Game Notes: Oral Roberts

Sunday, December 17

Stillwater

4:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

Oral Roberts

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December 15, 2023 | Cowboy Basketball

OSU Notes (PDF)Buy Tickets Watch Listen Live Stats Series History

Oral Roberts (4-5) at Oklahoma State (4-5)
Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023 | 4:01 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)
Internet Radio: okstate.com/listen & The Varsity Sports App
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: OSU leads 19-5 (12-1 in Stillwater)
Last: Nov. 26, 2021 in Tulsa (OSU, 78-77 ot)

Game Notes PDF

The Basics:
The Oklahoma State Cowboys open up a five-game homestand Sunday against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles inside historic Gallagher-Iba Arena (4 p.m. CT). OSU has won the last five meetings, including a 78-77 overtime decision on Nov. 26, 2021 in Tulsa. ORU ranks among the top-10 nationally in threes per game and is in search of its first victory in Stillwater since 1978.

Promotions:
Sunday's game is part of a men's and women's doubleheader. The Cowgirls play host to SIU at 1 p.m. One ticket provides admission to both games. Order in advance at okstate.com/tickets.
Fans are encouraged to bring new and unwrapped toys for donation to the Salvation Army's toy drive.

Watch:
The game will air on ESPN+ with Mike Wolfe and Bryndon Manzer. 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:
Sunday, Dec. 10 (Oklahoma City) | OSU 72, Tulsa 57

Javon Small scored 18 points and OSU rode a fast start to a neutral court win over Tulsa in the Battleground 2K23.
The Cowboys won despite totaling more turnovers (28) than baskets (23). They committed just one in the first 9:00 while building leads of 17-3 and 21-5 but had 13 in the final 11:00 and 14 more after halftime.
PJ Haggerty and Tyshawn Archie scored 13 points each and combined for nine of Tulsa's 19 steals – the most ever by an OSU opponent.
The Cowboys atoned with a dominant defensive effort of their own, forcing 20 Tulsa turnovers while finishing +18 on the boards (41-23). They held the Golden Hurricane to 37% from the field, (3-of-20 from deep) and just four assists.
OSU shot 48.9% and 8-of-20 from three.
Quion Williams added a career-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting along with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. He converted a three-point play with 5:32 left in the opening half to give OSU its largest lead (30-11).

All-a-Board:

OSU was dominant on the glass last week, out-rebounding SIU and Tulsa by a combined 84-47. That was especially true on the defensive end where the Cowboys vaccumed up 54 of the 66 opponent misses (81.8%) and limited the two teams to just nine total second chance points.
For the season, the Cowboys now rank 19th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage, snapping up over three-quarters of available opportunities (76.4%). Opponents are averaging 7.8 second-chance points.
OSU has taken a committee approach to rebounding with five players averaging 5.0+ boards.
Four different Cowboys have posted a double-double this year (Quion Williams, Eric Dailey Jr., Javon Small and Mike Marsh) and five players have grabbed double-digit rebounds at least once (Brandon Garrison).

It's a Small World:

Junior point guard Javon Small has been OSU's best scorer (17.1 points) and passer (4.8 assists).
In eight games, Small has scored 137 points and produced 91 more off assists. Those 228 total points represent nearly half (47.9%) of OSU's scoring output during his time on the court.
Small has topped the 20-point mark three times in his last six games. In that span, he's averaging 19.7 points on nearly eight free throw attempts per game (36-of-39, .923).
For the season, Small is averaging 4.6 free throw makes per game (76th nationally).
From Nov. 17 to Dec. 10, Small connected on 28-straight free throws (finally missing late in the first half against Tulsa). His streak was the longest by a Cowboy since Phil Forte in 2015 and tied for the ninth-longest in program history.

Close Encounters:

In four of their five losses this year, the Cowboys have missed game-tying or potential game-winning shots in the last 10 seconds. OSU is 0-4 in games decided by five points in either direction.
KenPom rates the Cowboys 360th out of 362 teams in its "luck metric", which compares teams' expected winning percentage (based on analytics) with their actual record. Only North Texas and Troy have had it worse.

Fresh Takes:

10 of freshman Brandon Garrison's team-high 15 blocks have come over the last four games. His 1.88 blocks per game ranks 54th nationally and top-5 among NCAA freshmen.
Forward Eric Dailey Jr. is one of only 19 freshmen from a major conference (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac 12, SEC) who are averaging better than 25 minutes per game. He's also one of just 22 who are averaging more than 9.0 points.
With Isaiah Miranda's Dec. 10 debut, all 12 Cowboy scholarship players have now seen action. Miranda is the sixth OSU freshman to make his collegiate debut this season.
OSU had at least two freshmen on the court for over half (20:34) out of the 40 minutes against Tulsa.

Also Trending:

OSU is 4-0 when leading at the half but 0-5 when tied or trailing.
The Cowboys have played opponents to a stalemate in the first half (310-310) but outscored them by an average of 6.9 points after halftime. They've won the second half in seven of the nine games.
Going back to last year, OSU has held 18 straight opponents under 80 points.
Over the last two seasons, OSU is 23-4 when finishing with a higher shooting percentage than the opposition, compared to 1-17 when out-shot.

