 10 in each of those categories, joining Georges Niang (ISU, 2015-16), Jordan Hamilton (Texas, 2010-11) and Kevin Durant (Texas, 2006-07). He is only playing 3.6 more minutes per game this year, but boasts a scoring improvement of +8.8 points per game over his 2015-16 season.
• Carroll entered the 2016-17 season with a career high scoring game of 18 points, but has tied or topped that mark 17 times this season. He has 13 20-point scoring games this season, including eight in Big 12 play, and ranks fourth in scoring in league games at 17.4 per contest. Carroll is shooting an incredible 47.0 percent from 3-point in Big 12 play, which is fourth in the conference.
• KenPom ranks the Oklahoma State offense No. 1 in efficiency nationwide. At 85.6 points per game, OSU is on pace to set a new school record for scoring average (current record: 83.5 in 1988-89), and in fact, is on pace to be the second-highest scoring squad in Big 12 history behind only the 2001-02 Kansas team that averaged 90.9 per game. As a team, the Cowboys have shot at least 49 percent or better in five of the last six games.
• A minor shift in defensive philosophy has been at the heart of OSU's recent resurgence. After six straight losses, including five 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 has won 10 of their last 12 games.
• With the win at Texas Tech on Jan. 21, 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 109-24, Underwood owns an 81.9 career win percentage, which is tops among all active coaches. His 89 wins at Stephen F. Austin tied him with Brad Stevens of Butler for the most victories by any coach after three seasons.
• OSU fields one of the youngest and most inexperienced lineups in the country. Even with fifth-year senior Phil Forte and his 132 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 303 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 11th nationally with 13.57 offensive boards per game and sixth in offensive rebound percentage at 38.4 percent. A true team effort, only one player on the team ranks inside the top 100 in the country in offensive boards - Mitchell Solomon (79th, 2.83). The Cowboys have pulled down 15-plus offensive boards in 12 games this year.

Kansas Connections & Snapshot
• Oklahoma State has taken five of the last seven from Kansas in Gallagher-Iba Arena, including the last three meetings. The only other time Kansas came to Stillwater with a No. 1 ranking in the AP poll was on Feb. 27, 2010, and the Jayhawks left with an 85-77 loss. The Cowboys shot 60.4 percent from the floor and were led by 27 points from James Anderson. Overall, OSU is 34-32 inside GIA against the Jayhawks.
• All-time, the Cowboys are 3-6 against teams ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, with the most recent win coming in OSU's last meeting with a top-ranked team - Feb. 27, 2010 against Kansas (85-77). The Cowboys were unranked for two of the three wins over No. 1, and all three came in GIA.
• Last year's victory over No. 3/3 Kansas in GIA gave the Cowboys a 66.7 (10-5) 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. Indiana is second at 63.6 (14-8) percent and Kentucky is third at 56.3 (9-7) percent.
• 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 coaching, 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.
• Former Cowboy Bill Self is facing his alma mater for the 28th time as a head coach, including four meetings in his time at Oral Roberts and 23 at Kansas. Self's record against OSU is 16-11 (15-8 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).