Game Notes: at Iowa State

Saturday, January 13

Ames, Iowa

7:15 PM

Oklahoma State University

Iowa State

January 12, 2024 | Cowboy Basketball

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

Oklahoma State (8-7, 0-2) at rv/rv Iowa State (12-3, 1-1)
Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024 | 5:05 p.m. CT
Ames, Iowa | Hilton Coliseum

TV: Big 12 on ESPN+ (Matt Schumacker & Jon Crispin)
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 72-67 (trailed 18-41 in Ames)
Last: Feb. 11, 2023 in Ames (OSU, 64-56)

The Basics:

The Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-7, 0-2) travel to Ames, Iowa on Saturday for a Big 12 road date with the Iowa State Cyclones (12-3, 1-1) at Hilton Coliseum. Tipoff is 5 p.m. CT.
OSU is in search of its first conference victory following last Saturday's overtime heartbreaker against Baylor and Tuesday night's 90-73 loss at Texas Tech.
ISU improved to 10-0 at home by taking down No. 2 Houston, 57-53. The Cougars were the nation's last remaining unbeaten.
OSU ranks second in the Big 12 in three-point field goals per game (9.4), led by junior Javon Small (32/78, .410).
ISU enters the weekend ranked fifth nationally in both scoring defense (59.5) and forced turnovers (18.5).
The Cowboys have won three straight and seven of the last eight meetings with ISU.

Watch:
The game will air on ESPN2 with Matt Schumacker and Jon Crispin.
Fans with ESPN2 in the 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.

Mike Boynton Show:
Hear the latest insights from head coach Mike Boynton Jr. by tuning in to his weekly radio show on the Cowboy Radio Network. The program airs Thursday nights (6-7 p.m.) from the Rib Crib in Stillwater.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball
Jan. 9, 2024 (Lubbock, Texas) | Texas Tech 90, OSU 73

Hot-shooting Texas Tech connected on 59.3% from the field, including 62% after halftime to put away OSU.
Pop Isaacs led a group of five double-figures with 24 points on 4-of-8 three-point shooting.
Bryce Thompson scored a team-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Javon Small and John-Michael Wright added 15 and 14 each for OSU, which finished at 47.3% and hit 9-of-25 from deep.
The Cowboys made nine of their first 12 shots, capped by dunks from Brandon Garrison and Quion Williams, to grab a 20-11 lead near the 12:00-mark before missing their next eight attempts.
Texas Tech capitalized with a 19-2 run, flipping a nine point deficit into a nine-point halftime lead, 40-31.
OSU scored 42 second-half points on 52% shooting but fell further behind after Tech put up 50 on 62%. The Red Raiders led by as many as 21 midway through the half.
The Cowboys matched their season low with nine turnovers but forced just four.

Trending:

Senior guard Bryce Thompson needs just 21 points to reach 1,000 for his collegiate career. The third-year Cowboy scored 91 points during his freshman season at Kansas.
Thompson has scored at least 13 points in each of his last six games.
As a Cowboy, Thompson has averaged 16.3 points in four career games vs. Iowa State.
Through 15 games, Quion Williams has already totaled more points (113) and minutes (462) than all of last season (110 and 444).
Jarius Hicklen has connected at least once from deep in each of his last 11 games.
Javon Small has hit multiple triples in nine straight contests. That's the longest such streak by a Cowboy since Thomas Dziagwa four years ago. OSU assistant Keiton Page had the last double-digit run, sinking multiple threes in each of the last 12 games of his Cowboy career (Jan. 31 to Mar. 8, 2012).
OSU freshman Brandon Garrison ranks second on the Big 12 leaderboard in blocks (1.87).
OSU is 8-0 this year when leading at the half but 0-7 when tied or trailing.
Texas Tech's 90-point performance snapped a string of 23-straight games in which Cowboys had held their opponent under 80.
Over the last two seasons, OSU is 26-5 when out-shooting its opponent.
Cowboy opponent have logged assists on just 39.3% of their baskets (6th nationally).

