In-State Showdown Against ORU Tips Off Cowboy Basketball Season Wednesday

Wednesday, November 6

Stillwater, OK

7 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Oral Roberts

In-State Showdown Against ORU Tips Off Cowboy Basketball Season Wednesday

November 04, 2019 | Cowboy Basketball

• Game Center
Opponent: Oral Roberts (0-0, 0-0 Summit League)
Date / Tipoff: Nov. 6, 2019 / 7 p.m.
Site: Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)
Tickets: okstate.com/tickets or 877-ALL-4-OSU
Series: OSU leads 16-5 (10-1 in GIA)
Last: OSU won 91-48 in GIA on Nov. 16, 2018
Broadcast: ESPN+ (Mike Wolfe, Bryndon Manzer, Jessica Morrey)
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: XM 375
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Oklahoma State Game Notes

• The Basics
After taking down Rogers State in exhibition action, the Cowboys are ready to officially tipoff the 111th season of Oklahoma State basketball. OSU returns all five Cowboy starters, including captains Cameron McGriff, Lindy Waters III and Thomas Dziagwa, as well as Mike Boynton's highly touted recruiting class that was unanimously ranked among the nation's top-25. OSU was picked sixth in the Big 12 Conference Preseason Poll, which is the program's highest selection by the league's coaches since 2013-14. The Cowboys have won 43 straight home openers dating back to 1974.

• On the Air
The season opener will appear on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, the new digital platform that will serve as the home for thousands of live Big 12 and ESPN events, on-demand content and original programing. ESPN+ is available via the ESPN App, ESPN.com or espnplus.com, as well as on most major mobile and connected TV platforms (AppleTV, Roku, Chromecast, FireTV, XBOX One, Playstation 4, ect.) for just $4.99 per month. The announcing team of Mike Wolfe, Bryndon Manzer and Jessica Morrey will have the ESPN+ call. Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have Cowboy Radio Network call from historic Eddie Sutton Court.

• Preseason Predictions
The Cowboys return all five starters and welcome in a top-25 recruiting class, which has the media and the Big 12 coaches bullish on Oklahoma State. OSU was picked sixth in the Big 12 Conference Preseason Poll, which is its highest selection by the league's coaches since 2013-14. In the last 12 seasons, the Cowboys have only been picked higher than sixth on two occasions – 2013-14 (T1st) and 2012-13 (3rd) – and has OSU out-performed its preseason selection in each of the last three seasons. The Big 12 has sent six or more teams to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last six years, including seven bids in four of those seasons (2014-16 and 2018).

• The Series With Oral Roberts
Oklahoma State leads the overall series against Oral Roberts, 16-5, including a 10-1 mark in Stillwater. The series began in 1975 with a 74-62 Cowboy victory in GIA, and OSU took the latest matchup, a 91-48 win, in 2017. In all, Oral Roberts has taken two of the last four meetings in the series, although those wins were in 1997 and 2007.

• Leading The Golden Eagles
New ORU head coach Paul Mills is quite familiar with Gallagher-Iba Arena thanks to his 14 seasons on the coaching staff at Baylor. Mills is entering his third year at ORU after helping Scott Drew coach the Bears to a pair of NCAA Elite Eights, four Sweet 16's and four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. He served as Baylor's coordinator of operations from 2003-09 and was an assistant coach from 2009-17. He is a 1996 graduate of Texas A&M with a degree in finance.

• Cowboy Connections
OSU head coach Mike Boynton will be able to seek the advice of two former Oral Roberts head coaches on his bench. Scott Sutton piled up a 328-247 (.570) record in 18 season as the head coach of the Golden Eagles from 1999-2017. Sutton, a three-time Summit League Coach of the Year, led ORU to eight conference titles and eight postseason appearances. Barry Hinson, who joined the Cowboys staff as an analyst last month, spent two seasons as the ORU head coach from 1997-99 and had a 36-23 (.610) record with a Summit League title in 1999.

Cowboy senior guard J.K. Hadlock and Oral Roberts senior guard Ty Lazenby were teammates at Glencoe High School, where the duo teamed up to go 60-1 over their final two seasons with state titles in 2014 and 2015. Lazenby spent his first two collegiate season at Northern Oklahoma-Enid where he was a first-team NJCAA All-American, followed by the 2017-18 season at Oklahoma for the Sooners.

• Up Next For OSU
Oklahoma State's homestand continues with a 2 p.m. tipoff against Kansas City on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Roos, who are led by first-year head coach Billy Donlon, are coming off an 11-21 campaign that included a seventh-place finish in the WAC. Donlon, a former head coach at Wright State from 2010-15, was most recently on staff at Northwestern and Michigan. The Roos will be led by senior Rob Whitfield (11.0 ppg) and junior Brandon McKissic (10.5 ppg), who was an All-WAC Defensive Team selection.