Cowboys Battling League-Leading Jayhawks Saturday

Saturday, February 3

Lawrence, Kan.

11 a.m.

Oklahoma State University

Kansas

February 01, 2018 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
Opponent: at No. 7/7 Kansas (18-4, 7-2 Big 12)
Date / Tipoff: Feb. 3, 2018 / 11 a.m. Central
Site: Allen Fieldhouse (Capacity: 16,300)
Series: KU leads 113-57 (61-11 in Lawrence)
Streak: KU won last 3 games
TV: CBS (Brad Nessler, Clark Kellogg)
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 83, XM 83 (KU radio call)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Oklahoma State Game Notes

The Basics
Oklahoma State (13-9, 3-6 Big 12) will make the short trip up to Lawrence, Kansas for its 171st hardwood meeting with the Jayhawks (18-4, 7-2 Big 12). KU enters Saturday's contest atop the Big 12 standings and ranked ninth nationally with a 58.2 effective field goal percentage. OSU is one of just five schools to win in Allen Fieldhouse in the last five seasons, and to do it again the Cowboys will need another standout performance from guard Jeffrey Carroll, who scored 23 and 27 points against the Jayhawks last season. For his career, Carroll is averaging 12.3 points on 51.0 percent shooting and a 53.8 percent clip from 3-point against Kansas.

On the Air
The matchup between the Cowboys and Jayhawks will air Saturday on CBS at 11 a.m. Central. Brad Nessler and Clark Kellogg will handle the on-air duties. CBSSports.com will carry the webcast. As always, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call.

Cowboy Quick Hitters
• Mitchell Solomon grabbed his 265th career offensive rebound against TCU, which moved him into fifth place in school history in the category. He needs one more offensive board to tie Desmond Mason (1996-00) for fourth.
• Jeffrey Carroll has been held to single digits in scoring just nine times over the last two seasons, and each time he responded with monster performances. The senior is averaging 22.3 points on 50.0 percent shooting and 47.2 percent from 3-point in those bounce-back games.
• The Cowboys rank 19th nationally in free throw percentage with a clip of 76.9 percent. Every OSU player with at least 30 attempts from the line is shooting 72.9 percent or better on the season.
• Jeffrey Carroll joins K-State's Dean Wade as the only Big 12 players averaging at least 17.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in league play.

Cam's The Man
OSU sophomore Cameron McGriff has shown his potential over the last five games, and has arguably been the highest-performing Cowboy in each of the last two outings. McGriff was a bucket shy of a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds at Arkansas and followed it up with a stat-stuffing 11 points, six boards, and a career-high four blocks and four steals against TCU. Over the last five games the 6-7 forward is averaging 9.2 points and a team-best 6.0 rebounds and 53.1 percent shooting. What's more, McGriff is 42-of-48 (.875) from the free throw line, which is the highest mark of any Cowboy with more than 11 attempts.

Buckets & Glass
Jeffrey Carroll is just 10 points and 19 rebounds away from joining the program's top 25 in career scoring and career rebounding. That would make the senior one of just 14 OSU players to rank in the top 25 in both of those categories, and one of eight players listed 6-6 or under. Carroll currently has 1,210 career points - third among all active Big 12 players behind only Jevon Carter (1,482) and Devonte Graham (1,438) - and 493 career boards.

The Series With The Jayhawks
OSU has won three of the last four meetings with the Jayhawks in Gallagher-Iba Arena, but Kansas has won the last three matchups overall to extend their lead in the series to 113-57. In Allen Fieldhouse, KU has taken the last four games against OSU and leads, 61-11, all-time in Lawrence. This will be the 171st meeting between these two programs, which trails only the Bedlam matchup with Oklahoma (235 meetings) as OSU's longest standing rivalry.

Winning In Allen Fieldhouse
Since 2012-13, only five teams have managed to win a game in Allen Fieldhouse; Oklahoma State (2012-13), San Diego State (2013-14), Iowa State (2016-17), Arizona State (2017-18) and Texas Tech (2017-18). The Cowboys picked up the victory thanks to 28 points from Markel Brown and 25 points from Marcus Smart. OSU shot 48.5 percent from the floor in the second half to hold off No. 2 KU, and Smart provided the exclamation mark in the form of a back flip at mid-court.

Carroll Against The Jayhawks
Jeffrey Carroll scored 23 and 27 points in the two meetings with Kansas last season, and over the last two seasons is averaging 18.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game on 53.2 percent shooting, including a 56.0 percent clip from 3-point.

Against Ranked Foes
The Cowboys have won two games against ranked teams this season, and now have 118 all-time victories over top-25 opponents and 50 wins over top-10 teams. The Cowboys took down No. 19 Florida State, 71-70, on Dec. 16 in Sunrise, Fla., and beat No. 4 Oklahoma, 83-81, in an overtime thriller on Jan. 20 in GIA. Oklahoma State has 20 all-time wins against ranked Kansas teams, including 14 wins over the Jayhawks when they were ranked in the top-10. OSU has faced a top-10 KU team in each of the last eight matchups between these two schools and OSU won three of those games.

Always A Cowboy
Former Cowboy Bill Self is facing his alma mater for the 29th time as a head coach, including four meetings in his time at Oral Roberts and 24 at Kansas. Self's record against OSU is 17-11 (16-8 with KU, 1-3 with ORU), but he is 4-8 inside Gallagher-Iba Arena (4-6 with KU, 0-2 with ORU).

Self's Cowboy Career
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.