Cowboys Play Host to No. 12 Texas Tech on Saturday

12/12 TEXAS TECH (19-5, 10-3) at OKLAHOMA STATE (12-12, 4-9)
Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025 | 2:01 p.m. CT
Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)

Tickets: okstate.com/tickets
Watch: ESPN+ (James Westling & Bryndon Manzer)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: OSU leads 50-27 (27-6 in Stillwater)
Last: Jan. 26, 2025 in Lubbock (TTU, 63-53)

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Openings Tips:

Oklahoma State looks to continue its home success Saturday afternoon against the 12th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders.
The Cowboys are in search of their first top-25 win since Feb. 17, 2024 (93-83 over No. 19 BYU) but will have ample opportunity over the next two weeks with three of their next four against nationally-ranked teams. Following Wednesday night's home game against UCF (8 p.m. CT, ESPN+), the Pokes will travel next Saturday to No. 17 Kansas, then welcome in No. 10 Iowa State on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
OSU is 9-2 on its home floor (4-2 in BIg 12 play) with victories in four of the last five, capped by last Sunday's 86-73 win over Arizona State.
In conference play, OSU is averaging 14.7 more points at GIA (75.7) than on the road (61.0). Nine Cowboys are averaging at least 4.8 points in Big 12 home games, led by Chi Chi Avery (12.8), Abou Ousmane (12.7) and Bryce Thompson (12.0).
The Cowboys missed out on an opportunity to add that momentum on Wednesday at TCU, instead falling 73-72 on a three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left. Thompson scored 17 points and Ousmane added 15, including a slam dunk with 19 seconds remaining that gave OSU its first lead of the night.
Texas Tech won the first meeting between the teams on Jan. 26 in Lubbock (53-63). Thompson had 17 and Ousmane added a double-double (10 pts, 10 reb) for OSU.
The 2023-24 Pokes were the Big 12's youngest team, but this year's version is loaded with experience. Ten Cowboys average 10+ minutes. Eight of them are DI transfers and seven are listed seniors, fifth-years or grad students.
First-year head coach Steve Lutz has brought a fast and physical brand of basketball to Stillwater with a team that relentlessly attacks the rim and feasts on transition opportunities created by a smothering half court defense.
Arturo Dean, the Big 12 leader in steal percentage (5.2), is among the keys to an OSU defense that ranks second in steals per game (8.4) and forced turnovers (14.4).
OSU has made a living at the line with nearly a quarter of its points coming on free throws (24.4% is 8th-highest nationally). The Cowboys also lead the Big 12 and rank among the NCAA leaders in free throw rate (12th, 43.2), free throw makes (12th, 17.8) and attempts (14th, 24.5).
Chi Chi Avery has been one of the nation's most explosive reserves, averaging a team-best 12.2 points. He's part of an OSU bench unit that ranks 13th nationally in points (31.8).
Ousmane (11.9 ppg) is the team's top rebounder (5.8) and shot-blocker with 21 this season and 147 for his career.
Thompson (11.5 ppg) reached 1,300 collegiate points in Wednesday's game. He's averaging a team-high 12.8 points in Big 12 play.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Feb. 12, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas | TCU 73, OSU 72

Vasean Allette's desperation three with 0.4 seconds gave TCU an improbable 73-72 victory and OSU its seventh straight loss in Fort Worth.
The shot spoiled the Cowboys' own remarkable comeback as well as their first Big 12 road win.
TCU had the ball and a three-point lead with 33 seconds to play before speedy point guard Arturo Dean forced a pair of Horned Frog turnovers. The first led to a Brandon Newman jumper and the latter to an Abou Ousmane dunk that gave the Cowboys their first lead of the night -- 71-70 -- with just 19 seconds to play.
TCU missed a layup and a tip-in, and Newman emerged from the pack with the rebound. He split a pair of free throws for a 72-70 margin with 3.2 seconds remaining.
TCU's long inbound grazed the fingertips of an OSU defender near midcourt and landed softly in the arms of Allette, who turned, set his feet and launched a contested 25-foot jumper off the bounce for the last of his team-high 16 points.
TCU shot 48.2% to OSU's 40.7%. The Cowboys made 18-of-24 free throws to TCU's 12-of-20 and outscored the Frogs 25-11 off turnovers.

More TCU Leftovers:

Three of the seven straight OSU losses in Fort Worth have come on last-second TCU baskets.
On Feb. 6, 2019, the Frogs pulled out a 70-68 win on J.D. Miller's 10-foot jumper with 0.3 seconds left.
On Feb. 3, 2020, OSU had a chance to take the last shot with game knotted at 78 but pulled the trigger five seconds too early. TCU' Jaedon Lee grabbed an outlet pass turned a layup into a game-winning three-point play with 2.2 seconds remaining.
Recent OSU teams have played some of their best basketball down the stretch. Going back to the 2019-20 season, the Cowboys are 22-22 in February (2-2 this year), compared to just 13-31 (.295) in January league play.
The TCU game killed what had been a season-long trend. OSU lost for the first time when scoring more than 40 combined points off free throws and turnovers (9-1). The Cowboys were 18-of-24 at the line and outscored the Frogs 25-11 despite a narrow 17-14 turnover margin.
The Cowboys had also entered the night as the only team in the nation that had not been part of a one-possession or overtime game. Each of their first 23 games were decided by at least five points.
Bryce Thompson led the OSU scoring for the seventh time in the last 10 games. Over that stretch he's averaging 14.9 points.
Thompson jumped two more spots on OSU's all-time scoring list. He has 1,221 points in parts of four seasons in Stillwater and needs just 15 more to crack the top-25.
Arturo Dean has finished with at least three steals in more than half (44) of his 86 career games. He's done it 10 times this season.
In four February games, Dean is averaging 10 points on 58.3% shooting, along with 4.5 assists and 3.0 steals.
Chi Chi Avery had made multiple threes in five straight games and in seven of his last eight contests going back to the Jan. 18 Colorado game. The lone exception was the Jan. 26 loss at Texas Tech when he played a season-low 13 minutes and did not attempt a shot. Toss that out, and he's otherwise averaged 14.3 points in this stretch while knocking down 41.5% of his threes (17-of-44).

