Cowboy Basketball Hosting Sunday Exhibition Against Ouachita Baptist

Sunday, November 4

Stillwater, OK

2 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Ouachita Baptist

Cowboy Basketball Hosting Sunday Exhibition Against Ouachita Baptist

November 01, 2018 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
Opponent: Ouachita Baptist (0-0, 0-0 GAC)
Date / Tipoff: Nov. 4, 2018 / 2 p.m. CT
Site: Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)
Series: First Meeting
Tickets: $5 at okstate.com/tickets or 877-ALL-4-OSU
TV: FSOK (Mike Wolfe, Bryndon Manzer, Allison Gappa)
Webcast: FoxSportsGo.com
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: None
Live Stats: SIDEARM Live Stats
Oklahoma State Game Notes

The Basics
Mike Boynton and the Oklahoma State basketball team defied expectations in 2017-18 by knocking off six ranked foes, including a school-record four wins over top-10 squads, en route to a quarterfinal appearance in the NIT. This season, the Cowboys will once again look to prove the preseason polls wrong with a young but talented squad. The junior trio of Lindy Waters III, Cameron McGriff and Thomas Dziagwa has stepped into the leadership role, and is bringing along a potent freshman class led by Texas all-state guard Isaac Likekele. The exhibition showdown against Ouachita Baptist is OSU's first opportunity to showcase their offseason of building, which was anchored by a 10-day tour of Europe.

On the Air
The exhibition matchup between the Cowboys and Tigers will air Sunday on Fox Sports Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Central. Mike Wolfe and former Cowboy guard Bryndon Manzer will handle the on-air duties. FoxSportsGo will carry the webcast. As always, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call.

80th Year of the White Maple
The Cowboys are entering the 80th year on the historic white maple floor of GIA, which has the distinction of being the oldest in college basketball. Since hosting its first game on Dec. 9, 1938 (a 21-15 win over Kansas) the GIA floor has seen OSU amass an 800-228 (.780) home record, which has included just eight non-conference home losses since 1987. In 2005, the white maple floor was named in honor of Eddie Sutton, who won 804 career games and led OSU to Final Four appearances in 1995 and 2004.

McGriff Poised For Breakout
Cameron McGriff, a team captain for 2018-19, was averaging 6.5 points and 4.6 rebounds over the first 17 games of 2017-18 - and then the light switch came on. Over the remaining 19 games, McGriff tallied 10.1 points and 6.2 rebounds on 38.9 percent shooting from 3-point. He led OSU to road wins at Kansas and West Virginia with 20 points and nine rebounds in each contest, and bullied Oklahoma with 18 points and nine rebounds in the Big 12 Championship opener. McGriff will enter his junior season with 294 career rebounds and an 80.9 percent clip from the stripe, which ranks 18th in Cowboy basketball history.

Splash Brothers
Juniors Lindy Waters and Thomas Dziagwa are neck-and-neck on the program's career 3-point shooting charts. Dziagwa has hit 70 career 3-pointers and Waters isn't far behind at 69, and both are on pace to join the OSU career top-25 this season (25th is Chad Alexander with 97 3-pointers). But that's not where the similarities stop. Waters holds a slight edge in 3-point percentage at 39.0 to 38.9, and the two rank 15th and 16th in school history, respectively. The duo is nearing the program's top 25 in career 3-pointers attempted, with Dziagwa at 180 attempts and Waters at 177.

Likekele Story
Freshman Isaac Likekele (pronounced like "likely") has emerged as a natural leader for the young Cowboy lineup. The former Texas 5A state champion and all-state guard from Mansfield Timberview High School has a vocal leadership style to go with length and versatility that could allow him to make an immediate impact at OSU, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Boynton has been quick to describe Likekele as "in the mold of" Cowboy greats Tony Allen and Marcus Smart. Likekele led the Cowboys in scoring (10.7) and ranked second in rebounds (5.7) in OSU's Euro tour.

The Series Against the Tigers
This will be the first hardwood meeting between the Cowboys and Tigers, regular season or exhibition, but it marks the second straight year and the third time in four years OSU will take on an opponent from the Great American Conference (GAC) in exhibition play. Last season, the Cowboys took down Arkansas-Monticello, 85-65, which lost in the 2018 GAC championship game. OSU is 26-10 all-time in regular season games against current members of the GAC.

OBU Coaching Staff
Dennis Nutt has been the head coach at Ouachita Baptist since 2011, and owns a 107-90 record. The former TCU (1981-85) and Dallas Mavericks (1986-88) guard has led the Tigers to two GAC tournament titles (2013 & 2016) and a regular season championship in 2015. Nutt and OSU head coach Mike Boynton were members of Buzz Peterson's Coastal Carolina coaching staff in 2006-07.

Cowboy Connections
TCU alum Dennis Nutt might be one of the few members of his family to not attend Oklahoma State. His father, Houston Sr., played for Mr. Iba's Aggies from 1954-56, and his brothers, Houston Jr. and Dickey, played for OSU from 1979-81 and 1977-81, respectively. His mother, Emogene, even graduated from Oklahoma A&M.

OBU In The Preseason Polls
The Tigers bring back four of their top five scorers, and were tabbed to finish seventh in the annual preseason GAC poll. In 2017-18, Ouachita Baptist finished 12-16 overall and 10-12 in league play to finish eighth in the GAC. Southern Nazarene won the league's regular 2018 season and tournament championships, and were picked to repeat in 2018-19.

OBU Returning Firepower
OBU is expected to be headed up by Mahlon Marin (5-10, 175, G, Little Rock) and Wesley Franklin (6-5, 218, F, Frisco, Texas) after both averaged double figures as juniors. Marin led the Tigers with 12.4 points per game thanks to his 43.6 percent (65-of-149) clip from 3-point. He also added 2.8 assists and 0.9 steals per game. Franklin posted 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 54.3 percent from the floor in 2017-18.