Cowboys Set To Open Big 12 Play At Kansas On Saturday

Saturday, December 31

Lawrence, KS

1 P.M. CT

Oklahoma State University

Kansas

Image Taken at the Oklahoma State Cowboys vs Tulsa Golden Hurricanes Basketball Game, Friday, November 25, 2022, Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater, OK. Mary Elizabeth/OSU Athletics

Photo by: OSU Athletics

December 29, 2022 | Cowboy Basketball

Watch Listen Follow

Facing Kansas - Here's The Scout

Oklahoma State is set to open conference play Saturday when it travels to face No. 4 Kansas at 1 p.m. CT inside the fabled Allen Fieldhouse. Rich Waltz and Clark Kellogg will have the call on CBS while Cowboy fans can listen to Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb on the Cowboy Radio Network or Varsity App.
Kansas comes into the 182nd meeting between the two schools with an 11-1 record and has won five-straight games. Jalen Wilson has led the way for the Jayhawks, averaging 21.1 points and 9.0 rebounds. Three Jayhawks (Wilson, Grady Dick and Kevin McCullar) have averaged at least 10 points up to this point.
Oklahoma State is 60-121 all-time in the Kansas series, which dates back to 1926. Kansas has won three-straight in the series and hasn't lost in Lawrence since 2018. The Jayhawks won the first seven games between the two schools and owns the longest winning streak in the series after winning 12-straight games between the 1984 and 1988 seasons.
Saturday will mark OSU's first time starting conference play before January 1 since the 2017-18 season. Oklahoma State dropped an 85-79 game to No. 7 West Virginia on Dec. 29. This will also be the second-straight year the Cowboys have opened Big 12 play against Kansas.
The game will serve as the first New Year's Eve game for the Cowboys since the 2012-13 season. Oklahoma State lost a 69-69 contest to No. 10 Gonzaga in Gallagher-Iba Arena. OSU is 6-3 all-time in New Year's Eve games since 1907.

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 12 games with five double-doubles to his name so far. The five double-doubles are the second most in the Big 12, only behind Jalen Wilson of Kansas with six. Cisse is four double-doubles away from becoming the first Cowboy since Bryant "Big Country" Reeves to post 10 or more in a season.
After the Wichita State result, Oklahoma State has now held at least one opponent to less than 50 points in a game in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2016.
There have been 17 seasons since the 2000-01 year that OSU had at least one game holding an opponent to less than 50 points while the program has done so in back-to-back seasons 13 times during the stretch.
Cisse is one of just 14 players in the country averaging at least 10 rebounds per game through the completion of Wednesday's action.
OSU has found its stride on the offensive side of the ball over the past five games. The Cowboys have shot .434 from the field and .365 from behind the arc on their way to a 3-2 record. Avery Anderson III has notably gone 17-for-17 at the free throw line.
Coming into conference play Anderson has posted a Big 12-best .907 free throw percentage.
Over the past five games, Cisse has recorded 10 blocks. The five Cowboy opponents have had just 11 all together.
Thanks to Cisse and Kalib Boone, OSU comes into Big 12 play at the only school with two players in the top-8 for blocked shots.

The Upcoming Schedule

Saturday will be the third time in the past four years the Cowboys have opened conference play against a ranked foe.
Each of OSU's next three opponents are ranked inside the AP Poll while seven of the next eight are ranked or receiving votes.
Oklahoma State has a quick turnaround to open Big 12 play, as it gets set to play host to No. 24 West Virginia on Monday night. The series, which dates back to 1958, is tied at 11 as the Cowboys have won three of the past four.
From there, OSU will welcome No. 6 Texas to GIA before hitting the road to face Kansas State and No. 12 Baylor.

The Defense Lately

Has not allowed 30 points in eight of the past 14 halves of action and hasn't let opponents reach that mark in 20 of the past 32 dating back to last season.
Has held teams to 60 or less points in five of the past seven games and hasn't allowed a team to score 61 or more in eight of their past 14 games dating back to last year.
Has held teams to less than 40 percent shooting from the field in 14-straight games dating back to last year and has done so in 18 of their past 21 games. To expand, only three teams (SIU, DePaul and Virginia Tech) have shot 38 percent this season against the Cowboys. Behind the arc, eight of OSU's 12 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 (19), Moussa Cisse would still have the most blocks in the Big 12 as of Dec. 19. He has recorded at least one block in each of his past 22 games. There have been just three games in his Oklahoma State career in which he did not record at least one block. In his home game against Sam Houston earlier this season, 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 six home games this season, Cisse is averaging a block approximately every 9 minutes of his playing time in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
As of Thursday, he checked in at No. 6 in KenPom's block percentage rankings only behind Milwaukee's Ahmad Rand, Cal Baptist's Tim Ighoefe, Western Kentucky's Jamarion Sharp, San Jose St. Ibrahimo Diallo and Liam Robbins of Vanderbilt.
In his last four home games, Cisse has combined to post 43 points, 12 blocks and 46 rebounds.
It's been tough to keep him off the boards this year, as he has posted 10 or more rebounds in five of his past six games and has reached the mark in nine of his first 12 games.

Moussa Got Better Last Season - And Here's The Numbers To Show It

Based on his first 15 games in Stillwater last season, in comparison to the final 15 of last year, the evidence shows Moussa Cisse got better as the year went along and was playing his best basketball at the end of the season.
Through his first 15 contests as a Cowboys, Cisse was shooting 49.2 percent from the field while averaging 5.4 rebounds, 6.4 points and was playing 17.5 minutes per game.
Flip it to the last 15 games, and Cisse shot 61.5 percent from the field while averaging 7.5 rebounds with 8.1 points and was playing 22.4 minutes per game.
Just looking at the last 10 games of the season, he recorded a double-double in three contests (West Virginia, Baylor and Oklahoma) and had multi-digit rebounds in six of them, including all of the final four.
In that stretch of games down the stretch, the numbers immediately jump out from the West Virginia win on Feb. 12. Cisse posted 18 points with 10 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive side of the ball.

The 100 Games Played Club Is Gaining Two More

Oklahoma State's Avery Anderson III and Kalib Boone are both set to play their 100th game in a Cowboy uniform on Saturday against Kansas in the Big 12 opener for the Cowboys. The pair will become 45th and 46th players in program history to reach the mark. They will be the first two players on the current roster to play 100 college basketball games.
Other notable members of the club include Darwyn Alexander, Joe Adkins, James Anderson, Markel Brown, Terry Collins, JamesOn Curry, Byron Eaton, Marcus Dove, Phil Forte, Isaac Likekele, Desmond Mason, Ivan McFarlin, Marshall Moses, Keiton Page and more.
Anderson III's first game came on Nov. 6, 2019, in an 80-75 win against Oral Roberts in Gallagher-Iba Arena. He played 13 minutes with five points, two steals and an assist.
Kalib Boone's first game was the same night. He played 10 minutes, bringing in four rebounds and recorded two blocks.

The Winning Formula This Year

In its eight wins this season, Oklahoma State has three players (Avery Anderson III, Bryce Thompson and John-Michael Wright) averaging at least 11 points per game.
The Cowboys have shot 35.9 percent from behind the arc in their victories while allowing their opponents an average of just 59.1 points per game.
For comparison, in the four losses just two players (Anderson and Kalib Boone) have averaged at least 10 points or more while OSU has shot 23.9 percent from three. Opponents have still averaged just 66.3 points per game in the Cowboy losses.
Sharing the ball, alongside sharing the scoring, has been key as well. OSU has averaged 16.0 assists per game in wins while averaging 10.5 in losses.
Turnovers have been another winning indicator as the Cowboys have averaged 14.4 in wins while forcing an average of 14.4 in contrast to an average of 16.5 in losses while opponents are averaging 12.0.