The Cowboys
- The 2021-22 Cowboys will attack the season with a 17-man roster, including five newcomers and four returning starters from last year's squad.
- Speaking of new - Oklahoma State welcomes three new assistant coaches (Terrence Rencher, Larry Blunt and David Cason) and a new strength coach (Mark Mitchell).
- The Cowboys return four starters from last season’s squad that returned OSU to the postseason and have added four key transfers with ambitions of pushing past the NCAA Round of 32. Setting its sights on a deep run in March, Oklahoma State returns 73 percent of its points from a year ago, 94 percent of its offensive rebounds and 74 percent of its assists.
- Oklahoma State is set to compete in 17 games against 2021 NCAA Tournament foes.
Facing (RV) TCU - Here's The Scout
- Oklahoma State is set to continue Big 12 play when it returns home on Wednesday night to face TCU at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Ted Emrich and Bryndon Manzer will be on the call as the Cowboys look to win their second-straight conference game.
- OSU will look to snap a two-game losing streak to TCU on Wednesday night. OSU leads the all-time series, 27-11, while the Cowboys are 11-3 all-time in Stillwater in a series that dates back to 1918. Oklahoma State has won two of the past three games in Stillwater.
- TCU comes into the game coming off a pair of victories, most recently against Oklahoma.
- Jamie Dixon is the 22nd head coach in the history of TCU men’s basketball and is in his sixth season with the Horned Frogs and his 19th season as a head coach. Dixon, a 2007 Block T Association Hall of Fame inductee, returned to his alma mater on March 22, 2016.
The Baylor and Texas Wins - Trends And Points
- Oklahoma State earned its first ranked win, and conference victory, with a 64-51 win over No. 14 Texas inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Pokes led from start to finish as they held Texas to its lowest scoring outing of the season.
- Keylan Boone gave the Cowboys a spark off the bench by hitting three, three-pointers in the first half, which tied his career high in made three-point field goals. He later surpassed his career high in points and made three-point field goals when he hit two threes late in the second half to total five made threes and 17 points in the game.
- OSU earned its second ranked win, and Big 12 victory, with a 61-54 win over No. 1 Baylor this past weekend in Waco. Bryce Thompson recorded a career-best 19 points to help lead the Cowboys to their first road win over the No. 1 team in the country.
- In those two wins, it's been the Keylan Boone, Bryce Thompson and Bryce Williams show. Boone averaged 12.5 points between the two while shooting 70 percent from behind the arc while Thompson has averaged 13.0 points while shooting 43.5 from the field. Williams meanwhile has averaged 10.0 in the games while shooting a perfect 1.000 percent from the line.
- The Cowboys held the Bears and Longhorns to a combined 34.9 percent from the field while forcing 25 turnovers with eight blocks and 15 steals.
- Just as important, OSU has out-rebounded the duo 72-71 while recording 29 assists to their 21.
- The leading rebounders for the Cowboys in those two games? Two guards (Avery Anderson III and Isaac Likekele) and two posts (Tyreek Smith and Moussa Cisse). The four have combined for 40 of OSU's 72 rebounds in the two games (56 percent).
The Last 5
- Bryce Thompson and Keylan Boone have led the way over the last five games as the duo has combined for 100 of OSU's 305 points while averaging 10.6 and 9.4 points per game.
- Isaac Likekele has commanded the boards with 6.6 rebounds while also adding 8.6 points per game.
- Moussa Cisse has added nine blocks during the stretch.
Through 16 - Where We're At And Where We're Going
- Oklahoma State moved to 9-7 after a historic win over No. 1 Baylor this past Saturday. The win marked OSU's first on the road over the top-ranked team in the country in school history.
- In those nine wins, OSU has dominated on the defensive side. It has held its foes to 37.4 percent from the field while forcing 18.67 turnovers per game. Along with the turnovers, it has recorded 7.0 blocks per game in the victories, as well as 11.0 steals.
- For comparison, in the seven losses teams are shooting 42.2 percent and turning the ball over 15.7 times per game while OSU has recorded 3.1 blocks per contest.
Tough Stretch - But We Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
- According to Kenpom's rankings, OSU has faced the No. 55 (Wichita State), No. 30 (Xavier), No. 157 (Cleveland State), No. 5 (Houston), No. 4 (Kansas), No. 14 (Texas), No. 41 (West Virginia), No. 18 (Texas Tech) and No. 2 (Baylor) teams in the country in its past nine games with No. 61 (TCU), No. 15 (Texas) and No. 28 (Iowa State) coming up over the next three games.
- Last week, Oklahoma State traveled 3,269 miles between Monday and Saturday night following the trip home from Waco. The Cowboys left Monday afternoon for Morgantown and did not return to campus until Saturday night around 9 p.m.