The Series with Texas Tech:

OSU has won 50 of the 77 meetings in a series that began in 1937 and became an annual affair some six decades later when the two schools helped form the Big 12 Conference.
Texas Tech has won the last three meetings, matching its longest series winning streak.
2024-25 marks the 29th consecutive season that the schools have played each other on both campuses, replacing Oklahoma as OSU's longest running home-and-home series.
OSU is 27-6 all-time against Texas Tech in Stillwater (23-5 in the Big 12 era) with victories in 18 of the last 21.
OSU is 12-18 in Lubbock (10-16 at United Supermarkets Arena).
The Cowboys are 6-1 in Big 12 tourney matchups with five straight wins, highlighted by a 72-68 victory in the 2005 championship game.
OSU is 9-7 against AP-ranked Texas Tech teams. Five of those wins have come in the past eight seasons.

Matchup Mashup:

OSU junior forward Robert Jennings II played the last two years for Texas Tech, appearing in 61 games with 14 starts. He started nine of the last 10 games during the 2023-24 season and had six points in the Red Raiders' NCAA tournament matchup with NC State.
Abou Ousmane played his first three seasons (2020-23) for Grant McCasland at North Texas, helping the Mean Green to the best three-year stretch in program history with a 74-24 record, a first round win in the 2021 NCAA tournament, a 2022 CUSA title and the 2023 NIT championship.
OSU associate head coach James Miller worked under McCasland for a year each at Arkansas State (2016-17) and North Texas (2017-18).

Scouting the Red Raiders:

Texas Tech dropped its first two home games in a 2-2 Big 12 start but has been nearly unstoppable since, winning eight of its last nine to move into sole possession of third place at 10-3.
Tech is 5-1 on the road this year with the only blemish last Saturday at No. 20 Arizona.
On Feb. 1, the Red Raiders ended No. 6 Houston's nation-best 33-game home winning streak with an 82-81 overtime victory.
Tech is 12^th in both the AP and Coaches polls and enter the weekend at No. 8 in the NCAA NET.
KenPom ranks the Red Raiders ninth in adjusted offensive efficiency. In short, they are an excellent shooting team that thrives on the offensive glass and rarely turns the ball over.
Tech leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage (.482) and ranks among the top-25 nationally in scoring (24^th, 82.0), scoring margin (12^th, +14.4), A:TO ratio (25^th, 1.55) and three-point percentage (20^th, .381). They knock down an average of 9.6 triples per game (35^th).
The Red Raiders boast three of the Big 12's top 10 scorers:
6-foot-9 J.T. Toppin – the 2024 Mountain West Freshman of the Year at New Mexico -- is Tech's leading scorer (16.5) and rebounder (9.0).
6-6 junior Darrion Williams – the 2023 Mountain West Freshman of the Year at Nevada – is averaging 15.3 points and 4.0 assists in his second go-around at Texas Tech. He was a third team All-Big 12 pick last season.
6-3 super senior Chance McMillian has never won the Mountain West Freshman of the Year Award but is averaging 15.2 points and 2.4 threes per game.
5-11 Minnesota transfer Elijah Hawkins ranks 10^th nationally in assists (6.4) and 15^th in A:TO ratio (3.41).

On This Date: Feb. 15

1965 – In the first four-overtime game in GIA history, OSU outlasted Kansas, 68-64. Led by the senior trio of James King, Larry Hawk and Gene Johnson, the Pokes went on to win the Big 8 title.

A Cowboy win would...

Be their first over an AP top-25 opponent since Feb. 17, 2024 (93-83 over No. 19 BYU).
Be their highest rated victim since winning at No. 11 Iowa State on Feb. 11, 2023.
Make them 78-85 all-time in home games against AP top-25 foes.
Eclipse last year's overall and Big 12 win totals (12-20) with six regular season games to play.
Be their third straight at home and boost their record at GIA to 10-2 (5-2 Big 12).
Give them a season split with Texas Tech and extend their all-time series lead to 51-27 (28-6).
Make them 9-7 against AP top-25 TTU teams.

Up Next: UCF
Wednesday, 8 p.m. CT (ESPNU)

The Cowboys are home again Wednesday night against the UCF Knights.
The teams will play twice in a span of 15 days with OSU making a return trip to Orlando on Wednesday, March 8.
The Knights took the first Big 12 era matchup between the schools (Feb. 28, 2024) in Stillwater and ended the Cowboys' 2023-24 season with another 77-62 victory in the first round of the Big 12 Championship.
UCF (13-11, 4-9) rides a five-game losing streak into Saturday's visit to 0-13 Colorado).
The Knights average 79.0 points while playing at the nation's 18^th fastest tempo, per KenPom.
Keyshawn Hall is the Big 12's top per-game scorer (18.5 ppg) and teammate Keyshawn Hall leads the league in both steals (2.38) and three-point percentage (2.5 on 42.0% accuracy).

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Players Mentioned

Arturo Dean

Robert Jennings II

Brandon Newman

Abou Ousmane

Bryce Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics