Cowboys Prepared For Prairie View A&M

STILLWATER ---- Oklahoma State men's basketball is set to continue the 2021-22 regular season on Sunday against Prairie View A&M in Gallagher-Iba Arena. Tip is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+ with Mike Wolfe and Bryndon Manzer on the call. The contest will also be aired across the waves on the Cowboy Radio Network with Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb on the call.

The Cowboys

The 2021-22 Cowboys will attack the season with a 17-man roster, including five newcomers and four returning starters from last year's squad.
Speaking of new - Oklahoma State welcomes three new assistant coaches (Terrence Rencher, Larry Blunt and David Cason) and a new strength coach (Mark Mitchell).
The Cowboys return four starters from last season's squad that returned OSU to the postseason and have added four key transfers with ambitions of pushing past the NCAA Round of 32. Setting its sights on a deep run in March, Oklahoma State returns 73 percent of its points from a year ago, 94 percent of its offensive rebounds and 74 percent of its assists.
Oklahoma State is set to compete in 17 games against 2021 NCAA Tournament foes.

Through Two - Where We're At And Where We're Going

Oklahoma State moved to 1-1 on the year after Friday night's game with Oakland. OSU can move to 2-1 or better to start a season for the 27th-straight year with a victory on Sunday. Of those 26 prior years, the Cowboys have started 2-1 five times.
The Orange and Black is 4-0 all-time against Prairie View A&M in a series that dates back to 1994. OSU has outscored PVA 371-209 (+162) and scored 100 or more points twice. The two last met in 2014 with Oklahoma State taking it, 74-52.
Yes, it's just two games. But OSU has shown an ability to play great basketball in the second half. The Cowboys have outscored their opponents by 21 in the period.
Need points off the bench? Call Bryce Thompson. He's averaged 27.8 minutes off the bench (most overall on the team) with 13.0 points per game on .478 shooting from the field.

The New Sheriffs In Town

2021 American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and former five-star big man Moussa Cisse certainly stands out in this year's group of newcomers. Listed at 6-10 and a springy 225 pounds, Cisse started every game for Memphis as a freshman in 2020-21 and helped lead the Tigers to the NIT Title.
Joining Cisse is 2020 McDonald's All-American and former Kansas standout Bryce Thompson. A unanimous five-star talent, he finished his time at Tulsa's Booker T. Washington High School as the nation's No. 19 recruit according to Rivals. He comes to Stillwater as the seventh-highest rated Cowboy signee in the recruiting rankings era (since 2003).
Former Texas Tech Red Raider and four-star recruit Tyreek Smith will be complementing the duo. The 2021 Academic All-Big 12 Conference selection was the 2018 TAAPS 5A Player of the Year for Trinity Christian High School in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, where he averaged 17.9 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game as a senior.
Rounding out the highly-anticipated class is Woody Newton. A former Rivals four-star recruit out of District Heights, Maryland, Newton is coming off a freshman campaign at Syracuse in which he posted a 46.4 shooting percentage, 38.9 percent clip from 3-point and averages of 3.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.

Historic Run

Oklahoma State's win over No. 2/2 Baylor in the Big 12 Championship semifinals was their sixth ranked win in a 19-day span.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, that is the second-shortest span for six ranked wins in the AP Poll era (since 1948-49) behind only UConn's magical run to the 2011 NCAA title that included six ranked wins in an 18-day span.
On Feb. 13, the Cowboys were unranked, but then won eight of nine games and rose to No. 11 in the AP top-25.
In that nine-game span, OSU took down four top-10 teams, and four of those wins came away from home. OSU shot 50.0 percent from the floor during that run, and Cade Cunningham averaged 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game on 50.4 percent shooting.

Serious Resume

Oklahoma State ranked fourth nationally with 10 N.E.T. Quadrant-1 victories in 2020-21, and the team finished the year with a 10-7 Q1 record. The Cowboys racked up nine wins over Associated Press top-25 squads, which led the nation. Oklahoma State owned a 13-6 record against the NCAA Tournament field, including a win against all four No. 3 seeds (5 total). ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, CBS Sports' Jerry Palm both and Fox Sports' Michael DeCourcy all saw the Cowboys as a No. 2 or a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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Players Mentioned

Moussa Cisse

Cade Cunningham

Woody Newton

Tyreek Smith

Bryce Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics