News Releases

Facing Texas - Here's The Scout 

• Oklahoma State is set to continue conference play Saturday inside GIA for the second of two-straight home games to play host to No. 6 Texas at 11 a.m. CT. Chuckie Kempf and Lance Blanks will have the call on ESPNU while Cowboy fans can listen to Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb on the Cowboy Radio Network or Varsity App. 
• Texas comes into the 103rd meeting between the two schools with a 12-2 record after dropping its conference home opener against Kansas State on Tuesday night in Austin. The Longhorns scored 103 points in regulation, but the Wildcats took the 116-103 decision. 
• Texas leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1918, 55-47 and has won two of the past three meetings. OSU has found success at home in the series as it holds a 26-14 record in Stillwater. The Cowboys have averaged 61.5 points per game in the series.
• Marcus Carr was named to the John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy's Midseason Top 25 Watch List, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Wednesday evening. Chosen by a poll of national college basketball experts based on their performances during the 2022-23 season thus far, the list comprises of 25 student-athletes who are front-runners for the sport's most prestigious honor.  
• A two-time Big 12 Conference Player of the Week selection this year (Dec. 19 and Jan. 2), Carr leads the Longhorns in scoring, assists, steals and minutes. He has posted an impressive 2.95 assist-to-turnover ratio (59-20).

The New Sheriffs In Town 

• John-Michael Wright, a High Point transfer, brings experience and poise to the Oklahoma State locker room. In the 2021-22 season, his junior year of eligibility, he played and started in all 32 games for High Point while averaging 34.9 minutes per contest. He shot .410 from the field and .363 from behind the arc as he averaged 18.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
• He finished the year with the eighth-best assist-turnover ratio in the Big South, the ninth-best field goal percentage, had the second-most free throw attempts (third-most made), led the conference in scoring average and had the eighth-most assists.
• Alongside Wright from the transfer ranks is Caleb Asberry from Texas State. He started all 29 games during the 2021-22 season, the only Bobcat to do that, as he led the team in scoring with a career-high 13.6 points and also paced the team in minutes played (847), steals (37), three-pointers made (63).
• Asberry was notably a two-time All-Sun Belt (2021: Third Team, 2022: First Team) selection.
• The lone freshman of the group, Quion Williams, joins the Cowboys from Jonesboro. During his high school career, Williams helped lead his team to two state championships and a 30-3 record.

Early Season Quick Hitters 

• Moussa Cisse has dominated through 14 games with five double-doubles to his name so far. The five double-doubles are the second most in the Big 12, only behind Jalen Wilson of Kansas with six. Cisse is four double-doubles away from becoming the first Cowboy since Bryant “Big Country” Reeves to post 10 or more in a season. 
• After the Wichita State result, Oklahoma State has now held at least one opponent to less than 50 points in a game in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2016. 
• There have been 17 seasons since the 2000-01 year that OSU had at least one game holding an opponent to less than 50 points while the program has done so in back-to-back seasons 13 times during the stretch. 
• Cisse is one of just 15 players in the country averaging at least 9.9 rebounds per game through the completion of this Wednesday's action. 
• OSU has found its stride on the offensive side of the ball over the past five games. The Cowboys have shot 44.4 from the field and 37.6 from behind the arc on their way to a 3-2 record. Avery Anderson III has notably gone 11-for-11 at the free throw line. 
• Coming into Saturday's play Anderson has posted a Big 12-best .909 free throw percentage. 
• Over the past five games, Cisse has recorded 8 blocks. The five Cowboy opponents have had just 10 all together. 
• Thanks to Cisse and Kalib Boone, OSU comes into the third game of Big 12 play as the only school with two players in the top-9 for blocked shots. 

The Upcoming Schedule 

• Each of OSU’s first three opponents are ranked inside the AP Poll or getting votes while seven of their first eight are ranked or receiving votes. 
• Oklahoma State had a quick turn to open Big 12 play as it played Kansas last Saturday before playing host to West Virginia on Monday. 
• The Cowboys now get set to play host to No. 6 Texas on Saturday afternoon, looking to win its third game in the past five meetings between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1918. OSU is 5-1 in the past six meetings in Stillwater. 
• From there, OSU will hit the road for a pair of games next week, starting on Tuesday against Kansas State before closing the week on Saturday in Waco.

