Cowboys battle Seton Hall in Big 12-Big East challenge series

OKLAHOMA STATE (5-2) at SETON HALL (5-4)
Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 | 11 a.m. CT (Noon ET)
Newark, N.J. | Prudential Center

Watch: FS1 (John Fanta & Jim Spanarkel)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network & The Varsity App (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: OSU leads 1-0
Last: Mar. 24, 2020 in Syracuse/NCAA Sweet 16 (OSU, 68-66)

Opening Tips:

The Oklahoma State Cowboys journey east to take on Seton Hall Pirates on Sunday afternoon in a matchup that will close out the sixth annual Big 12-Big East Battle.
This is the last of the 11 games scheduled to take place this week between members of the two conferences.
The programs have met just one another time, 24 years ago at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. OSU won 68-66 to advance to the Elite Eight.
Shaheen Holloway was starting point guard on that 2000 Pirate team but missed the Sweet 16 game after injuring his ankle in the second-round win over Temple.
Holloway is now in his third season as head coach at his alma mater. His Pirates boast the nation's third-best scoring defense (56.6 ppg) and their opponents are shooting just 38.2%.
Seton Hall is averaging fewer possessions per game (62.2) than all but three teams.
By contrast, first-year head coach Steve Lutz has OSU playing at one of the nation's fastest tempos with an average of 73.8 possessions (22nd nationally).
The Cowboys improved to 5-2 with Wednesday's 76-55 win at Tulsa. Bryce Thompson had 15 points and four assists while accounting for four of OSU's season-high 16 steals.
Thompson is one of just three returning lettermen. Last month he became the 45th member of the school's 1,000 point club.
Lutz has never missed the NCAA tournament as a head coach, despite taking on major rebuilds at A&M-Corpus Christi (2021-23) and Western Kentucky (2023-24). He's in the midst of another at OSU with 13 newcomers (12 of them transfers).
Playing at Lutz preferred speed requires a deep roster. OSU ranks among the nation's top-10 in bench points (9th, 38.4) and minutes (10th, 42.6%). Ten Cowboys are clocking between 12 and 25 minutes per game.
OSU has forced double-digit steals five times this season.
The Cowboys lead the Big 12 and rank among the national leaders in turnover margin (12th, +6.0), steals (15th, 10.1), takeaways (20th, 16.7) and fastbreak points (20th, 16.9).
The Cowboys are also 13th on the NCAA leaderboard in free throw makes (19.6) and 12th in attempts (26.7). They've converted 73.3%.
Sixth-man Marchelus "Chi Chi" Avery is averaging a team-high 13.0 points.
6-10 forward Abou Ousmane (12.2 ppg) is OSU's top rebounder (5.5) and shot-blocker (1.0).
The Cowboys are looking to reach 2-0 in true road games after finishing 1-9 a year ago.
Bedlam returns next Saturday as OSU takes on rival Oklahoma at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Fans can reserve seats in the OSU fan section by visiting okstate.com/tickets.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Wednesday, Dec. 4 in Tulsa | OSU 76, Tulsa 55

A strong defensive performance helped OSU to a lopsided road win over in-state rival Tulsa.
The Cowboys scored 32 points off 22 turnovers and held the hosts to a paltry 36% from the field.
Tulsa native Bryce Thompson tallied a game-high 15 points and four assists while accounting for four of OSU's 16 steals. His performance came in front of a large contingent of family and friends, including his father Rod, a former Tulsa standout from the late 90s.
Abou Ousmane added 13 points and seven rebounds.
The Cowboys turned three straight steals into transition layups during an 8-0 run to close the first half. They led 39-26 at halftime and doubled the margin to as many as 26 late.
The Cowboys attempted 44 of their 61 shots from inside the paint. They launched just eight three-pointers -- fewest in nearly five seasons.

Trending:

OSU has scored at least 76 points in each of the first seven games -- 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. Houston put up 18.4 points per game in that stretch.
OSU is 5-0 when holding its opponent under 80 points (0-2 otherwise).
On a per-40-minute basis, Abou Ousmane (23.6), Chi Chi Avery (23.0) and Bryce Thompson (20.1) are all averaging better than 20 points.
Thompson is averaging a team-best 15.0 points on 9-of-16 (.563) three-point shooting in Cowboy wins compared to 6.5 points (0/6 3pt) in the two losses.
Steve Lutz has used 58 unique lineup combos through the first seven games, including a season-high 32 on Nov. 21 against FAU when 33 team fouls forced him to mix and match.
OSU has won five straight December games going back to 2023.
Six different Cowboys have taken a turn atop the scoring chart and nine have tallied double-figure points at least once.
OSU has held a halftime lead in six of the seven games this year. The exception was the Nov. 24 loss to Nevada.
OSU has finished even or better in the turnover column in all seven games.
The Cowboys have outscored opponents by an average of 20.0 to 10.1 off takeaways and 16.9 to 6.4 on fastbreaks.

