Cowboys Set To Hit The Road For Baylor

Facing Baylor - Here's The Scout

Oklahoma State men's basketball is set to hit the road for the second of a pair of Big 12 road games on Saturday in Waco when it faces Baylor, a team that just missed out on being ranked in the last AP Top-25 Poll. Tip is set for 5 p.m. CT on ESPN2 with Mark Neely and Chris Spatola on the call while Cowboy fans can listen to Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb on the Cowboy Radio Network or Varsity App.
Oklahoma State leads the all-time series, 57-34, in a series that dates back to 1918. OSU has found great success at home, while the Bears hold an 18-21 advantage at home. Baylor has won seven of the past 10 meetings between the two programs while OSU has won two of the past three. The Cowboys have also been victorious in two of the past four meetings in Waco.
Jalen Bridges recorded his third-career double-double on Wednesday night to help the Bears snap a three-game losing streak with an 83-78 win over West Virginia. Baylor is led by Keyonte George (17.8 PPG), Adam Flagler (16.9 PPG) and LJ Cryce (13.8 PPG).
Head coach Scott Drew led Baylor to its first National Championship and the first Big 12 title in school history. Entering his 20th season in 2022-23, Drew is tied as the Big 12's longest-tenured head coach and has notched a school-record 397 victories in his first 19 years, including a 28-10 postseason record since 2009. Over the past 15 seasons, Drew has led Baylor to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, five Sweet 16 berths, three trips to the Elite Eight, the 2021 National Championship, the program's first No. 1 national ranking in 2017, a Big 12 Conference-record 23-game winning streak in 2019-20, a five-week streak at No. 1 in 2020, and an entire season ranked in the nation's top-3 in 2021 and another five-week streak at No. 1 in 2022.

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.

Mid-Season Quick Hitters

Moussa Cisse has dominated through 16 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 seven. 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.
Oklahoma State's 12 blocks against Texas on Jan. 7 were the second most in a Big 12 game this season. Kalib Boone's six in that game, and Cisse's six against UCF on Nov. 18 are tied alongside Daniel Batcho of Texas for the most this season for Big 12 players.
Cisse's 15 rebounds against Southern Illinois on Nov. 10 are the most rebounds of any Big 12 player so far this season.
Bryce Thompson's seven three-pointers at Kansas on Nov. 31 are tied for the second most of any Big 12 players this year.
Dating back to last season, OSU has allowed Big 12 opponents to score an average of just 62 points per game over its past 11 conference contests, the fewest in the league during that stretch. Iowa State is the next closest at 64.1.
OSU hasn't allowed a Big 12 team to score more than 69 points in eight-straight conference games dating back to last season. Iowa State has the next closest active streak of holding conference opponents to less than 70 points with four consecutive games.
In its past five Big 12 games, OSU has held two teams to less than 60 points – the most in the conference during that stretch.
Boone has scored 10 or more points in three-straight games, the first time he has done so since 11/26/21 (NC State, College of Charleston and Oral Roberts). It's the first time since 3/6/21 (Oklahoma, Baylor and West Virginia) that he's had three-straight Big 12 games with 10 or more points.

The Defense Lately

Has not allowed 30 points in 10 of the past 22 halves of action and hasn't let opponents reach that mark in 22 of the past 40 dating back to last season.
Has held teams to 60 or less points in seven of the past 11 games and hasn't allowed a team to score 61 or more in 10 of their past 18 games dating back to last year.
Has held teams to less than 40 percent shooting from the field in 17 of its past 18 games dating back to last year and has done so in 21 of their past 25 games. To expand, only four teams (SIU, DePaul, Virginia Tech and Kansas) have shot 38 percent or better this season against the Cowboys. Behind the arc, 10 of OSU's 16 foes have shot less than 30 percent this year.
Has started its success early in its 16 contests as it has held teams to less than 10 points in the first 10 minutes of a game four times this season.

The 100 Games Played Club Gained Two More

Oklahoma State's Avery Anderson III and Kalib Boone both played in their 100th game in a Cowboy uniform against Kansas in the Big 12 opener for the Cowboys. In doing so, they became the first two players on the current roster to play 100 college basketball games. John-Michael Wright, who transferred in, played his 100th basketball game against West Virginia.
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 nine 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 35.5 percent from behind the arc in their victories while allowing their opponents an average of just 59.2 points per game.
For comparison, in the seven losses just one player, Kalib Boone, has averaged at least 10 points or more while OSU has shot 28.7 percent from three. Opponents have still averaged just 65.0 points per game in the Cowboy losses.
Sharing the ball, alongside sharing the scoring, has been key as well. OSU has averaged 15.1 assists per game in wins while averaging 10.9 in losses.
Turnovers have been another winning indicator as the Cowboys have averaged 14.3 in wins while forcing an average of 14.4 in contrast to an average of 16.1 in losses while opponents are averaging 12.9.
The Upcoming Schedule
Once again proving to be the toughest conference in America, OSU's upcoming schedule gets no easier as it prepares to travel to Baylor on Saturday. It will be the fifth-straight team the Cowboys have face that are either ranked or receiving votes.
From there, OSU will return home for a pair of games, starting with the Phillips 66 Bedlam Series against in-state rival Oklahoma on Jan. 18 before playing host to No. 14 Iowa State on Jan. 21.
After the two home games, OSU is set to hit the road again to close out its first season series when it travels to Austin to face No. 10 Texas. The Longhorns won the first meeting in Stillwater, 56-46.

Big 12 Notes Four Games In

Through four Big 12 games, Kalib Boone is 19th in the conference in scoring and ninth in rebounds. He's also shot the ball well, as he's posted the second-best field goal percentage thus far.
Behind the arc, Bryce Thompson has recorded the fifth-best three-point field goal percentage around the league through four games and has the seventh-most made three pointers. John-Michael Wright is just behind, with the ninth most. Caleb Asberry checks in at No. 13, thus far.
On the defensive side of the ball, Boone has recorded the second-most blocked shots in league play and is tied alongside teammate Tyreek Smith. Asberry checks in at No. 14.
As a team, OSU has posted the best field goal percentage defense in the conference thus far through the first four Big 12 games of the season at 37.6 percent. Oklahoma is the next closest at 40.0.
The Cowboys have the most blocked shots, 26, just ahead of TCU in second with 22, without its best shot blocker playing the past two games.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Avery Anderson III

Caleb Asberry

Kalib Boone

Moussa Cisse

Isaac Likekele

Tyreek Smith

Bryce Thompson

Quion Williams

John-Michael Wright

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