The Defense Lately 

• Has not allowed 30 points in nine of the past 18 halves of action and hasn’t let opponents reach that mark in 21 of the past 36 dating back to last season. 
• Has held teams to 60 or less points in six of the past nine games and hasn’t allowed a team to score 61 or more in nine of their past 16 games dating back to last year.
• Has held teams to less than 40 percent shooting from the field in 15 of its past 16 games dating back to last year and has done so in 19 of their past 23 games. To expand, only four teams (SIU, DePaul, Virginia Tech and Kansas) have shot 38 percent or better this season against the Cowboys. Behind the arc, nine of OSU's 14 foes have shot less than 30 percent this year.  
• Has started its success early in its 10 contests as it has held teams to less than 10 points in the first 10 minutes of a game four times this season. 

Moussa Is A Monster 

• If you only counted his blocks at home (20), Moussa Cisse would still have the second-most blocks in the Big 12 as of Jan. 5. He has recorded at least one block in each of his past 24 games. There have been just three games in his Oklahoma State career in which he did not record at least one block. In his home game against Sam Houston earlier this season, he recorded four blocks. It marked the fourth time this season he recorded four or more blocks and was the eighth time he posted two or more in a game this year. 
• Through the first seven home games this season, Cisse is averaging a block approximately every 9 minutes of his playing time in Gallagher-Iba Arena. 
• As of Thursday, he checked in at No. 5 in KenPom's block percentage rankings only behind Milwaukee's Ahmad Rand, Western Kentucky's Jamarion Sharp, San Jose St. Ibrahimo Diallo and Liam Robbins of Vanderbilt. 
• In his last five home games, Cisse has combined to post 49 points, 13 blocks and 49 rebounds. 
• It's been tough to keep him off the boards this year, as he has posted 10 or more rebounds in five of his past eight games and has reached the mark in nine of his first 14 games. 

Moussa Got Better Last Season - And Here's The Numbers To Show It 

• Based on his first 15 games in Stillwater last season, in comparison to the final 15 of last year, the evidence shows Moussa Cisse got better as the year went along and was playing his best basketball at the end of the season. 
• Through his first 15 contests as a Cowboys, Cisse was shooting 49.2 percent from the field while averaging 5.4 rebounds, 6.4 points and was playing 17.5 minutes per game. 
• Flip it to the last 15 games, and Cisse shot 61.5 percent from the field while averaging 7.5 rebounds with 8.1 points and was playing 22.4 minutes per game. 
• Just looking at the last 10 games of the season, he recorded a double-double in three contests (West Virginia, Baylor and Oklahoma) and had multi-digit rebounds in six of them, including all of the final four. 
• In that stretch of games down the stretch, the numbers immediately jump out from the West Virginia win on Feb. 12. Cisse posted 18 points with 10 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive side of the ball.

The 100 Games Played Club Gained Two More 

• Oklahoma State’s Avery Anderson III and Kalib Boone both played in their 100th game in a Cowboy uniform against Kansas in the Big 12 opener for the Cowboys. In doing so, they became the first two players on the current roster to play 100 college basketball games. John-Michael Wright, who transferred in, played his 100th basketball game on Monday night. 
• Other notable members of the club include Darwyn Alexander, Joe Adkins, James Anderson, Markel Brown, Terry Collins, JamesOn Curry, Byron Eaton, Marcus Dove, Phil Forte, Isaac Likekele, Desmond Mason, Ivan McFarlin, Marshall Moses, Keiton Page and more. 
• Anderson III’s first game came on Nov. 6, 2019, in an 80-75 win against Oral Roberts in Gallagher-Iba Arena. He played 13 minutes with five points, two steals and an assist. 
• Kalib Boone’s first game was the same night. He played 10 minutes, bringing in four rebounds and recorded two blocks. 

The Winning Formula This Year 

• In its nine wins this season, Oklahoma State has three players (Avery Anderson III, Bryce Thompson and John-Michael Wright) averaging at least 11 points per game. 
• The Cowboys have shot 35.5 percent from behind the arc in their victories while allowing their opponents an average of just 59.2 points per game.
• For comparison, in the five losses just two players (Anderson and Thompson) have averaged at least 10 points or more while OSU has shot 30.0 percent from three. Opponents have still averaged just 66.8 points per game in the Cowboy losses. 
• Sharing the ball, alongside sharing the scoring, has been key as well. OSU has averaged 15.1 assists per game in wins while averaging 11.0 in losses. 
• Turnovers have been another winning indicator as the Cowboys have averaged 14.3 in wins while forcing an average of 14.4 in contrast to an average of 15.8 in losses while opponents are averaging 11.8.