Cowboy Basketball opens homestand Wednesday night against Tarleton

TARLETON STATE (3-9) at OKLAHOMA STATE (6-3)
Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 | 7:01 p.m. CT
Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)

Tickets: OKState.com/Tickets
Watch: ESPN+ (Adam Hildebrandt & Bryndon Manzer)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network & The Varsity App (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: First Meeting

Opening Tips:

The Oklahoma State Cowboys play host to the Tarleton State Texans on Wednesday evening in what will be their first home action in 34 days.
The Pokes are 3-0 this season at GIA with early season victories over Green Bay (Nov. 4), St. Thomas (Nov. 10) and SIU (Nov. 14).
OSU has won seven straight home non-conference games dating back to last year.
The Cowboys finished 3-3 during a stretch of six straight games at road or neutral sites, capped by Saturday's 80-65 Bedlam setback to Oklahoma at the Paycom Center. Marchelus "Chi Chi" Chi Chi Avery scored a team-high 19 points for OSU to go with 11 from Arturo Dean.
New head coach Steve Lutz brings a fast and physical brand of basketball to Stillwater. He's made the NCAA tournament in each of his first three seasons during rapid rebuilds at Western Kentucky and A&M-Corpus Christi.
A year ago, Lutz's Hilltoppers led the nation in adjusted tempo, per KenPom, and the current Cowboys rank 18th.
OSU is also among the NCAA leaders in steals (27th, 9.8), takeaways (25th, 16.0), turnover margin (31st, +4.1), fastbreak points (19th, 16.2), free throws made (22nd, 18.9) and free throws attempted (18th, 25.7).
Playing fast requires a deep bench. OSU reserves are contributing 39.8 points (6th) while logging 43.6% of the minutes (8th). A group of 10 rotation players all average between 12 and 23 minutes.
Avery, the team's sixth-man, has also been its leading scorer (12.9) and rebounder (5.1).
Likewise, Dean has not started a game but has clocked a team-high 22.8 minutes.
Point guards Dean and Khalil Brantley have combined to average 6.1 assists per game while totaling more steals (33) than turnovers (28).
Avery, Dean and Brantley are among the 12 players who have made their OSU debuts this year.
Brandon Newman needs just 26 more points to reach 1,000 in a collegiate career that includes stops at Purdue and Western Kentucky.
The Cowboys have never faced Tarleton but were 6-3 against coach Billy Gillispie during his days at Big 12 rivals Texas A&M (2004-07) and Texas Tech (2011-12).
TSU is in its first season of full DI membership after a four-year transition from Division II. The Texans were not eligible for NCAA tournament play last season but went 25-10, finished runner-up in the WAC and made the CIT semifinals.

On this Date: Dec. 18
1934 – Oklahoma A&M defeated the University of Wichita, 29-22, for its first road victory under new head coach Henry Iba.
2004 – Fourth-ranked OSU notched win No. 8 in an eventual 9-0 start, defeating host UNLV 79-67 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Joey Graham scored 20 points for the Cowboys who used a 15-0 first half run to take control

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Saturday, Dec. 14 at Paycom Center | No. 13/17 Oklahoma 80, OSU 65

OSU fell 80-65 to Oklahoma in the 250th men's basketball edition of the Bedlam series at Oklahoma City's Paycom Center.
It was the first non-conference meeting between the two in-state rivals since 1958.
OSU trailed 30-13 near the 6:00-mark of the first half, at which point they were 3-of-16 from the field (.188) with 10 turnovers (one shy of their season average).
The Cowboys outscored the Sooners 52-50 the rest of the way while hitting 19-of-40 from the field, but the damage had already been done.
Reserves accounted for 42 points -- nearly two-thirds of the Cowboy total – led by Marchelus "Chi Chi" Avery (19) and Arturo Dean (11).
Sam Godwin finished with a career-high 20 points and 14 rebounds for OU, which connected on 30-of-61 shots (49%), including 16-of-31 while building a 43-26 halftime advantage.
The Cowboys shot 25.9% and the first half and 39.3% for the game.

Oklahoma Leftovers:

OSU followed up its most-efficient offensive performance of the season (1.25 points on 68 possessions at Seton Hall) with its least-efficient, averaging just 0.92 points on 71 possessions against Oklahoma. It was only the second time this season that the Cowboys have scored less than a point-per-possion (0.93 vs. FAU).
The Cowboys turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, matching their season average coming in. They committed just five more the rest of the way while outscoring the Sooners 39-37.
Steve Lutz wants to see his team to do a better job of attacking the rim. The Cowboys made just 17 of 38 attempts from 2-point range (.447) against the Sooners, including 4-of-14 from outside the paint (.286). That's stark contrast to what they did in the Seton Hall game when they were 2-of-3 on long two-point jumpers en route to the sixth-highest two-point percentage in OSU history (19-of-25, .760).

Trending:

Bryce Thompson is the only Cowboy who has clocked more than 30 minutes in a game this season. He played 30:06 in the season opener against Green Bay and 33:19 in the Charleston Classic finale versus Nevada.
OSU scored a season-low 65 points against OU after putting up 76-or-more in each of the first eight contests (a feat matched by just one other team in program history: The 1989-90 Cowboys, led by sophomore Byron Houston, scored 79-or-more in each of their first nine contests).
OSU is 6-0 when holding its opponent under 80 points (0-3 otherwise).
The Cowboys have outscored their foes by an average of 19.3 to 11.7 off takeaways and 16.2 to 6.4 on fastbreaks.
OSU has come away with points in 24 of its 27 fastbreak opportunities over the last three games.
OSU is 5-0 when scoring at least 20 points off turnovers (1-3 otherwise).
OSU is 2-1 when allowing its opponent to shoot 50% or better from the field. Last year's team was 1-9 in those instances.
The Cowboys have shot 47.7% as a team (39.2% from three) in their six wins, compared to 38.0% (26.2% from deep) in three defeats.
Seven different Cowboys have taken a turn as leading scorer (or co-leader) through the first nine games of the season.

