Cowboys Set For Big Monday In GIA Against Baylor

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 Baylor - Here's The Scout

Oklahoma State is set to close out its two-game home stand with a Big Monday game against No. 7 Baylor in GIA at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Jon Sciambi, Fran Fraschilla & Kris Budden will be on the call.
In the first meeting between the two, Bryce Thompson scored the game's final six points and finished with 19 as Oklahoma State beat No. 1 Baylor 61-54, giving the Bears consecutive home losses for the first time in nearly six years.
Thompson made two throws with 26 seconds left, then Bears guard Adam Flagler had turnovers on consecutive possessions — losing the ball out of bounds on a drive to the basket, then a bad pass. Thompson was fouled making the steal, then made two more free throws before a game-capping breakaway dunk after Baylor missed its last shot.

The Conference 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 at the time.
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 program history.
The Cowboys earned Big 12 win No. 3 over TCU, 57-56, as Oklahoma State forced TCU into 22 turnovers, the most turnovers for a Cowboy opponent in a Big 12 game this season.
Win No. 4 came thanks to a 64-55 win over Oklahoma. The Pokes had 41 points from Oklahoma natives in the in-state victory as they held OU to its lowest scoring outing in the series since 2004 when OSU won 65-52 in Norman to sweep the season series that year for the first time since the 1998 squad.
Win No. 5 came thanks to an 81-58 victory over West Virginia as the Cowboys out-rebounded WVU by 24 on their way to their largest margin of victory in the series.
Victory No. 6 came thanks to an 82-79 overtime win over Kansas State this past Saturday as OSU's last three made shots in the overtime period came behind the arc. OSU hit five shots in overtime, four were three-point baskets as the Cowboys finished the game with nine threes after making just two of their first seven in the first half.
In those six wins, OSU has outscored its foes by 35 in the second half and held them to just a 34.9 shooting percentage from the field.
The defense has caused all sorts of issues in those six games, forcing 6.8 steals per win with 5.3 blocks. To add to their success, the defensive units have held the six teams to 31.1 percent from behind the arc.
A common theme? Just one of the six Big 12 foes OSU has taken down has scored 60 points. Three have scored 55 or less.
Individually it's been Bryce Thompson taking on the scoring effort as he's averaged 13.2 points.

The Last 5

Avery Anderson III and Bryce Thompson have led the scoring effort over the past five games as Anderson has posted 14.8 points per game while Thompson has averaged 12.4.
On the boards it has been Moussa Cisse leading the charge with 7.2 per game.
Anderson has been a problem on the defensive side of the ball for opposing teams as he has recorded six steals during the five games.
During the stretch in which OSU has posted a 3-2 record, finishes haven't been the issue. OSU has outscored its five foes 184-162 in the second half (+22). The Cowboys have struggled at times in the first half, where they have been outscored 170-162 (-8) during the first 20 minutes of action.

Through 26 - Coming Down The Home Stretch

Oklahoma State moved to 13-13 on Saturday with its overtime win over Kansas State in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
OSU finds itself in the middle of its final eight games, a stretch in which it has famously shined under head coach Mike Boynton. The Cowboys finished last season 6-2 in the final eight games with wins over ranked teams such as Texas Tech, Oklahoma (in Norman and Stillwater) and West Virginia (on the road).
The same stretch in 2020? OSU went 6-2 with notable wins over Texas Tech, OU and Texas.

Defense First - Because It Wins Games

Oklahoma State has allowed just 12 of its 26 foes to score more than 70 points in a game and has delivered the 18th-best adjusted defensive efficiency, according to Kenpom.
A big point of that has been turnovers. OSU has forced a turnover on 22.9 percent of defensive possessions, which comes in at 21st-best in the country. If teams haven't turned the ball over first, they're also getting blocked on 14.9 percent of their possessions, the 12th-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 44.3 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 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), No. 32 (Iowa State) and No. 47 (Oklahoma) teams in the country during one singular stretch this year.
OSU is set to finish the year against eight teams inside the top-60, according to KenPom.
A month 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 and later against OU on 2/5 - the most for the Cowboys in a Big 12 game this season.
Moussa Cisse scored a career-high 18 points on 2/12 in OSU's 81-58 win over West Virginia.
It was a career day for a few cowboys on 2/19 in the win over Kansas State. Bryce Thompson scored a career-high 23 points to break his previous high of 22, which came in Manhattan earlier in the year against the Wildcats.
Woody Newton also shined with a career-best nine points off the bench to help the scoring effort while Bryce Williams posted a career-best eight assists.
Oklahoma State notably shot 52 percent from the field in that win, which marked the highest field goal percentage for the Cowboys in Big 12 play.

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 3-1 this year after the win over Kansas State on Saturday in Gallagher-Iba Arena and has won 10 of its last 12 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 9-2 in OT games during his career.

ICE X 4 = 1K

With four games left in his fourth year as a Cowboy, senior Isaac Likekele is just 12 points away from reaching 1,000 career points.
In doing so, he would become just the 44th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark and the first to do so since Lindy Waters III and Cameron McGriff in 2020.
Likekele needs to average 3.0 points over the next four games to reach the mark.
Some of the notable 1,000-point scorers in program history include Byron Houston (leading scorer in OSU history with 2,379 career points), Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, Desmond Mason, Bob Kurland, Phil Forte, Randy Rutherford, Ivan McFarlin, Keiton Page, Byron Eaton, John Lucas and current Boston Celtic Marcus Smart.

Big Monday Cowboys

OSU's next game against Baylor will be OSU's 53rd Big Monday contest as the Cowboys hold a 22-30 record all-time in the contest.
OSU went 2-2 in Big Monday games last season with wins over Oklahoma and Texas Tech after going 0-3 the year before.
The Cowboys are 2-6 under head coach Mike Boynton in the Big Monday contest.
Oklahoma State dropped its first Big Monday game of the year this week at Kansas.

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.

An Oklahoma State Win Would...

Improve the Cowboys to 14-13 heading into their final three games of the year.
Give OSU a sweep of the defending national champions.
Be Oklahoma State's first sweep in the series since 2015.
Earn the Cowboys a sweep (two games in the regular season) of the defending NCAA national champion the following year for the first time in program history.
Give OSU at least seven conference wins for the third-straight year, the longest stretch since 2015. That would make four out of five years having done so under Mike Boynton.

Streaks and Trends

OSU has made at least one three-pointer in 723 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 119-straight games dating back to his freshman year.
Avery Anderson III has reached double figures in scoring four-straight games after the Kansas State game on Saturday, which marked a season high for consecutive games with 10 or more points for him.

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Players Mentioned

Avery Anderson III

Kalib Boone

Keylan Boone

Moussa Cisse

Cade Cunningham

Isaac Likekele

Woody Newton

Tyreek Smith

Bryce Thompson

Bryce Williams

Oklahoma State University Athletics