Defense First - Because It Wins Games
- Oklahoma State has allowed just six of its 16 foes to score more than 70 points in a game and has delivered the ninth-best adjusted defensive efficiency, according to Kenpom.
- A big point of that has been turnovers. OSU has forced a turnover on 24.0 percent of defensive possessions, which comes in at 18th-best in the country. If teams haven't turned the ball over first, they're also getting blocked on 15.0 percent of their possessions, the 17th-most in the country.
- But don't expect things to get any easier without a turnover or blocked shot. OSU hasn't given up many easy looks inside the three-point line, leading to teams shooting 43.7 percent from inside the arc, the 14th-lowest percentage in the country according to Kenpom.
Single Game Records Taken Down And Top Performances So Far
- The Cowboys 43-point victory on opening night against UT-Arlington was the largest since the 51-point victory vs. Southeastern Louisiana on 12/29/19.
- The Cowboys were able to finish the first half with a 43-14 lead in that game. The 29-point lead matches the 12th largest halftime lead in school history and the largest since 2016.
- Oklahoma State logged 11 steals in the first half against Prairie View A&M on 11/14, which tied for the third most in a half in school history and was the most since 11/23/16 vs. Georgetown.
- Oklahoma State had six total players score in the double-digits against Charleston on 11/22, which marked the first time this season and the first time since Iowa State in January of 2020.
- The Cowboy centers made their impact known in that game on the defensive end as Moussa Cisse recorded a career high in blocks with six and Kalib Boone recorded five of his own. The team as whole totaled 16 blocks, which is the most in all of college basketball this year and tied the school record set in 1989 vs. Oklahoma.
- Bryce Williams recorded a career-high in points with his 29 and a career high in three-pointers made with five in the win over Cleveland State on 12/13. Avery Anderson III also posted 29. This marked the first time OSU had two 20-point scorers since Anderson and Cade Cunningham did it against Baylor in the Big 12 tournament last season on March 12, 2021.
- Keylan Boone posted a career best in three-point baskets made and points scored in a game in the 64-51 victory over No. 14 Texas on Jan. 8, 2022.
- Bryce Thompson recorded a career-best 19 points in the win over No. 1 Baylor on 1/15 in Waco. The win was OSU's first over the No. 1 team in the country on the road in program history. The Cowboys were 0-4 on the road against the top-ranked team prior to that win.
The New Sheriffs In Town
- 2021 American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and former five-star big man Moussa Cisse certainly stands out in this year’s group of newcomers. Listed at 7-0 and a springy 225 pounds, Cisse started every game for Memphis as a freshman in 2020-21 and helped lead the Tigers to the NIT Title.
- Joining Cisse is 2020 McDonald’s All-American and former Kansas standout Bryce Thompson. A unanimous five-star talent, he finished his time at Tulsa’s Booker T. Washington High School as the nation’s No. 19 recruit according to Rivals. He comes to Stillwater as the seventh-highest rated Cowboy signee in the recruiting rankings era (since 2003).
- Former Texas Tech Red Raider and four-star recruit Tyreek Smith will be complementing the duo. The 2021 Academic All-Big 12 Conference selection was the 2018 TAAPS 5A Player of the Year for Trinity Christian High School in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, where he averaged 17.9 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game as a senior.
- Rounding out the highly-anticipated class is Woody Newton. A former Rivals four-star recruit out of District Heights, Maryland, Newton is coming off a freshman campaign at Syracuse in which he posted a 46.4 shooting percentage, 38.9 percent clip from 3-point and averages of 3.5 points.
Clutch Cowboys
- Oklahoma State was a perfect 4-0 in overtime games last year, started 2-0 this year after the win over Cleveland State and has won nine of its last 10 OT games dating back to 2016.
- Last year's mark tied for the most overtime games in a season in program history, and the perfect 4-0 record in extra sessions equaled the marks set by the 2006-07, 1982-83 and 1964-65 squads.
- Mike Boynton and the Cowboys are 8-1 in OT games during his career.
A Season For The Books
- Armed with hoops sensation and Consensus First Team All-American Cade Cunningham, the new era of Oklahoma State basketball announced its presence on the national stage last year.
- The Cowboys took down a school record nine ranked squads, advanced to the Big 12 Championship title game for the first time since 2005 and earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
- OSU logged its first victory in the Big Dance since 2009 and saw a slew of postseason awards arrive in Stillwater.
- The Cowboys also showed that they're set up for the future with the emergence of Avery Anderson III and the explosive play of two-time All-Big 12 selection Isaac Likekele, as well as Kalib Boone, Rondel Walker and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe.
- OSU ended the year ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press top-25, which is the team's highest spot in the final rankings since 2005.