Game Notes: New Orleans

New Orleans (2-1) at Oklahoma State (1-3)
Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 | 7:01 p.m. CT
Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena

Tickets: okstate.com/tickets
TV: ESPN+ (Mike Wolfe & Bryndon Manzer)
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Streaming: okstate.com/listen & The Varsity Sports App
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: OSU leads 9-3 (7-0 in Stillwater)
Last: Nov. 16, 2016 in Stillwater (OSU won 117-72)

The Basics:
The Oklahoma State Cowboys (1-3) welcome the New Orleans Privateers (2-1) to Gallagher-Iba Arena on Monday night for 7 p.m. CT tipoff. OSU is looking bounce back from a tough two-game stretch at the Legends Classic in Brooklyn. The Cowboys fell by identical 66-64 scores to St. Bonaventure and Notre Dame on Thursday and Friday (the latter in overtime). OSU has attempted a game-tying or game-winning three-pointer in the last five seconds of all three losses.

Tickets:
To purchase seats, visit okstate.com/tickets or call (877) 255-4678.

Watch:
The game will air on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Mike Wolfe and Bryndon Manzer. Fans can subscribe to ESPN's over-the-top streaming service for $10.99/month ($110/year) or bundle with Disney+ and Hulu for as little as $14.99/month. Visit plus.espn.com for more information.

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.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Nov. 17, 2023 (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | Notre Dame 66, OSU 64

An incredible second half from Javon Small wasn't enough to lift OSU past Notre Dame in the Legends Classic third place game.
Small, a South Bend, Ind. native who grew up watching the Irish, posted career-highs with 29 points and 10 rebounds. After scoring just two points in the first half, the junior accounted for 27 of OSU's 39 points in the second half plus overtime.
It was OSU's first 25-point double-double since Cade Cunningham (Feb. 27, 2021 at Oklahoma) and just the sixth since 2010.
John-Michael Wright added 11 points and Quion Williams match his own best with 11 rebounds.
Notre Dame ended the first half on an 18-6 run to lead 33-25. Small scored 16 points in OSU's 17-7 push at the end of regulation.
Eric Dailey Jr. tied the game on a free throw with 9 seconds remaining but missed a go-ahead try.
Notre Dame's Markus Burton missed a potential game-winner at the end of regulation but scored six of his team-high 20 points in the extra period.

Keeping up with the Trends:

Javon Small leads the team in points (16.0) and assists (6.7) while shooting 47.1% from deep (8-of-17).
Small made the All-Legends Classic team thanks to a seven-assist performance against St. Bonaventure and a 29-point, 10-rebound effort against Notre Dame.
6-5 guard Quion Williams (6.8 ppg, team-best 6.8 rpg) has grabbed double-digit rebounds twice in the first four games. He had 10 in the opener against Abilene Christian and matched his career-best with 11 against Notre Dame.
Williams is the only Cowboy that has started all four games. Foul trouble limited him to just 16 minutes against St. Bonaventure, but Boynton has otherwise found it difficult to take him off the floor. In the three others game, the versatile sophomore has clocked 113 of 125 possible minutes (90.4%). He played a career-high 41:05 in Friday's overtime game.
Bryce Thompson (14.3 ppg, team-best 27.0 points-per-40-minutes) led the scoring in each of the first two games but suffered an injury late in the first half against St. Bonaventure. The senior guard sat out the third-place contest against Notre Dame, ending a string of 58 consecutive games played, dating back to the early part of his sophomore season.
After a tough shooting performance in the opener, John-Michael Wright has reached double-figures in three straight games. Wright is two three-pointers shy of 250 for his NCAA career and needs just 107 more points to reach 2,000. Wright's totals will be helped by a bonus fifth year of eligibility due to COVID-19, but it should be noted that only 657 players in NCAA Division I history have reached the 2,000-point plateau.
OSU was down to just eight healthy scholarship players for the Notre Dame game with veteran center Mike Marsh also dinged up. Isaiah Miranda and Jamyron Keller have not seen action this year.
Small missed the opener due to injury, but OSU has posted a 1.29 assist-to-turnover ratio in the three games since his return. Last year's Cowboys posted a 0.89 ratio.
Small isn't the only table-setter. Five different Cowboys are averaging at least 2.0 assists per game.
OSU has used a different starting-five in each of the first four contests. Eight Cowboys have started at least once.
With Marsh sidelined, Brandon Garrison made his first career start against Notre Dame and clocked 35:37. The freshman center has improved in every outing. He didn't attempt a shot or grab a rebound in eight minutes during the season opener but has averaged 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in the three games since.
OSU's platoon of centers -- Marsh and Garrison -- have averaged a combined 12.1 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per 40 minutes.
Per KenPom, Marsh has been an efficient scorer and rebounder while Garrison has excelled as a rim protector.
Garrison's 8.66 block percentage ranks fifth among Big 12 regulars and 66th nationally.
Marsh has vacuumed up 26.4% of opponent misses (sixth among Big 12 regulars and 84th nationally) and has posted a team-best 121.0 offensive efficiency rating, helped by a 64.7% field goal percentage.
OSU's semifinal loss to St. Bonaventure ended a streak of 14 straight wins for the Cowboys when out-shooting their opponent. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, OSU is 20-4 in such instances (compared to 1-15 when out-shot).
Thursday's St. Bonaventure game also ended a streak of 48 consecutive games (going back to early February, 2022) in which the Cowboys had registered at least two blocks.
2, 2022.

