Cowboys Set For Big 12 / SEC Challenge

Photo by: Bruce Waterfield

January 27, 2022 | Cowboy Basketball

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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.

Facing Florida - Here's The Scout

Oklahoma State is set for its final non-conference game of the 2021-22 season when it travels to Gainesville, Fla. on Saturday for 3 p.m. tip on ESPN2 against Florida. Roy Philpott and Mark Wise will be on the call.
The Gators come into the contest looking to snap a two-game losing streak in what will be their third game of the week. Florida dropped games at Ole Miss and Tennessee earlier in the week, with both games coming on the road.
Florida played on Wednesday night without forwards Colin Castleton and CJ Felder. Jason Jitoboh was later knocked out of the game with an eye injury.
The Gators are under the direction of Mike White, who has led Florida to four consecutive NCAA Tournament berths since 2017, the only SEC team to do so and one of 12 schools nationally. But the Gators have not only earned those berths, they are also one of just six teams in the country to earn a win in each of the past four tournaments.

The Baylor and Texas Wins - Trends And Points

Oklahoma State earned its first ranked win, and conference victory, with a 64-51 win over No. 14 Texas inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Pokes led from start to finish as they held Texas to its lowest scoring outing of the season.
Keylan Boone gave the Cowboys a spark off the bench by hitting three, three-pointers in the first half, which tied his career high in made three-point field goals. He later surpassed his career high in points and made three-point field goals when he hit two threes late in the second half to total five made threes and 17 points in the game.
OSU earned its second ranked win, and Big 12 victory, with a 61-54 win over No. 1 Baylor in Waco. Bryce Thompson recorded a, at the time, career-best 19 points to help lead the Cowboys to their first road win over the No. 1 team in the country.
In those two wins, it's been the Keylan Boone, Bryce Thompson and Bryce Williams show. Boone averaged 12.5 points between the two while shooting 70 percent from behind the arc while Thompson has averaged 13.0 points while shooting 43.5 from the field. Williams meanwhile has averaged 10.0 in the games while shooting a perfect 1.000 percent from the line.
The Cowboys held the Bears and Longhorns to a combined 34.9 percent from the field while forcing 25 turnovers with eight blocks and 15 steals.
Just as important, OSU has out-rebounded the duo 72-71 while recording 29 assists to their 21.
The leading rebounders for the Cowboys in those two games? Two guards (Avery Anderson III and Isaac Likekele) and two posts (Tyreek Smith and Moussa Cisse). The four have combined for 40 of OSU's 72 rebounds in the two games (56 percent).

Big 12 / SEC Challenge

Oklahoma State comes into the contest against Florida with a record of 6-2 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge after a win over Arkansas last season in Stillwater.
Big 12 teams are 44-35 (.557) in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Big 12 has a yearly Challenge record of 4-2-2 with wins in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. One game was canceled in 2021 due to COVID. Ties occurred in 2017 and 2020. In case of a tie, the trophy stays with the conference that won it the previous season.
This will be the seventh season that all games will be played on the same day. ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise the contests.
The Cowboys own wins in the contest over Arkansas, (2021 and 2017), Texas A&M (2020), South Carolina (2019 and 2014), Auburn (2016).

Through 19 - Where We're At And Where We're Going

Oklahoma State moved to 10-9 after the Iowa State game on Wednesday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
In those 10 wins, OSU has dominated on the defensive side. It has held its foes to 37.2 percent from the field while forcing 19.0 turnovers per game. Along with the turnovers, it has recorded 7.1 blocks per game in the victories, as well as 10.8 steals.
For comparison, in the nine losses teams are shooting 43.0 percent and turning the ball over 16.1 times per game while OSU has recorded 3.2 blocks per contest.

Defense First - Because It Wins Games

Oklahoma State has allowed just seven of its 19 foes to score more than 70 points in a game and has delivered the 12-best adjusted defensive efficiency, according to Kenpom.
A big point of that has been turnovers. OSU has forced a turnover on 24.6 percent of defensive possessions, which comes in at 12th-best in the country. If teams haven't turned the ball over first, they're also getting blocked on 15.2 percent of their possessions, the 16th-most in the country.
But don't expect things to get any easier without a turnover or blocked shot. OSU hasn't given up many easy looks inside the three-point line, leading to teams shooting 44.1 percent from inside the arc, the 14th-lowest percentage in the country according to Kenpom.

