Game Notes: South Carolina State

Chicago State (7-12) at Oklahoma State (7-5)
Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024 | 6:01 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 2-0 (2-0 in Stillwater); Last: Jan. 3, 1990 in Stillwater (OSU, 67-59)

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The Basics:

The Oklahoma State Cowboys (7-5) wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule Wednesday evening against the Chicago State Cougars (7-12) inside historic Gallagher-Iba Arena. Tipoff is 6 p.m. CT.
OSU looks to extend a season-best four-game winning streak. The Cowboys shot better than 40% from long range in pre-Christmas wins over Tulsa, ORU and Wofford (37/83, .446).
CSU will be playing for the second time in as many nights after visiting Kansas State on Tuesday night.

Tickets:
Reserve your seats at okstate.com/tickets or stop by the OSU Ticket Office.

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.

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:
Dec. 31, 2023 (Stillwater) | OSU 86, South Carolina State 70

Bryce Thompson scored 17 points and Brandon Garrison and Quion Williams posted double-doubles to help OSU shake loose from South Carolina State in a New Year's Eve matinee.
Knotted at 38 near the 19:00-mark of the second half, OSU mounted a 19-2 run to pull away.
The Cowboys turned the ball over 23 times against SCSU's pressure defense but also exploited it for easy looks, shooting 53.6% from the field with help from seven dunks. They also knocked down 13-of-27 (.481) threes, led by Thompson's 4-of-9 effort.
Williams finished with a career-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and gathered 10 rebounds.
Garrison set his own personal best with 11 points to go with 10 boards and three blocks.
Eric Dailey Jr. scored all 11 of his points after halftime, including back-to-back dunks to cap OSU's run. The latter made it a 57-41 lead with 13:11 to play. He added another at the 4:37-mark to give the Cowboys their largest lead at 22.

Making a Splash from Three:

OSU made 42 three-pointers in wins over ORU (14/30), Wofford (15/33) and South Carolina State (13/27), marking the best three-game stretch in school history (40 was the previous mark, set by the 2009-10 Cowboys against Oklahoma (14/27), Iowa State (12/35) and Baylor (14/40).
Bryce Thompson (13/25), Jarius Hicklen (8/15) and Javon Small (8/15) have been the main catalysts over these last three contests.
In its eight home games, OSU has averaged 11.6 threes on 41.5% accuracy, again led by the trip of Thompson (19/35, .543), Small (17/37, .459) and Hicklen (17/38, .447).
The Cowboys have hit double-digit triples in six of their first 12 games, matching their total from all of last season.
OSU's 10.0 threes per game is well ahead of the school-record pace set by the 2008-09 squad, which averaged 9.3 per game.
OSU shot a combined 42.5% from deep in its five December games (11th nationally).

Also Trending:

OSU is 41-12 in Boynton Era non-conhome games (6-2 this season with three straight wins).
OSU is 7-0 this year when leading at the half but 0-5 when tied or trailing.
Going back to last year, OSU has held 21 straight opponents under 80 points.
Over the last two seasons, OSU is 25-4 when finishing with a higher shooting percentage than the opposition.
OSU has posted 20+ assists in each of its last three games – the program's longest such streak since November, 1999.
OSU has topped the 20-assist mark five times this year, matching its combined total from the last three seasons.
OSU's 17.1 assists would be also the best mark for a Cowboy team since the 1999-00 season when senior point guard Doug Gottlieb led the nation in assists (18.9).
The Cowboys have logged assists on 62.1% of their baskets (19th nationally) and held opponents to a 40.3% assist rate (10th). They're one of just two teams (along with Stanford) that rank among the top-25 in both categories.
Rim protection has been a point of pride under seventh-year head coach Mike Boynton Jr. whose teams led the Big 12 in blocks per game in each of the three previous seasons. His Cowboys have blocked 506 shots since the start of the 2020-21 season (15th-most nationally).
OSU ranks among the top-25 in defensive rebounding percentage, snapping up 76.0% of opponent misses.
OSU has taken a committee approach to rebounding. Five players average at least 4.0 boards per game.
Five different Cowboys have posted a double-double this year: Quion Williams (x2), Eric Dailey Jr. (x2), Brandon Garrison, Mike Marsh and Javon Small.

