Game Notes: Legends Classic vs. St. Bonaventure

Oklahoma State (1-1) vs. St. Bonaventure (1-1)
Legends Classic | Semifinals
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023 | 5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. ET)
Brooklyn, N.Y. | Barclays Center

Winner faces Auburn/Notre Dame winner Friday, 6 p.m. CT (ESPN2)
Loser faces Auburn/ND loser Friday, 3:30 p.m. CT (ESPNU)

TV: ESPNU (Dave O'Brien & Jon Crispin)
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Internet Radio: okstate.com/listen & The Varsity Sports App
Tournament Central: LegendsClassic.com
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: First Meeting

The Basics:

Oklahoma State is one of four teams competing this week's Vivid Seats Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Cowboys will take on St. Bonaventure in Thursday's first semifinal game (5:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. ET) followed by Auburn and Notre Dame in the nightcap.
The winners advance to Friday's 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) championship game while the losers square off for third place at 3:30 p.m. CT (4:30 p.m. ET).
For the latest tournament information, including tickets, brackets, rosters and stats, visit legendsclassic.com.

Watch:
Thursday's OSU-St. Bonaventure game will air on ESPNU with Dave O'Brien and Jon Crispin. Fans with ESPNU in their television package can stream the game live or on demand via the ESPN app.

Listen:
Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb describe the action across the Cowboy Radio Network. Visit okstate.com/radio for a full list of network affiliates. Fans outside the listening area can tune in via the Varsity Sports App or at okstate.com/listen.

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Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023 (Stillwater) -- OSU 85, Sam Houston 70

OSU matched a school record with 17 three-pointers in a rout of Sam Houston.
After making just 5-of-23 from deep in a season-opening loss to Abilene Christian, the Cowboys connected on 17-of-33 (.515) to equal the program mark, set Feb. 27, 2019 at Texas Tech.
Bryce Thompson nailed 4-of-5 attempts on his way to a game-high 17 points.
Javon Small – who was unavailable for the opener due to injury – bagged 4-of-7 in his OSU debut. The ECU transfer also handed out five assists with just one turnover.
John-Michael Wright (14 points) made 3-of-7 on his way to 14 points, including the record-tying triple with 90 seconds to play.
OSU closed the game by making nine of its last 11 attempts to stretch an eight-point halftime lead to as many as 19.
The Cowboys recorded 19 assists with just nine turnovers and limited to the Bearkats to 37.7% shooting.

OSU in NYC:

OSU has been a regular at Barclays Arena – home of the NBA's Nets -- under Brooklyn native Mike Boynton Jr. Past Cowboy teams took part in the 2017 Legends Classic, the 2019 NIT Season Tipoff and the 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational.
Some of the biggest wins in OSU history have come in the New York City area. The Cowboys won back-to-back national title games at Madison Square Garden in 1945 and 1946 and punched their 1995 and 2004 Final Four tickets with wins at the Meadowlands.

Happy Homecoming:

Mike Boynton Jr. is a member of the athletics hall of fame at Brooklyn's Bishop Loughlin High School. As a senior he earned first team All-New York City status after leading his team to a 24-4 record and the city semifinals.
Assistant James Barrett is also from Brooklyn and was freshman at Bishop Loughlin during Boynton's senior year. He eventually transferred to Abraham Lincoln High where he won a state title in 2003 while playing alongside future lottery pick Sebastian Telfair.
Associate Head Coach Terrence Rencher grew up in the Bronx and led St. Raymonds to a city championship in 1991 while being named Mr. New York Basketball.
Video coordinator Kris Quintana (Staten Island) and director of player development Nelson Hernandez (Brooklyn) also have local ties.

Tourney Time:

OSU teams have won 27 regular season tournament titles since 1936 – the last two under coach Mike Boynton Jr. at the 2019 NIT Season Tipoff (played at Brooklyn's Barclays Center) and the 2021 Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase in Uncasville, Conn.
This will event No. 103 for OSU in that span. Excluding campus site preliminary round matchups, Cowboy teams are a combined 162-103 in bracketed play, including 8-3 in the Boynton Era.
Other recent OSU titles in the MTE era (2006-pr.) include the 2006 South Padre Island Invitational (where the Cowboys defeated Auburn in the semifinal round and Barry Hinson's Missouri State Bears in the final), the 2009 Las Vegas Invitational, the 2012 Puerto Rico Tipoff and the 2014 Main Event in Las Vegas.

