Cowboys Prep For Physical Matchup At No. 19 West Virginia

Saturday, February 10

Morgantown, W.Va.

11 a.m.

Oklahoma State University

West Virginia

Cowboys Prep For Physical Matchup At No. 19 West Virginia

February 08, 2018 | Cowboy Basketball

Game Center
Opponent: at No. 19/17 West Virginia (18-6, 7-4 Big 12)
Date / Tipoff: Feb. 10, 2018 / 11 a.m. Central
Site: WVU Coliseum (Capacity: 14,000)
Series: WVU leads 7-5 (OSU leads 3-2 in Morgantown)
Last: WVU won 85-79 in Stillwater on Dec. 29
TV: ESPN (Rich Hollenberg, Fran Fraschilla)
Webcast: ESPN3.com or WatchESPN app
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 81, XM 81 (WVU radio call)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
OSU Game Notes

The Basics
Oklahoma State (14-10, 4-7 Big 12) basketball will once again look to bounce back on the road against an AP top-20 opponent when it travels to Morgantown, West Virginia to battle the No. 19/17 Mountaineers. On Jan. 30, OSU saw its 15-game home win streak against unranked opponents snapped by TCU, only to follow it up with an 84-79 win at No. 7/7 Kansas. In similar fashion, the Cowboys fell to Baylor, 67-56, on Tuesday night and will look to get back on track away from GIA. The Mountaineers won the first meeting against the Cowboys - an 85-79 slugfest in Stillwater on Dec. 29 - but OSU has had recent success in Morgantown. Last year, the Cowboys went into WVU Coliseum and came away with an 82-75 win over No. 7/12 West Virginia thanks to 20 points from Jeffrey Carroll and 18 points from Jawun Evans.

On the Air
The matchup between the Cowboys and Mountaineers will air Saturday on ESPN at 11 a.m. Central. Rich Hollenberg and Fran Fraschilla will handle the on-air duties. ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app 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 271st career offensive rebound on Tuesday, which ranks him fourth in school history in the category. His 3.1 offensive boards per game rank third in the Big 12.
• OSU is tied for second in the Big 12 with a pair of top-10 wins this season, and its three top-25 victories are tied for third overall. In program history, OSU has 51 top-10 wins and victories over 119 top-25 teams.
• Jeffrey Carroll joins K-State's Dean Wade and TCU's Vlad Brodziansky as the only Big 12 players averaging at least 16.5 points and 5.6 boards in league play.
• Despite its recent performance from the free throw line, OSU ranks 45th nationally with a 75.5 percent clip. Every Cowboy with at least 25 attempts is shooting 72.9 percent or better from the stripe on the year.

Cam's The Man
The switch has come on for OSU sophomore Cameron McGriff, who has arguably been the highest-performing Cowboy of late. 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. At Kansas, McGriff posted a career-high 20 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and three steals. Last week, he averaged 15.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks. What's more, McGriff is 48-of-58 (.828) from the free throw line.

The Series With The Mountaineers
This will be the 13th meeting in the overall series in which West Virginia has taken six of the last seven meetings. The Cowboys won the last matchup in Morgantown, 82-75, to end a five-game losing streak to WVU. The Mountaineers have won the last four meetings in Stillwater, which is currently the longest win streak in Stillwater by any team. OSU actually owns a 3-2 edge in Morgantown thanks to last year's win over No. 7 WVU. This will be the 10 straight meeting in which at least one of the two teams is ranked.

Press Virginia
The Mountaineers employ a full-court high-pressure defense that currently ranks second in the country in turnover percentage (25.2) and sixth in turnovers forced (18.2). WVU has forced 436 turnovers while allowing just 524 field goals. Jevon Carter, the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, leads the nation in steals with 3.29 per game.

837 Wins And Counting
West Virginia is led by Bob Huggins, who is currently ranked seventh among all NCAA Division I coaches ever with 837 career victories. In fact, Huggins is the third-winningest active Division I coach behind Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) and Jim Boeheim (Syracuse). On Dec. 21, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Huggins is eligible for the Class of 2018.

Mr. Carter
Mountaineer senior Jevon Carter is proving to be one of the nation's premier all-around guards. Carter leads the nation in steals at 3.29 per game, and also ranks sixth in Big 12 in scoring (16.6 ppg) and fourth in assists (6.8 apg). At 130 career games, Carter ranks sixth nationally in career appearances, just one game behind the national leaders. This week, Carter was named to the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 list.