Oklahoma State University Athletics

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OSU Starting Road Trip On Tuesday
January 09, 2022 | Cowboy Basketball
Facing (RV) West Virginia - Here's The Scout
- Oklahoma State is set to continue Big 12 play when it hits the road for three-straight games in a five-day span starting on Tuesday night against West Virginia at 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU. Rich Hollenberg and Chris Spatola will be on the call.
- OSU won the last game in Morgantown as Avery Anderson III scored a career-high 31 points to lead No. 17 Oklahoma State to a victory over No. 6 West Virginia in the Big 12 regular-season finale. Missing two starters (Cade Cunningham and Isaac Likekele), the Cowboys shot 58 percent from the floor to earn the win.
- West Virginia comes into the game fresh off a Saturday win over Kansas State.
- WVU is under the direction of Bob Huggins, who has directed his alma mater to 310 victories, the 2010 NCAA Final Four, the 2010 Big East Championship and 12 postseason appearances, including 10 NCAA Tournaments (five NCAA Sweet 16s), during his 14 seasons in Morgantown.
- Oklahoma State earned its first ranked win, and conference victory, Saturday afternoon 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.
- Only one team (No. 4 Gonzaga) has scored more in a game against the Longhorns this season than OSU.
- 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.
- Oklahoma State improved to 8-5 with its 64-51 win over No. 14 Texas Saturday afternoon in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
- In those eight wins, OSU has dominated on the defensive side. It has held its foes to 38.2 percent from the field while forcing 19.6 turnovers per game. Along with the turnovers, it has recorded 7.3 blocks per game in the victories, as well as 11.3 steals.
- For comparison, in the five losses teams are shooting 41.7 percent and turning the ball over 17.2 times per game while OSU has recorded 4.0 blocks per contest.
- It's been Bryce Williams, Avery Anderson III and Kalib Boone leading the charge in the eight wins as the trio has averaged 13.0, 11.5 and 10.8 points per game, respectively. On the boards it has been Moussa Cisse, as he's averaged 5.6 rebounds in those contests.
- 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) and No. 14 (Texas) teams in the country in its past six games with No. 41 West Virginia, No. 18 Texas Tech and No. 1 Baylor all on the road in the same week.
- Oklahoma State is set to play six teams inside the Kenpom top-50 rankings over the course of its next seven games.
- Speaking of that week, Oklahoma State is set to travel 3,269 miles between Monday and Saturday night following the trip home from Waco. The Cowboys will leave Monday afternoon and not return to campus until Saturday night.
- For reference, Stillwater to Toronto (home of Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe is just a 1,307-mile trip while a nice cruise from Stillwater to Anchorage, Alaska is just 552 miles farther.
- Oklahoma State has allowed just five of its 13 foes to score more than 70 points in a game and has delivered the 20th-best adjusted defensive efficiency, according to Kenpom.
- A big point of that has been turnovers. OSU has forced a turnover on 25.5 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 16.9 percent of their possessions, the ninth-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 43.5 percent from inside the arc, the 16th-lowest percentage in the country according to Kenpom.
- 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.
- 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 and 1.8 rebounds per game.
- Oklahoma State was a perfect 4-0 in overtime games last year, started 2-0 this year after the win over Cleveland State and has won nine of its last 10 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 8-1 in OT games during his career.
- Be OSU's third-straight victory over West Virginia, its second-longest streak in the series after the Cowboys won four-straight contests between 2013-14.
- Be Oklahoma State's second-straight in Morgantown.
- Be the Cowboys' fifth win in their last six trips to Morgantown.
- OSU has forced at least 10 turnovers 143 times under Mike Boynton.
- OSU has made at least one three-pointer in 710 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 13, 2001, which is the 24th longest current streak in college basketball.
- Head Coach Mike Boynton went with his sixth different starting lineup on Saturday in the season's 13 games as he started Isaac Likekele, Avery Anderson III, Bryce Williams, Bryce Thompson, and Moussa Cisse vs. No. 14 Texas.
Players Mentioned
Oklahoma State Football Weekly News Conference (10-6-2025)
Tuesday, October 07
Inside Oklahoma State Athletics: Arizona Game Preview with Doug Meacham
Friday, October 03
Doug Meacham Previews Cowboys vs. Arizona - Oklahoma State News Conference (9-29-2025)
Tuesday, September 30
Jacie Hoyt Preseason Media Availability (9-29-2025)
Monday, September 29