Tough Stretch - But We Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

According to Kenpom's rankings, OSU has faced the No. 55 (Wichita State), No. 30 (Xavier), No. 157 (Cleveland State), No. 5 (Houston), No. 4 (Kansas), No. 14 (Texas), No. 41 (West Virginia), No. 18 (Texas Tech), No. 2 (Baylor), No. 61 (TCU), No. 15 (Texas) and No. 32 (Iowa State) teams in the country in its past 12 games with No. 30 (Florida) coming up on Saturday.
OSU is set to play just one team outside Kenpom's top-50 over the next four games.
Two weeks ago, Oklahoma State traveled 3,269 miles between Monday and Saturday night following the trip home from Waco. The Cowboys left Monday afternoon for Morgantown and did not return to campus until Saturday night around 9 p.m.

Single Game Records Taken Down And Top Performances So Far

The Cowboys 43-point victory on opening night against UT-Arlington was the largest since the 51-point victory vs. Southeastern Louisiana on 12/29/19.
The Cowboys were able to finish the first half with a 43-14 lead in that game. The 29-point lead matches the 12th largest halftime lead in school history and the largest since 2016.
Oklahoma State logged 11 steals in the first half against Prairie View A&M on 11/14, which tied for the third most in a half in school history and was the most since 11/23/16 vs. Georgetown.
Oklahoma State had six total players score in the double-digits against Charleston on 11/22, which marked the first time this season and the first time since Iowa State in January of 2020.
The Cowboy centers made their impact known in that game on the defensive end as Moussa Cisse recorded a career high in blocks with six and Kalib Boone recorded five of his own. The team as whole totaled 16 blocks, which is the most in all of college basketball this year and tied the school record set in 1989 vs. Oklahoma.
Bryce Williams recorded a career-high in points with his 29 and a career high in three-pointers made with five in the win over Cleveland State on 12/13. Avery Anderson III also posted 29. This marked the first time OSU had two 20-point scorers since Anderson and Cade Cunningham did it against Baylor in the Big 12 tournament last season on March 12, 2021.
Keylan Boone posted a career best in three-point baskets made and points scored in a game in the 64-51 victory over No. 14 Texas on Jan. 8, 2022.
Bryce Thompson recorded a, at the time, career-best 19 points in the win over No. 1 Baylor on 1/15 in Waco. The win was OSU's first over the No. 1 team in the country on the road in program history. The Cowboys were 0-4 on the road against the top-ranked team prior to that win.
OSU recorded eight blocks as a team against TCU on 1/19 - the most for the Cowboys in a Big 12 game this season.

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 7-0 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.

Clutch Cowboys

Oklahoma State was a perfect 4-0 in overtime games last year, started 2-1 this year after the loss to Iowa State on Wednesday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena and has won nine of its last 11 OT games dating back to 2016.
Last year's mark tied for the most overtime games in a season in program history, and the perfect 4-0 record in extra sessions equaled the marks set by the 2006-07, 1982-83 and 1964-65 squads.
Mike Boynton and the Cowboys are 8-2 in OT games during his career.

A Season For The Books

Armed with hoops sensation and Consensus First Team All-American Cade Cunningham, the new era of Oklahoma State basketball announced its presence on the national stage last year.
The Cowboys took down a school record nine ranked squads, advanced to the Big 12 Championship title game for the first time since 2005 and earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
OSU logged its first victory in the Big Dance since 2009 and saw a slew of postseason awards arrive in Stillwater.
OSU ended the year ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press top-25, which is the team's highest spot in the final rankings since 2005.

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 last season.
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).

Streaks and Trends

Wednesday's contest against No. 23 Iowa State was the ninth-straight game OSU has faced a team that was either ranked in the AP's top-25 poll or was receiving votes.
In 10-straight games there has been at least one Cowboy to record three or more steals individually. The streak consists of five different players in Avery Anderson III, Rondel Walker, Bryce Williams, Keylan Boone, and Isaac Likekele.
OSU has made at least one three-pointer in 716 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 13, 2001, which is the 24th longest current streak in college basketball.
Isaac Likekele has recorded a rebound in 112-straight games dating back to his freshman year and has recorded an assist in 53-consecutive games, as well.
OSU has forced at least 10 turnovers 148 times under Mike Boynton. The Cowboys have also completed this feat in every game this season and in 14 of their last 18 they have forced their opponents into 15 or more turnovers.