The Series with Chicago State:

The Cowboys are 2-0 all-time against CSU. Both meetings took place at GIA during the Leonard Hamilton Era.
Dec. 10, 1988 -- The Cowboys won despite shooting 33% (2/16 3pt). Richard Dumas scored 21 points and tallied three blocks and three steals.
Jan. 3, 1990 – OSU made 9-of-16 threes in a 67-59 win. Darwyn Alexander was 4-of-7 on his way to 16 points.

Scouting the Cougars:

Located on Chicago's south side with an undergraduate enrollment of around 1,700, Chicago State is the only current NCAA Division I school without a conference home after leaving the WAC two years ago but will join the Northeast Conference this summer.
Being an independent means thinking creatively. The Cougar schedule includes 17 road games in 13 different states, along with two neutral site games in Mexico. By season's end, they'll have faced opponents from 17 of the 32 DI conferences.
CSU has already played 19 games – three more than any other program – with No. 20 set for Tuesday night at Kansas State and No. 21 less than 24 hours later against the Cowboys. Somewhere in between they'll make a four-hour bus trip from Manhattan to Stillwater.
The Cougars are in their third year under head coach Gerald Gillion. He won seven games in his first go-around (2021-22), matching the program's combined win total from the three previous seasons, and improved to 11-20 last year. It marked the first time since the 2013-14 season that a CSU team had won double-digit games.
Progress continues in 2022-23 with a 7-12 start, highlighted by an upset of then-No. 25 Northwestern. Per ESPN Stats & Info, it was the program's first ever against a nationally-ranked opponent (1-39).
CSU returned two of its top three scorers from a year ago in 6-6 juniors Wesley Cardet Jr. and Jahsean Corbett. Both clock more than 35 minutes per game.
Helped by the extra games, Cardet leads the nation in field goals (121) and ranks second in total points scored (357). He averages 18.8 points (4.6 of them off free throws) along with 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
Cardet has scored in double-figures in 10 straight and 18 of his 19 games this year. He's reached 20 points on nine occasions, including a season-best 30-point performance in the win at Northwestern.
The 6-7 Corbett is an undersized yet effective post weapon, averaging 13.1 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds.
CSU ranks among the national leaders in steal percentage, per KenPom, with thefts on 13.4% of opponent possessions (13th).
The duo of Brent Davis (2.3 spg) and LIU transfer Noble Crawford (1.8 spg) average a little under half of CSU's 9.0 steals per game. The Cougars have posted double-digit steals in nine of their 19 contests, including 13 at Northwestern.
The Cougars have shot low percentages from the field (40.2% FG, 27.9% 3pt) but found success through second-chance opportunities, grabbing nearly a third of their own misses on the offensive glass (32.2%). Almost a quarter of their points this season have come at the free throw line (23.5% ranks 22nd nationally).

Matchup Mashup:

A couple of Cougars played their junior college ball within an hour's drive of Stillwater: Cameron Jernigan spent the 2022-23 season at Cowley College in Arkansas City, Kan. and Alex Raiford started his career at NOC-Enid.
Division I independents are an increasingly rare breed in college basketball. It's been more than 14 years since an OSU team last faced one. The Cowboys opened the 2009-10 season with an 86-64 win over Seattle University, which was without a conference home while navigating a transition from Division II back to Division I.

A Cowboy win would...

Be their fifth straight and seventh in the last nine outings on the heels of a 1-3 start.
Up their home record to 7-2 with four consecutive victories.
Make them 3-0 all-time vs. Chicago State.
Boost their non-conference record under Boynton to 63-29 (42-12 at GIA).

Up Next: #18/19 Baylor
Saturday, Jan. 6 | 2 p.m. CT | ESPN+

OSU opens Big 12 play Saturday at home against No. 18 Baylor (10-2 in Tuesday night's non-conference finale against Cornell).
This will be the lone regular season meeting between the schools this year, due to the conference's new unbalanced schedule format.
The Cowboys lead the all-time series 57-36 and hold a 27-13 edge in Stillwater, but Baylor has made up ground in recent years with wins in three straight and 14 of the last 19. They've won eight straight visits to Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Baylor is shooting a nation-best 44.7% from three-point range and has outscored opponents by an average of almost 20 points per game.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Eric Dailey Jr.

Brandon Garrison

Jarius Hicklen

Mike Marsh

Javon Small

Bryce Thompson

Quion Williams

Oklahoma State University Athletics