Cowboys on the NCAA Leaderboard:

OSU junior guard Arturo Dean is the NCAA's active career leader in steals per game (2.83).
Including his time at FIU, Dean has recorded steals in 18 straight games and in 48 of the last 49 going back to his freshman year.
Dean recorded his 200th career steal at Seton Hall. He's one of just 11 active DI players who have reached that milestone and is the only third-year in that group.
Arkansas transfer Davonte "Devo" Davis, likewise, ranks among the NCAA's active career leaders in games played. The OU game was his 141st (tied for 18th).

Scouting the Texans:

Tarleton State is in its first season of full Division I membership after a four-year transition from Division II. The Texans were not eligible for NCAA tournament play last season but went 25-10 with a No. 135 NET ranking, finished runner-up in the WAC (16-4) and made the CIT semifinals.
Fifth-year head coach Billy Gillispie lost all five starters from that team but regained another in Freddy Hicks, a 2023 second team All-WAC selection who returned to the fold after a year away at Arkansas State.
The Texans were picked sixth out of nine teams in the WAC preseason poll, and Hicks was voted to the preseason all-conference squad.
Hicks, however, has yet to appear in a game this season, and the Texans are out to a 3-9 start against a schedule that ranks as the 15th toughest in college basketball, per KenPom. OSU is the last of six TSU road games against major conference opponents along with SMU (ACC), Florida State (ACC), Baylor (Big 12), Michigan (Big Ten) and UCF (Big 12).
The Texans returned just two players from last year's active roster. One of them – 6-7 sophomore Bubu Benjamin -- averaged just 2.8 points in 22 games as a freshman but has stepped into a larger role in his second go-around. He's currently the WAC's second-leading scorer at 17.3 points and has knocked down 23 threes on 47.9% accuracy.
Tarleton's 15 newcomers are believed to the best the second-most in Division I basketball.
Ronnie Harrison, a 6-7 sophomore who played last season at Navarro (Texas) JC, has been one of the most impactful, averaging 10.6 points, but he's missed four of the 12 contests, including Monday night's 67-62 loss at UTEP.
The Texans have gotten a recent lift from 6-8 freshman Keitenn Bristow, who sat out all nine November games due to injury but in three December contests has averaged 10.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 30.0 minutes.
6-6 junior Chris Mpaka, a junior transfer from Indian Hills CC, is the team's leading rebounder (5.7) and shot-blocker (1.7).
The Texans rank 12th nationally in takeaways (16.8) but are giving it up a nation-high 20.7 times per game. Per KenPom, TSU has turned the ball over on 30.0% of its offensive possessions against Division I opponents (also tops nationally) while forcing turnovers on 21.4%.
Tarleton is shooting 37.4% from three-point range but averages only 11.6 attempts. Much of its damage has come at the foul line, where the Texans are shooting 71.4% as a team on just over 20 attempts per game.
Per KenPom, the average Tarleton State defensive possession lasts 15.3 seconds – third shortest nationally behind Florida A&M (14.9) and Jackson State (14.8). By contrast, the average Tarleton offensive possession takes 19.8 seconds (15th longest).

Matchup Mashup:

The Cowboys have never faced Tarleton but went 6-3 against coach Billy Gillispie during his days at Big 12 rivals Texas A&M (2004-07) and Texas Tech (2011-12).
Gillispie held the Cowboys to their lowest home scoring total of the shot clock era in a 66-46 Texas A&M win on Feb. 21, 2007.
OSU assistant coach Jeremy Cox served in a similar capacity under Gillispie in stops at Texas A&M (2006-07) and Kentucky (2007-09).
Arturo Dean is the only current Cowboy who has faced Tarleton. He recorded 14 points, four assists and three steals for FIU in a November, 2023 non-conference game against the Texans in Miami.

A Cowboy win would...

Improve their season record to 7-3.
Make them 4-0 at home.
Be their eighth consecutive non-conference win at GIA (last loss: Nov. 30, 2023 to Creighton).
Make them 1-0 all-time vs. Tarleton State.
Boost their record against BIlly Gillispie to 7-3.
Lift their all-time GIA record to 864-264 (296-90 post-renovation) including 455-60 against non-conference regular season opponents.
Improve Steve Lutz's career mark to 77-38.

Up Next: Oral Roberts
Sunday, Dec. 22 | 2 p.m. CT | ESPN+

The Cowboys close out the non-conference slate at home against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.
Tickets are on sale online at okstate.com/tickets or by phone at 877-255-4678 (M-F, 8:30-5:30).
This is the last of three December games against in-state rivals.
It's the sixth meeting in eight years between OSU and ORU. The Cowboys have won each of the last five including an 81-60 victory last December in Stillwater, and they lead the all-time series 20-5 (13-1 in GIA).
ORU (3-8) has dropped all six of its true road games this year -- three of them to P5 opponents (Minnesota, Ole Miss and Texas Tech).

Cowboy Basketball opens homestand Wednesday night against Tarleton

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Khalil Brantley

Arturo Dean

Brandon Newman

Bryce Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboy Basketball opens homestand Wednesday night against Tarleton

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Khalil Brantley

Arturo Dean

Brandon Newman

Bryce Thompson

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