The Series with Iowa State:

This is meeting No. 140 in a series that began just over 97 years ago (Jan. 8, 1927).
OSU leads 72-67 with wins in three straight and seven of the last eight encounters. The lone loss came in overtime (Jan. 26, 2022 at GIA).
The Cowboys swept the 2023 series, twice upsetting nationally ranked Cyclone teams. On Jan. 21 in Stillwater, Avery Anderson scored 18 points to lead OSU past No. 12 ISU. The Cyclones had climbed back up to No. 11 in the polls prior to the Cowboys' Feb. 11 visit to Ames, but John-Michael Wright put up a season-high 19 to key another 64-56 win.
Seventh-year head coach Mike Boynton Jr. is 9-4 against ISU and has won four of his six visits to Ames – a place OSU teams have traditionally struggled.
The Cowboys are 18-41 all-time at ISU (15-29 at Hilton Coliseum, which opened prior to the 1971-72 season).
OSU's current three-game win streak in Ames is its longest ever. Prior to it, the Cowboys had won back-to-back trips just four other times.
OSU is 41-19 against ISU in Stillwater (39-16 at GIA), including 4-2 under Boynton.

Scouting the Cyclones:

Third-year head coach T.J. Otzelberger has taken ISU to back-to-back NCAA tournaments and is on track to do it again this year.
ISU (12-3, 1-1 Big 12) is a perfect 10-0 at home this season after knocking off the nation's last unbeaten, No. 2 Houston, earlier this week. The Cyclones are outside the top-25 in both polls but fare much better in the computer metrics, checking in at No. 10 in the NCAA's NET rankings. KenPom has them at No. 15 overall and No. 3 in defensive efficiency.
ISU ranks among the national leaders in scoring defense (4th, 59.5), scoring margin (3rd, 23.3), steals (3rd, 11.3), forced turnovers (5th, 18.47) and field goal percentage defense (13th, .386).
Opponents score 46.6% of their points off threes -- the nation's eighth highest percentage.
Offensively, the Cyclones average 82.7 points, helped by a Big 12-best 17.2 free throw makes. They're shooting 49.3% as a team and boast the nation's 11th-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.68).
Eight Cyclones clock more than 15+ minutes per game and six of them average upwards of 9.0 points.
Sophomore point guard Tamin Lipsey – a 2023 Big 12 All-Freshman team pick and the lone returning starter -- leads the team in points (14.7), rebounds (5.7) and assists (5.7). He also enters the weekend ranked second nationally in steals per game (3.27).
Fifth-year senior forwards Tre King (10.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and Robert Jones (9.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 66% FG) have both moved into starting roles after coming off the bench last season.
Former UNLV guard Keshon Gilbert (13.4 ppg, 4.7 apg, 1.8 spg) is one of three new transfers on the Cyclone roster. The two-time Big 12 newcomer of the week gets the line an average of 6.0 times per game.
6-8 Milan Momcilovic -- Wisconsin's 2023 Gatorade High School Player of the Year and one of six freshmen on the ISU roster – has started all 15 games while averaging 13.3 points and 2.1 threes on 41.3% accuracy. He's also knocked down 31 of his 34 free throw attempts (.912).

Matchup Mashup:

ISU freshman Omaha Biliew and OSU's Eric Dailey Jr. played for the United States at this summer's FIBA U19 World Cup in Hungary. Cowboy head coach Mike Boynton Jr. served as an assistant. ISU's Milan Momcilovic and Jackson Paveletzke were among the 30 players who took part in the team's five-day training camp in Colorado Springs.
Billiew and OSU freshman Brandon Garrison were teammates in the 2023 McDonald's All-American game.
Per KenPom, five Big 12 freshmen have clocked more than 50% of their team's minutes this season. Three of them will share the floor Saturday in Ames. OSU's Eric Dailey Jr. and Brandon Garrison have played 63.1% and 51.1% respectively and Iowa State's Milan Momcilovic has been active for 75.3%.

Big 12 Freshmen Averaging 50+% of Minutes
Milan Momcilovic (Iowa St.) -- 75.3%
Ja'Kobe Walter (Baylor) -- 71.9%
Eric Dailey Jr. (OSU) -- 63.1%
Elmarko Jackson (KU) – 58.2%
Brandon Garrison (OSU) – 51.1%

A Cowboy win would...

Up their record to 9-7 (1-2 Big 12).
Be their fourth straight over Iowa State and eighth in nine tries.
Give them four in a row in Ames and make them 5-2 at Hilton Coliseum under Boynton.
Be their first on the road this season (1-2).

Up Next: Kansas
Tuesday, 8 p.m. CT (ESPN)

The Cowboys are back home Tuesday night against No. 3 Kansas.
The Jayhawks are 13-2 (1-1 Big 12) heading into Sunday's matchup with ninth-ranked Oklahoma.
KU holds a 123-60 series lead with five consecutive wins but are just 40-36 in Stillwater (37-36 at GIA).
OSU is 10-8 against former Cowboy Bill Self in Stillwater (8-8 during his KU tenure).