Game Notes: vs.Tulsa (Oklahoma City)

Sunday, December 10

Oklahoma City

5:30 PM

Oklahoma State University

Tulsa

Buy Tickets

December 08, 2023 | Cowboy Basketball

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

Oklahoma State (3-5) vs. Tulsa (5-2)
Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023 | 5:30 p.m. CT
Oklahoma City, Okla. | Paycom Center

TV: ESPN2 (Mark Neely & King McClure)
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 75-39 (3-2 in OKC) | Streak: OSU, Won 1
Last: Nov. 25, 2022 in Stillwater (OSU, 82-56)

Game Notes PDF

The Basics:
Oklahoma State (3-5) and Tulsa (5-2) take their long-standing rivalry on the road this Sunday with a neutral court matchup at Oklahoma City's Payom Center. Tipoff for the Battleground 2K23 is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CST.

Tickets:
Tickets for The Battleground 2k23 are on sale at ticketmaster.com or through the Paycom Center box office.

Watch:
The game will air on ESPN2 with Mark Neely and King McClure. Fans with ESPN2 in their television package can stream the game live and on-demand through 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.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Tuesday, Dec. 5 (Carbondale, Ill.) | Southern Illinois 70, OSU 68

OSU missed two potential game-winnng shots in the final six seconds of a road loss at SIU.
Xavier Johnson tallied a game-high 32 points for SIU, which hosted to a major conference foe on its home floor for the first time in 15 years.
Javon Small scored 25 points and Quion Williams and Brandon Garrison grabbed 10 rebounds apiece for the Cowboys who trailed by 10 near the 11:00-mark of the second half before rallying behind the three-point shooting of Jarius Hicklen (12 pts, 4/8 3pt).
Clarence Rupert's three-point play gave SIU the lead, 69-66, with 28 seconds left, but a Saluki technical foul for taunting with 17 seconds remaining gave OSU two free throws and the ball. Small sank them both, however his driving layup in the closing seconds missed the mark, as did Williams' follow.
OSU finished +19 on the glass (43-24) and grabbed offensive rebounds on more than half of its own misses (20 of 38) but managed just 15 second-chance points.
Helped by a 7-of-15 three-point effort, SIU shot 47% to OSU's 39.4% and outscored the visitors 17-9 at the foul line.

It's a Small World:

Oklahoma State junior Javon Small enters the weekend as one of only five Division I players who are averaging better than 17.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
The list also includes Small's former ECU teammate Tristen Newton (now with UConn), as well as Demarcus Sharp (Austin Peay), Khalen Robinson (Little Rock) and Kevin McCullar (Kansas).

Players averaging 17+ pts, 5+ reb, 5+ ast:
Javon Small (Oklahoma St.) -- 17.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 5.1 apg
Demarcus Sharp (Austin Peay) -- 19.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 5.1 apg
Khalen Robinson (Little Rock) -- 19.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 5.4 apg
Tristen Newton (UConn) -- 17.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 6.1 apg
Kevin McCullar (Kansas) -- 19.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 5.1 apg
Data Source: College-Basketball Reference Play IndexL
NCAA Division I; Through Dec. 7, 2023

Small has topped the 20-point mark three times in his last five games. In that span, he's averaging exactly 20.0 points and has connected on 26-of-26 free throws.
Small's run of 26-straight free throw makes ranks just outside the top-10 on OSU's all-time list. He enters the weekend ranked 19th on the NCAA's free throw percentage list (.931).

Keeping up with the Trends:

OSU is 0-4 in games decided by five points in either direction.
KenPom rates the Cowboys 361st out of 362 teams in its "luck metric", which compares teams' expected winning percentage (based on analytics) with their actual record. Only Mount St. Mary's has had it worse.
OSU's 20 offensive rebounds at SIU were a season-high and the most since last season's NIT quarterfinal game against North Texas. It was OSU's fifth game with 20+ offensive rebounds under Mike Boynton Jr. and the third time in that seven-year span that the Cowboys have grabbed more than half of their own misses (52.6%).
Quion Williams (10 points, 10 rebounds) became the fourth different Cowboy to secure a double-double this season, joining Eric Dailey Jr., Javon Small and Mike Marsh.
OSU has taken a committee approach to rebounding. Five different Cowboys are averaging at least 5.0 boards per game.
The Cowboys are outscoring their opponents by an average of 7.0 points in the second half. St. Bonaventure (36-35) and Southern Illinois (36-34) are the only teams that have gotten the better of them after halftime.
OSU is 3-0 when leading at the half but 0-5 when tied or trailing.
Going back to last year, OSU has held 17 straight opponents under 80 points.
Four OSU freshmen played in their first true road game at SIU and at least two of them were on the floor for 20 of the 40 minutes. (20:14)
Over the last two seasons, OSU is 1-17 when being outshot by its opponent, compared to 22-4 when finishing with the higher percentage.
10 of freshman Brandon Garrison's team-high 15 blocks have come over the last three games: vs. HCU (6), Creighton (2) and SIU (2).
Garrison's 1.88 blocks per game ranks 54th nationally and top-5 among freshmen.

NCAA Freshman Leaders // Blocks Per Game
1. Yves Missi (Baylor) -- 2.22
2. Miles Rubin (Loyola Chicago) -- 2.22
3. Owen Freeman (Iowa) -- 2.11
4. Juslin Bodo Bodo (High Point) -- 1.90
5. Brandon Garrison (OSU) -- 1.88
NCAA Division I; Through Dec. 7, 2023

OSU in OKC:

OSU has played 135 total games in Oklahoma City and won over 80 percent of them (107-26). The bulk of those contests took place under Henry Iba (68-15) who helped launch the All-College tournament in the mid-1930s and came away with first-place trophies in 11 of his 20 appearances in the event from 1936-55.

OSU at Paycom Center:

The Cowboys' last OKC appearance came just shy of a decade ago (Dec. 14, 2013) when they defeated Louisiana Tech at the Paycom Center.
OSU is 14-5 at Paycom Center but last played there 10 years ago (Dec. 14, 2013 vs. Louisiana Tech).
The Cowboys were involved in the building's first-ever college basketball game on Jan. 3, 2003 when they defeated BYU, 78-65, in the early half of a doubleheader that also include Oklahoma and Michigan State.
Paycom Center has hosted two Big 12 tournaments (2007, 2009) and first and second round action for four NCAA men's tournaments (2003, 2005, 2010 and 2016 with another headed to OKC 2026).
OSU has won some big games over the years at the Paycom Center including top-25 takedowns of No. 23 Tennessee (12/22/2005), No. 7 Pitt (12/21/2006), No. 7 Texas A&M (3/9/2007) and No. 6 Oklahoma (3/12/2009). The Cowboys also punched their 2005 Sweet 16 ticket with victories over Southeastern Louisiana and Southern Illinois.

The Series with Tulsa:

This is meeting No. 115 in a series that began in 1908 -- the first year of varsity basketball for both schools when they were known as Oklahoma A&M and Kendall College. Tulsa's first varsity game (and victory) came against visiting OSU. Likewise, OSU's first ever home game (and victory) came later that year at the expense of Tulsa.
The Cowboys lead 75-39 and have won six of the last eight meetings.
The teams have clashed five times in Oklahoma City, though this will be their first since a 1994 NCAA tournament encounter at the Myriad.
Bryce Thompson scored 18 points on four three-pointers to lead the scoring in last November's 82-56 win in Stillwater. OSU scored 12 straight points midway through the first half to lead 41-29 at the break and outscored Tulsa 35-8 over the first 11 minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach.
OSU's 26-point margin of victory was largest for either side since Mar. 2, 1954 when the sixth-ranked Cowboys rolled to a 31-point win (77-46) at GIA.

Scouting the Golden Hurricane:

Former Louisiana Tech coach Erik Konkol is in his second season at Tulsa, but in many ways it feels like the first, with just two players and 3.9 percent of the scoring back from last year's team, which finished 5-25 (1-17 American).
Tulsa is picked 10th out of 14 teams in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll.
The new-look Golden Hurricane have needed just seven games to match their entire 2022-23 win total.
Five players (all of them D1 transfers) are averaging in double-figures, backed by a supporting cast of freshmen and junior college transfers.
Tulsa is averaging nearly 80 points per game and enters the weekend ranked among the NCAA leaders in free throw makes (7th, 20.6) and attempts (6th, 28.4).
7.3 of PJ Haggerty's team-best 16.3 points per game have come at the foul line (51-of-68). The 6-foot-3 TCU transfer ranks 10th nationally in fouls drawn per 40 minutes, according to KenPom (8.2).
The backcourt also includes a pair of Louisiana Tech grad transfers: Cobe Williams (13.7 ppg) and Keaston Willis (12.5 ppg) have 1,200 and 1,600 career points respectively.
Charlotte transfer Jared Garcia (10.6 ppg, team-high 7.3 rpg) and former Michigan man Isaiah Barnes (10.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg) make up the starting front court.
Tulsa has gotten nearly five steals per game out of the backcourt duo of Haggerty (2.29) and Williams (2.57). Both players rank among the NCAA's top-40 in that category.
Tulsa has limited opponents to 39.4% shooting this year, including 44.3% from inside the arc. That's a significant jump from a year ago when foes shot 47.4% from the field, including a nation-best 58% on 2's.

Matchup Mashup:

Tulsa comes in averaging 79.6 points. OSU has surrendered more than 70 points just once in the first eight games (Creighton, 78).
OSU has a pair of former Tulsa assistants on staff. David Cason served for six years under Doug Wojcik (2005-11), the last three as associate head coach. When Cason moved on to Vanderbilt in 2011 he was replaced by Terrence Rencher (2011-12). Cason and Rencher are both in their third season at OSU.
Henry Iba's younger brother, Clarence Iba, served as Tulsa's first full-time men's basketball coach from 1949-60. He led the program to its first NIT in 1953 and to its first Missouri Valley Conference title and NCAA tournament berth in 1955. In that 11-year span, big brother had a 16-4 record against little brother.

A Cowboy win would...

Improve their record to 4-5 and snap a two game skid.
Make them 15-5 all-time at Paycom.
Make them 108-26 all-time in OKC.
Extend their series lead over Tulsa to 76-39 (4-2 in OKC and 6-2 on neutral courts).
Make Mike Boynton Jr. 3-1 vs. Tulsa and 2-0 against Eric Konkol.

Up Next: Oral Roberts
Sunday, Dec. 17 | 4 p.m. CT | ESPN+

OSU opens up a five-game homestand against another in-state foe, ORU.
Fans can purchase seats at okstate.com/tickets.
The teams last met Nov. 26, 2021 at ORU's Mabee Center. The Cowboys survived 29 points from the nation's leading scorer, Max Abmas, to win 78-77 in overtime.
OSU is 12-1 all-time against ORU at Gallagher-Iba Arena with 11 consecutive wins. The lone loss came on Dec. 13, 1977.
Over the next three weeks, the Cowboys will also welcome Wofford (Dec. 20), South Carolina State (Dec. 31) and Chicago State (Jan. 3) to Stillwater before opening up Big 12 slate against Baylor (Jan. 6).