Scouting New Orleans:

New Orleans (2-1) suffered its first loss Saturday at Loyola Chicago (73-70) after opening the year with consecutive 100-point performances against Division III Millsaps (100-70) and NAIA Southern University at New Orleans (106-67).
Jordan Johnson scored 31 points against Loyola and is averaging a team-best 23.3 points for the season. The senior guard has also handed out 16 assists with just two turnovers and knocked down 11-of-25 threes.
Johnson averaged 18 points last season and led the nation in three-point percentage (93/193, .482) on his way to second team All-SLC honors. He's one of five returning starters from a team that posted a 12-20 record but finished strong with wins in six of its last eight.
The Privateers are picked third in the 2023-24 Southland preseason poll behind Southeastern Louisiana and McNeese and have a pair of preseason all-conference selections in Johnson and 6-9 senior Tyson Jackson (11.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg last year).
Lopsided wins over non-Division I opponents have skewed some of the early season numbers, but UNO enters the week ranked among the NCAA leaders in scoring offense (t-18th, 92.0), turnover forced (t-6th, 20.67) and free throw makes (t-7th, 21.0).
13th year head coach Mark Slessinger is the winningest coach in UNO history with 163 victories. He has guided the Privateers to four postseason appearances, highlighted by a bid to the 2017 NCAA tournament.

The Series with New Orleans:

This is meeting No. 13 between the schools in a series that began in 1981.
OSU has won five straight against UNO and holds a 7-0 advantage at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
In the most-recent matchup – Nov. 16, 2016 in Stillwater – the Cowboys scored a school-record 68 first-half points in a 117-72 victory. Leyton Hammonds led a group of six double-figure scorers with 15. OSU shot 53% and won the rebounding (47-29) and turnover (23-10) battles by a wide margin. It was the last of three straight 100-point performance by the 2016-17 Cowboys to begin the year.
10 of the 12 series meetings between OSU and UNO came between 1981 and 1991. The Privateers fielded some of their best teams during that time period, twice advancing to NCAA tournaments (1987 and 1991) while producing three NBA players -- most notably 6-11 Ervin Johnson, a first-round draft pick who played for UNO from 1989-93 before logging parts of 13 seasons with the Sonics, Nuggets, Bucks and Timberwolves. UNO won four straight American South titles from 1988 to 1991 – the last three under Tim Floyd, who would himself go on to coach for the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Hornets.
Other series notables:
Joe Atkinson blocked a school-record 10 shots in OSU's Jan. 5, 1985 win in New Orleans. Seven of them came in the first half (also a record).
OSU's first road win of the Eddie Sutton era came at UNO's Kiefer Lakefront Arena on Nov. 27, 1990. Byron Houston finished with 26 points in a 74-64 Cowboy victory. Johnson -- his future Sonics teammate – grabbed 11 rebounds for the Privateers.
The following year in Stillwater (Nov. 4, 1991), UNO pushed eighth-ranked OSU to overtime behind Johnson's 14 points and 13 rebounds. However, the Cowboys pitched an 8-0 shutout in the extra period to win 63-55. Sean Sutton had 19 points and Houston stuffed the box score with 18 points, seven blocks and five steals.
Floyd became a familiar face in the Big 12 after taking the Iowa State job in 1994, but the Cowboys and Privateers wouldn't meet again on the hardwood for another decade. On Nov 29, 2001, 14th-ranked OSU improved to 7-0 with a 95-47 victory over the Privateers at GIA.

Matchup Mashup:

OSU is 1-3 for the first time since the 1987-88 season. That group, coached by Leonard Hamilton and led by future NBA guard John Starks, rallied to win eight of its next 11 games. One of those victories came against New Orleans at GIA (75-68).
UNO head coach Mark Slessinger's last trip to Stillwater was a memorable one. He was the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Northwestern State during the 2005-06 season when the Deamons upset OSU at GIA (68-64). It was one of only two non-conference home losses suffered by the Cowboys in their 16 seasons under Eddie Sutton (1990-2006). That NSU team went on to win the Southland tournament and upset No. 3 seed Iowa in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

An OSU win would...

Improve their record to 2-3 and snap a two-game skid.
Up their home record to 2-1.
Make them 10-3 all-time against UNO.
Improved OSU to 32-10 in November games under Boynton.

Up Next:
Houston Christian (Friday, 7 p.m., ESPN+)

OSU continues homestand Friday evening against Houston Christian.
Tickets are available online at okstate.com/tickets.
OSU is 11-1 against HCU (formerly Houston Baptist) with seven straight series wins.
The teams last met during the 2018-19 season (a 101-74 Cowboy win at GIA) while the lone HCU victory came almost 40 years ago to the day (Nov. 28, 1983) in Houston.
Like New Orleans, HCU is a member of the Southland Conference. The Huskies are picked eighth out of 10 teams in the league's preseason poll.
HCU (0-2 heading into Monday evening's road game at UTSA) opened with a 110-63 road loss at BYU and fell at home last Wednesday to Florida International (83-74).

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Eric Dailey Jr.

Brandon Garrison

Jamyron Keller

Mike Marsh

Isaiah Miranda

Javon Small

Bryce Thompson

Quion Williams

John-Michael Wright

Oklahoma State University Athletics