Cowboys Set To Battle Cyclones In Big 12 Championship Quarterfinal

Game Center
1st Round Opponent: [5] No. 23/24 Iowa State (20-10, 12-6 Big 12)
Date/Tipoff: March 9, 2017 / 11:30 a.m. Central
Series: OSU leads 63-62 • Neutral: OSU leads 12-6
TV: ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen, Fran Fraschilla & Holly Rowe)
Webcast: ESPN3.com or WatchESPN app
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 137, XM 199
Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein
Live Stats: statbroadcast.com

• Oklahoma State Big 12 Championship Guide

The Basics
• Oklahoma State (20-11, 9-9 Big 12) defied preseason expectations and clinched the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Kansas City. The Cowboys will send a trio of players to Kansas City who earned All-Big 12 Conference recognition, including Sporting News Third-Team All-America selection Jawun Evans. Jeffrey Carroll was named to the All-Big 12 second team, and Phil Forte III earned honorable mention honors. Two of the league's most impressive point guards will take center stage when OSU and No. 4 seed Iowa State (20-10, 12-6 Big 12) take the Sprint Center floor. Evans finished the regular season as the Big 12's leader in assists at 6.3 per game, and Iowa State's Monte Morris right behind him at 6.2. The Cyclones took both regular season meetings, but both contests came down to the final possessions.

On the Air
• Oklahoma State and Iowa State will face off for the second time in 10 days on ESPN2 with Bob Wischusen, Fran Fraschilla and Holly Rowe on the call. This will be OSU's sixth appearance on ESPN2 this season, and the Cowboys are 2-3 this year and 39-43 all-time on the network. As always, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call from the Sprint Center floor.

Oklahoma State Snapshot
• COWBOY QUICK HITTERS: Jawun Evans posted 22 points and a career-high 15 assists in Saturday's game against KU, which is the first 20-15 game in the country this season, and only the fourth in Big 12 history ... The 15 assists are tied for the second most by a Division I player this year, and are the most by an OSU player since Doug Gottlieb in 1999 ... As a team, OSU has made 67 of its last 73 free throws (.918), while Evans has made 29 straight and Phil Forte has made 20 straight ... OSU is 1-7 this season against AP Top-25 opponents, but five of those losses came to top-10 teams ... The Cowboys have eight wins against teams ranked in the top 50 of the KenPom rankings ... 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.
• Postseason honors have begun rolling in for Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were one of three teams to have at least three players on an All-Big 12 Conference team. Jawun Evans, who was named a Third-Team All-American by the Sporting News, earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors after leading the league in assists (6.3) and ranking second in scoring (18.7). Jeffrey Carroll was named to the All-Big 12 second team after scoring 17.3 points per game, while OSU's all-time 3-point king, Phil Forte III, was an honorable mention pick.
• 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 leads the Big 12 in assists with 6.3 per game, ranks second with 18.6 points per game, and he is fourth in steals at 1.9 per contest. KenPom currently ranks Evans sixth in their national player of the year ranking. In the final five minutes of the last 13 games, Evans is averaging 5.6 points on 61.3 percent shooting, and is 32-of-36 (88.9 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 9-9 having won 10 of their last 13, and the three losses were by a combined 11 points. The Cowboys are currently +8.5 games better than last year's 12-20 season, which is tied for the 14th biggest improvement in the country. OSU won six more league games than last season (3-15), which is tied for the largest turnaround in conference play in school history with the 2012-13 squad.
• 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 (17.3), eighth in rebounding (6.6) and third in 3-point percentage (.438). 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 3.9 more minutes per game this year, but boasts a scoring improvement of +9.1 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 18 times this season. He has 14 20-point scoring games this season, including nine in Big 12 play, and ranks fourth in scoring in league games at 17.9 per contest. Carroll is shooting an incredible 46.8 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 seven 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 13 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 109-25, Underwood owns an 81.3 career win percentage, which is second 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 133 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 308 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 13.52 offensive boards per game and eighth in offensive rebound percentage at 38.0 percent. A true team effort, only one player on the team ranks inside the top 100 in the country in offensive boards - Mitchell Solomon (67th, 2.87). The Cowboys have pulled down 15-plus offensive boards in 12 games this year.

Iowa State Connections & Snapshot
• Iowa State has won the last nine meetings against the Cowboys, which has closed the OSU lead in the overall series to 63-62. Six of those nine losses have been by eight points or less, including five by five points or less and two in overtime. OSU's last win over the Cyclones came on Jan. 30, 2013 in Stillwater.
• Oklahoma State is 6-2 overall and has won its last three postseason meetings with Iowa State, although the two haven't met since the 2009 Big 12 Championship (W 81-67, 1st Round) in Oklahoma City. The Cowboys are 3-1 against the Cyclones in the Big 12 era, and were 3-1 against ISU in the Big Eight Tournament as well.
• Thursday's contest will feature a battle of the nation's top point guards in Jawun Evans and Monte Morris. Evans averages a Big 12-best 6.3 assists per game, and Morris is right behind him at 6.2 per game. The two are also listed among the only four players in the country averaging at least 16 points and six assists per game in conference play. Morris is a three-time All-Big 12 selection, and was joined on the 2017 All-Big 12 first team by Evans.
• OSU and Iowa State rank second and third in the Big 12 in 3-point percentage. The Cowboys have connected on 40.3 percent (279-of-693) from deep, while the Cyclones have knocked down a league-high 299 3-pointers on 40.3 percent shooting (299-of-750). Both teams have two players that rank among the league's top 10 in 3-point percentage: OSU's Jeffrey Carroll (3rd, 43.8) & Phil Forte (5th, 42.3) and ISU's Matt Thomas (4th, 43.6) & Naz Mitrou-Long (9th, 39.2).
• The Cowboys will get another shot at a ranked team in No. 23/24 Iowa State. The Cowboys are 1-7 this season against opponents ranked in the AP Top-25 this year, but five of those seven losses were to teams ranked in the top 10 and four came top-five opponents. OSU is 1-2 against ranked teams since their resurgence over the last 13 games. In the Big 12 era, this will be the 12th time OSU faced a ranked Cyclones team, and ISU is 9-2 in the previous matchups.

Noting the Big 12 Championship
• Picked to finish seventh in the league's preseason poll, Oklahoma State exceeded expectations and will enter the 2017 Big 12 Championship as the No. 5 seed. This will mark the third time that the Cowboys have been the No. 5 seed at the Big 12 Championship, and they own a 4-2 record as that seed. OSU was the 5-seed in 1999 (Kemper Arena) when they advanced to the finals before falling to third-seeded Kansas, 53-37. The Cowboys were also the No. 5 seed in 2001 (Kemper Arena) when they knocked off No. 12 Texas Tech, 71-59, before falling to No. 4 Texas, 55-54.
• OSU is 23-18 in its history at the Big 12 Championship, including the 2004 and 2005 titles. The 23 wins rank third behind only Kansas (41) and Texas (24), while their .560 win percentage trails only Kansas (.804) and Oklahoma (.564).
• This will be the eighth straight Big 12 Championship held at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. The Cowboys are 6-8 at the Sprint Center overall, but have lost their last three games in the arena.
• Since the Big 12 Championship began in 1997, The Cowboys have faced the No. 4 seed three times, and are 2-1 in those games. OSU knocked off 4-seed Oklahoma in the 1999 second round, lost to No. 4 Texas in the second round in 2001, and knocked off No. 4 seed Texas Tech in the 2005 finals.
• With Tavarius Shine's season-ending injury, the OSU roster combines for just 13 total games played at the Big 12 Championship, and Phil Forte and Leyton Hammonds have combined for nine of those 13 games. In fact, Forte (2) and Hammonds (1) are the only active OSU players with a postseason win on their resume. Forte is averaging 10.6 points on 30.8 percent shooting from 3-point at the Big 12 Championship.
• Forte owns a 91.7 (11-of-12) career free throw percentage at the Big 12 Championship, which is the second-best mark of any OSU player at the event. The record is within reach for Forte. Glendon Alexander currently holds the record at 92.9 percent (13-of-14). Forte also ranks eighth in field goals made (12) among Cowboys at the Big 12 Championship
• The Cowboys are 3-1 against Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship, and were 3-1 against the Cyclones in the Big Eight Tournament.

Cowboys Set To Battle Cyclones In Big 12 Championship Quarterfinal

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Players Mentioned

Jeffrey Carroll

Jawun Evans

Leyton Hammonds

Tavarius Shine

Mitchell Solomon

Oklahoma State University Athletics