On Tulsa and Turnovers:

OSU turned the ball over 28 times in Sunday's 15-point win over Tulsa -- most by a Cowboy team since Dec. 22, 2001 when Eddie Sutton's squad committed 29 in an 85-76 win over Arkansas.
That carelessness felt a bit out of character for an OSU team that came into the day averaging just 11.3 turnovers. The 28 giveaways doubled their previous season-high of 14.
Per Stat Broadcast, the Cowboys came away with points on 32 of the 47 trips that didn't end in turnovers (68.1%) for an average of 1.53 points per possession.
OSU improved to 13-5 in the Boynton Era when committing at least 20 turnovers and to 13-8 when forcing 20+.

The Series with ORU:

This is meeting No. 25 in a series that began 48 years ago.
OSU leads 19-4 with four straight victories but the last three have all come by five points or less.
The Cowboys have won 12 of the 13 matchups at GIA, including 11 in a row. ORU's lone victory in Stillwater happened Dec. 13, 1977.

Memorable Series Moments:
Jan. 11, 1983 – Matt Clark recorded 11 of OSU's school record 30 assists (a mark that has since been broken) in 108-82 win. The Cowboys made 43 field goals on 66.2% shooting.
Jan. 18, 1989 – OSU set a school record for most points against Division I opponent in a 124-98 win. Richard Dumas scored 33 of them on 14-of-24 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Jan. 25, 1992 – Byron Houston's 30 points and 12 rebounds led the Cowboys to a 84-61 win at ORU's Mabee Center. It was victory No. 18 in a school-record 20-0 start to the season.
Mar. 4, 1993 -- Fred Burley (35), Brooks Thompson (33) and Bryant Reeves (31) combined for 99 points in 19th-ranked OSU's 114-85 win.
Nov. 6, 2019 – Yor Anei blocked eight shots to help the Cowboys fend off ORU, 80-75.
Dec. 8, 2020 – Cade Cunningham scored 29 points to help OSU survive another ORU upset bid, 83-78. Max Abmas, the nation's leading scorer, finished with 33 points on 6-of-12 three-point shooting for the Golden Eagles, who would go on to reach the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed.
Nov. 26, 2021 -- In the most recent matchup, Abmas scored another 29 points on seven threes, but Bryce Williams hit back-to-back turn around jumpers late in overtime to help OSU emerge, 78-77.

Scouting the Golden Eagles:

ORU lost 2,000-point scorer Max Abmas to Texas and head coach Paul Mills to Wichita State over the off-season but looks to continue the program's momentum under former second-in-command Russell Springman.
The Golden Eagles have played in two of the last three NCAA tournaments, highlighted by a trip to the 2021 Sweet 16. Last year's group went 30-5 and ran the table in the Summit League.
ORU returns a pair of senior starters in Issac McBride (second team All-Summit last year)and 6-5 wing Kareem Thompson and is picked second out of nine teams.
Springman has kept much of the same blueprint: Dunks and three are good and turnovers bad.
The Golden Eagles' 8.7 turnovers per game are third-fewest nationally. They haven't committed more than 12 in any game this year.
They're tied for ninth in three-point field goals per game (10.8). Nearly 48% of the team's shots and 42.3% of its scoring come from deep.
McBride – a former Vanderbilt transfer who has played Robin to Abmas' Batman the past two seasons – has transitioned nicely into the role of featured scorer, averaging 18.8 points. He's one of four Golden Eagles who are averaging at least 2.0 threes per game.
Thompson (12.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg) tops the team in assists (4.2), steals (1.8) and threes (22).
The duo of McBride and Thompson rarely leave the floor, averaging 37.8 and 38.5 minutes respectively. In seven games against Division I competition, McBride has sat for a grand total of 1:28. Thompson has played all but 1:41.
6-4 Trinidad State product Jailen Bedford (14.4 ppg) is the team's leading rebounder at 6.6 per game and has made 21-of-46 threes (.457).
6-7 graduate DeShang Weaver (12.6 ppg, team-high 24 blocks) is a veteran forward who is in his fifth year with the ORU program.
ORU (4-5) has faced the nation's 19th toughest schedule, per KenPom. All five losses have come on the road, including an overtime affair at Kansas State and single-digits setbacks at Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

Matchup Mashup:

OSU and ORU already share a common opponent. The Golden Eagles defeated Tulsa, 79-70, at the Mabee Center on Dec. 2.
OSU Bryce Thompson and ORU's Trey Phipps were teammates on Booker T. Washington's 2019 state championship squad. Both earned first team All-6A honors as a seniors in 2020.
OSU assistant coach Scott Sutton is the winningest coach in ORU history. The three-time Summit League Coach of the Year guided the Golden Eagles to 328 victories and eight postseason appearances from 1999-2017.
Sutton is one of four OSU grads who have led the ORU program, along with Jerry Hale (1975-78), Bill Self (1993-97) and Barry Hinson (1997-99).
ORU Assistant AD for Communications Jarrett Hardwick and play-by-play voice Adam Hildebrandt are also proud OSU graduates.

A Cowboy win would...

Even their record at 5-5 with back-to-back wins.
Make 4-2 at home this year.
Be their fifth straight vs. ORU (20-5)
Make them 13-1 vs. ORU at GIA with 12 straight wins.
Make Boynton 5-0 vs. ORU and a combined 17-6 against Oklahoma's three other Division I programs (9-4 vs. OU, 3-1 vs. Tulsa).

Up Next:

OSU welcomes Wofford for a 2 p.m. Wednesday matinee (ESPN+) in what will be the first ever meeting between the schools.
Mike Boynton Jr. served as Wofford's associate head coach from 2007-08.
The Terriers, from Spartanburg, S.C., are four years removed from a first-round NCAA tournament upset of Seton Hall.
Wofford is picked eighth out of 10 teams in the SoCon preseason poll.