Cowboys Set For Road Trip To Wichita

Saturday, December 17

Wichita, KS

8 P.M. CT

Oklahoma State University

Wichita State

Image Taken at the Oklahoma State Cowboys at UConn Huskies for Big 12 Big East Battle, Thursday, December 1, 2022, Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, CT. Mary Elizabeth/OSU Athletics

Photo by: OSU Athletics

December 16, 2022 | Cowboy Basketball

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Facing Wichita State - Here's The Scout

Oklahoma State will hit the road for its final game of a two-game road trip when it travels to face Wichita State on Saturday night at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita. Tip is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU with Chuckie Kempf and King McClure on the call. On the radio side, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the call on the Cowboy Radio Network and the Varsity Network app.
Wichita State comes into the game with a 6-4 record, led by Craig Porter Jr. who enters the weekend averaging 13.7 points per game with 4.4 assists.
The Shockers have earned notable wins this season at Richmond and Grand Canyon with home victories against Longwood and Tarleton State. They've won two-straight games coming into the weekend and have scored 80 or more points four times and 70 or more points six of their first 10 games.
The Cowboys are 31-11 all-time in the series against Wichita State. The two have played three-straight years and five times since 2016 in a series that dates back to 1934. Oklahoma State owns a 16-5 record on the road in the series.
Prior to the 2016 meeting, the two schools had not met since 2002 (which was the end of a streak of four-straight seasons facing off).

The New Sheriffs In Town

John-Michael Wright, a High Point transfer, brings experience and poise to the Oklahoma State locker room. In the 2021-22 season, his junior year of eligibility, he played and started in all 32 games for High Point while averaging 34.9 minutes per contest. He shot .410 from the field and .363 from behind the arc as he averaged 18.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
He finished the year with the eighth-best assist-turnover ratio in the Big South, the ninth-best field goal percentage, had the second-most free throw attempts (third-most made), led the conference in scoring average and had the eighth-most assists.
Alongside Wright from the transfer ranks is Caleb Asberry from Texas State. He started all 29 games during the 2021-22 season, the only Bobcat to do that, as he led the team in scoring with a career-high 13.6 points and also paced the team in minutes played (847), steals (37), three-pointers made (63).
Asberry was notably a two-time All-Sun Belt (2021: Third Team, 2022: First Team) selection.
The lone freshman of the group, Quion Williams, joins the Cowboys from Jonesboro. During his high school career, Williams helped lead his team to two state championships and a 30-3 record.

Early Season Quick Hitters

Moussa Cisse has dominated through 10 games with four double-doubles to his name so far. The four double-doubles are the second most in the Big 12, only behind Jalen Wilson of Kansas with six.
As of Friday morning, Cisse has the most blocked shots in the conference with 31. When you combine the total number of blocks from the No. 2 and No. 3 players in the block standings, you get a total of 27 blocks so far. It's not until you include the No. 4 player in the standings that you get enough to out rank Cisse (39).
Along those lines, Oklahoma State has the league's best field goal percentage defense at 36.4, the fourth-best three-point field goal defense at 28.8, the best rebounding margin (+7.60) and the most blocked shots at 56. The 56 blocked shots are 12 more than the next closest team (TCU) and more combined blocked shots than West Virginia and Iowa State have combined (No. 9 and No. 10 teams in blocked shot standings).
Avery Anderson III is one of three Big 12 players to make at least 10 free throws in a game this season after doing so against UCF on Nov. 18.
Moussa Cisse holds the conference high mark for rebounds in a game this season (15, vs. Southern Illinois) and the second most (14, vs. UCF).
He also holds the Big 12 high mark for blocked shots in a game with six against UCF on Nov. 18.
As a team, OSU holds the second-best free throw percentage mark for a game this season after it went 9-for-10 against Oakland on Nov. 13.
The Cowboys have shot the ball well from the free throw line this season through 10 games, as they have the fourth-best free throw percentage in the Big 12 thus far.

First 10 This Year... Versus The First 10 Last Year

Through the first 10 games of the year last season, Avery Anderson III led the way with 12.9 points while Bryce Williams was just behind at 11.4. Kalib Boone was averaging 9.5 points while Bryce Thompson had 9.4 points per game.
This season, Anderson is still leading the way at 12.8 points while Bryce Thompson is just behind at 10.6. Kalib Boone has averaged 10.1 points per game.
This time last year, Moussa Cisse had posted 20 blocks in comparison to this season's 31 through the first 10 games. Anderson had 22 steals while this season he has posted 21.
In the rebounding category, Cisse was averaging 5.7 rebounds through the first 10 games last year while this season's first 10 contests he's averaging 10.4 rebounds.
As a team, OSU was holding teams to 65.9 points per game in the first 10 last season while this season the Cowboys have held foes to 63.1 points per game thus far.

The Defense Lately

Has not allowed 30 points in six of the past 10 halves of action and hasn't let opponents reach that mark in 17 of the past 28 dating back to last season.
Has held teams to 60 or less points in three of the past five games and hasn't allowed a team to score 61 or more in six of their past 12 games dating back to last year.
Has held teams to less than 40 percent shooting from the field in 12-straight games dating back to last year and has done so in 16 of their past 19 games. To expand, only three teams (SIU, DePaul and Virginia Tech) have shot 38 percent this season against the Cowboys. Behind the arc, six of OSU's 10 foes have shot less than 30 percent this year.
Has started its success early in its 10 contests as it has held teams to less than 10 points in the first 10 minutes of a game three times this season.

Moussa Is A Monster

If you only counted his blocks at home (18), Moussa Cisse would still have the most blocks in the Big 12 as of Dec. 15. He has recorded at least one block in each of his past 20 games. There have been just three games in his Oklahoma State career in which he did not record at least one block. In his last home game against Sam Houston last Tuesday night, he recorded four blocks. It marked the fourth time this season he recorded four or more blocks and was the eighth time he posted two or more in a game this year.
Through the first five home games this season, Cisse is averaging a block approximately every 7 minutes of his playing time in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
As of Thursday, he checked in at No. 5 in KenPom's block percentage rankings only behind Western Kentucky's Jamarion Sharp, Milwaukee's Ahmad Rand, Cal Baptist's Tim Ighoefe and Auburn's Dylan Cardwell.
In his last three home games, Cisse has combined to post 31 points, 11 blocks and 32 rebounds.
It's been tough to keep him off the boards this year, as he has posted 10 or more rebounds in three of his past four games and has reached the mark in seven of his first 10 games.

An Oklahoma State Win Would...

Improve the Cowboys to 32-11 all-time in the Wichita State series.
Be Oklahoma State's 17th win on the road in the series.
Be OSU's second victory in the past four meetings in the series.

Streaks and Trends Coming

OSU has made at least one three-pointer in 737 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 13, 2001.
The Cowboys have posted ten or more assists in 19 of their past 22 games dating back to last season.
OSU has held teams to less than 40 percent shooting from the field in 12-straight games dating back to last year and has done so in 17 of its past 19 games.
The Cowboys have taken advantage of their size in the frontcourt, reaching at least ten offensive rebounds in nine of ten games this season.
That size has also given the Cowboys an edge in the paint offensively, outscoring nine-straight opponents in the paint.
Moussa Cisse has now recorded at least one block in each of his past 20 games. There have been just three games in his Oklahoma State career in which he did not record at least one block.
Cisse has reached at least two blocks in 12 of the past 14 games dating back to last season, tallying 42 total in those 14 games.
As a team, the Cowboys have reached at least three blocks in all ten games this season. OSU leads the Big 12 with 5.6 blocked shots per game.
Avery Anderson III has made a name for himself with his hounding on-ball defense. The senior guard has recorded at least two steals in seven of the Cowboys first ten games, and nine of the past 12 games dating back to last season.
The Cowboys have made 10 or more free throws in seven of the first ten games this season after doing so in 18 of their 30 games last season.