The Series with Seton Hall:

OSU is 1-0 all-time against Seton Hall.
The Cowboys defeated the Pirates, 68-66, in a 2000 NCAA Sweet 16 matchup at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
Desmond Mason (16 points), Fredrik Jonzen (15) and Brian Montonati (15) led the OSU scoring, while Doug Gottlieb handed out 12 assists with only two turnovers against the Pirates' full-court press.
10th-seeded Seton Hall played without its own senior point guard -- Shaheen Holloway -- who led the Pirates to a pair overtime upsets over No. 7 Oregon and No. 2 Temple but injured his ankle against the latter.

Scouting the Pirates:

Third-year head coach Shaheen Holloway is a 2000 Seton Hall graduate and the program's all-time assist leader (681). He took St. Peter's on a historic run to the 2022 Elite Eight and has since guided the Pirates to consecutive NIT appearances, including the 2024 title.
Defense has been Holloway's trademark. His last three teams have finished 25^th, 20^th and 33^rd in KenPom's defensive efficiency rankings, and this year's group enters the weekend at No. 21.
The Pirates have the nation's third-best scoring defense (56.6 ppg) but are fourth from the bottom in scoring offense (58.3). Pace plays a part in both numbers. The Pirates average just 62.2 possessions per game. Only three teams -- North Texas (61.9), Virginia (61.5) and Wagner (60.6) -- have logged fewer.
Seton Hall is shooting just 38.5% as a team but has held opponents to 37.9%, including a chilly 28.6% from three.
Picked 10th out of 11 teams in the Big East preseason poll, the Pirates (5-4) finished third in the Charleston Classic with wins over VCU and FAU bookending a semifinal setback against Vanderbilt. The Commodores' 76-60 win marks the only time this season that Seton Hall has surrendered more than 66 points.
Graduate guard Dylan Addae-Wusu (8.0 ppg, team-best 3.0 apg) is the only returning starter from last year's NIT champs.
Graduate guard Chaunce Jenkins -- a two-time All-SBC pick for Old Dominion -- is the team's top scorer (13.1) and rebounder (4.6).
6-5 sophomore Isaiah Coleman (10.9 ppg) made the Charleston Classic's all-tournament team.
That trio have combined to hit 38-of-90 (.422) three-point attempts.

Matchup Mashup:

OSU has never played a regular season game there, but the state of New Jersey is still a place of great importance in Cowboy Basketball lore. OSU punched its last two Final Four tickets on Seton Hall's former home court, Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford. The Cowboys knocked off Wake Forest and UMass to win the 1995 East Regional title and cut down the nets again in 2004 with victories against Pittsburgh and St. Joseph's. Sutton also coached OSU against Temple there in the 1991 Sweet 16.
OSU's Abou Ousmane (Brooklyn) and Khalil Brantley (Bronx) are both New York City natives.
OSU head coach Steve Lutz is familiar with the Big East after serving as an assistant coach at Creighton from 2010-17. The Bluejays joined the league in 2013 out of the Missouri Valley.

On the Battle Field:

This is the last of 11 matchups in the 2024 Big 12-Big East Battle (Dec. 3-8).
The challenge series is in its sixth season. The Big 12 won last year's installment, 7-4, ending a string of three straight draws. The Big East claimed its lone victory back in 2019.
OSU won at Marquette in 2020 but has otherwise struggled in this event, posting a 1-4 all-time record. The Cowboys fell last year to No. 15 Creighton and lost in 2022 at eventual national champion UConn.
This will be Abou Ousmane's second Battle but his first on the Big 12 side. He finished with eight points, four rebounds, two blocks and three steals in Xavier's 66-60 loss to No. 6 Houston.
Seton Hall is 1-3 in this event (its 2020 game with Baylor was canceled due to COVID 19), with all three losses coming on the road. In 2021, the 23^rd ranked Pirates knocked off No. 7 Texas, 64-60 at the Prudential Center. They've since lost at No. 9 Kansas in 2022 (91-65) and at No. 6 Baylor (78-60) in 2023.

A Cowboy win would...

Improve their record to 6-2.
Make them 2-0 in true road games.
Double their true win total from a season ago when they finished 1-9.
Make them 2-0 all-time against Seton Hall.
Make them 2-4 in Big 12-Big East Battle games.
Improve Steve Lutz's career mark to 75-37.
Give them six straight December wins going back to 2023.

Up Next: vs. Oklahoma (OKC/Paycom Center)
Saturday, Dec. 14 | 7 p.m. CT | ESPNU

The 250th meeting in this 117-year-old men's basketball series will be the first since Oklahoma's move to Southeastern Conference.
The Cowboys and Sooners have played at least once in every season since 1927-28.
Fans can reserve tickets in the OSU section by visiting okstate.com/tickets.
The Sooners are 7-0 heading into Saturday's home date with Alcorn State and are ranked in both the AP and Coaches polls.
Oklahoma won an 84-82 overtime thriller at Gallagher-Iba Arena when the Sooners' Javian McCollum sank a corner three as time expired.
Prior to last season's two-game Sooner sweep, the Cowboys had won three straight and seven of the last eight series meetings.

Cowboys battle Seton Hall in Big 12-Big East challenge series

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Khalil Brantley

Abou Ousmane

Bryce Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboys battle Seton Hall in Big 12-Big East challenge series

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Khalil Brantley

Abou Ousmane

Bryce Thompson

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