Scouting St. Bonaventure:

This will be OSU's first-ever meeting with St. Bonaventure, a perennial Atlantic 10 contender under head coach Mark Schmidt. The Bonnies are picked third out of 15 teams in the league's preseason poll.
St. Bonaventure secured the A-10 title and an NCAA tournament berth in 2021 and advanced to the 2022 NIT semifinals.
The Bonnies (14-18, 8-10 last year) spent the 2022-23 season in rebuilding mode but now reap the benefits with all five starters back, including preseason all-conference selections Daryl Banks III (15.4 ppg, 3rd Team All-A10) and Chad Venning (12.7 ppg), along with some additional help from the transfer portal.
Charles Pride – a 1,500-point scorer in four seasons at Bryant – has been the Bonnies' top scorer (18.5) and rebounder (8.0) through two games.
Former Cincinnati guard Mika Adams-Woods (10.5 ppg) is averaging team-best 3.5 assists.
St. Bonaventure opened with a 73-69 home win over Longwood but fell 70-67 to Canisius on Sunday.
The Bonnies are the only team in the field that hasn't appeared in a Legends Classic but are plenty familiar with the Barclays Center, which serves as a regular host of the A-10 tournament.

Matchup Mashup:
OSU's John-Michael Wright and St. Bonaventure's Charles Pride are two of 16 active players who have scored 1,500 points and grabbed 500 rebounds at the Division I level.

Scouting Auburn:

Auburn (21-13) reached the second round of last year's NCAA tournament as a No. 9 seed.
The Tigers (2-1) are receiving votes in this week's AP and Coaches Polls. They bounced back from an 88-82 neutral court loss to 15th-ranked Baylor with an 86-71 victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Friday.
6-10 junior Johni Broome -- a preseason first team All-SEC selection -- comes in averaging 14.3 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Aden Holloway was the SEC's Freshman of the Week after averaging 15.0 points in his first two collegiate games.

The Series with Auburn:

Auburn is the only team in the field that OSU has faced. The schools have split four meetings all-time.
The Cowboys have won the last two meetings. The most-recent (a 74-63 OSU victory in Auburn) came during the 2015-16 season as part of the Big 12-SEC Challenge.
OSU's 2006 South Padre Island Invitational title run included a 66-65 semifinal win over the Tigers.
Auburn won a second-round clash in the 1999 NCAA tournament and defeated the Cowboys in the championship game of the 1977 Marshall Invitational.

Matchup Mashup:

Former Cowboy Corey Williams is in his first season as an Auburn assistant. He played for the Cowboys from 1988-92. After a short NBA career he joined Scott Sutton's ORU staff from 2000-07 and later became head coach at Stetson (2013-19). He was an assistant at Texas Tech from 2021-23.
Auburn freshman guard Aden Holloway and OSU freshman center Brandon Garrison both played in the 2023 McDonald's All-American game. Garrison suited up for the West and Holloway was on the East roster.

Scouting Notre Dame:

Notre Dame is seeking its second Legends Classic title after winning in 2016.
Micah Shrewsberry, the architect behind Penn State's basketball renaissance, is in his first season at Notre Dame, replacing longtime head coach Mike Brey who stepped aside last spring after 23 years.
Shrewsberry must replace all five starters and 97.6% of the minutes from last year's team, which finished 11-21 (3-17 ACC).
The Irish (1-1 this year) rallied from a 12-point deficit to defeat Niagara in their season opener and nearly pulled off another comeback on Sunday against Western Carolina, cutting a 17-point margin to three late in the second half before falling, 71-61.
Notre Dame's top two scorers are true freshmen.
Point guard Markus Burton, Indiana's 2023 Mr. Basketball, broke Laphonso Ellis' program record for most points in a freshman debut when he went for 29 in the season opener.
6-10 forward Carey Booth (15.0 ppg, team-high 7.0 rpg) scored 20 off the bench against Canisius.
The Irish have also gotten a team-high 36.5 minutes out of the coach's son, freshman guard Braeden Shrewsberry.

Matchup Mashup:

Notre Dame is the only one of ACC's 15 active men's basketball members that OSU has never faced.
OSU junior point guard Javon Small is a South Bend, Ind. native.
OSU assistant David Cason served as Director of Basketball Operations at Notre Dame during the 1999-00 season before following head coach Matt Dougherty to North Carolina.

An OSU win would...

Move them into Friday's championship game (6 p.m. CT/7 p.m. ET on ESPN2) agains the Auburn-Notre Dame winner.
Improve their record to 2-1.
Make them 1-0 all-time against St. Bonaventure.
Make them 9-3 in MTE's under Mike Boynton including 4-2 in openers.
Put them in an MTE title game for the third time under Boynton.

An OSU loss would...

Put them in Friday's third-place game against the Auburn-Notre Dame loser (3:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU).
Drop their record to 1-2.
Make them 0-1 vs. St. Bonaventure.
Be less good than a win.

Next Home Action:

The Cowboys are back at Gallagher-Iba Arena for a pair of Thanksgiving Week home games against New Orleans (Monday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m. CT) and Houston Christian (Friday, Nov. 24, 7 p.m. CT).
Both games will air on ESPN+.
Tickets are available online at okstate.com/tickets.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brandon Garrison

Javon Small

Bryce Thompson

John-Michael Wright

Oklahoma State University Athletics