Cowboys, Golden Hurricane Meet For 110th Time

Game Center

• Opponent: at Tulsa (4-3, 0-0 American)

• Date/Tipoff: Dec. 10, 2016 / 4 p.m. Central

• Tickets: tulsahurricane.com

• TV: CBS Sports (Rich Waltz, Doug Gottlieb & Cassie McKinney)

• Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)

• Satellite Radio: None

• Internet Radio: http://okla.st/osutunein

• Live Stats: tulsahurricane.com

• Oklahoma State Game Notes

The Basics

• The Cowboys lost a heartbreaker last Saturday at No. 22 Maryland, but return to action against a familiar foe in the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. This will be the 110th meeting (OSU leads 71-38 overall) between these two schools that are separated by just 70 miles. Last season, a veteran Tulsa squad took down OSU, 66-56, which was their first win in Gallagher-Iba Arena since 1985.

On the Air

• Oklahoma State's all-time assists leader, Doug Gottlieb, will be on the CBS Sports Network TV call for Saturday's game at Tulsa. He will be joined on the air by Rich Waltz and sideline reporter Cassie McKinney. Gottlieb piled up 793 total assists (8.2 apg) in his OSU career, which is 248 ahead of second place Byron Eaton. As always, the team of Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call.

Oklahoma State Snapshot

• This week's Big 12 Player of the Week, Jawun Evans stands among the nation's elite point guards. The sophomore is the only player in the country to rank among the top seven in scoring (6th, 23.6 ppg) and steals (5th, 3.0 spg) and KenPom currently rates him as the No. 4 offensive threat in the nation. The Naismith Trophy and Cousy Award watch list member has five 20-point games and three 30-point games this season alone, and he also earned a spot on the Maui Invitational All-Tournament team. The Big 12 leader in scoring and steals, Evans also ranks among the league's top 10 in assists (5th, 5.1 apg), free throw percentage (6th, 78.3%) and assist-to-turnover ratio (7th, 2.6 a/to), and he owns the Big 12's top two scoring performances this season - 35 points against UConn, and 34 points against Campbell.

• OSU ranks third in the country in scoring with 95.3 points per game, but their high-pressure defense is the main reason why. The Cowboys rank fourth in the country with 11.8 steals per game and third in turnovers forced at 20.38. According to KenPom, OSU is holding opponents to an average possession of just 14.4 seconds - the shortest in the country - and they rank seventh in turnover percentage with a mark of 25.1. That defensive pressure has allowed OSU to shoot a total of 82 more shots (+10.3 per game) than their opponents, and average 23.1 points off turnovers per game.

• Jeffrey Carroll has been a scoring and rebounding machine this season. The redshirt-junior is the only player in the Big 12 ranked among the league's top four in scoring (4th, 16.0 ppg), rebounding (3rd, 8.1 rpg) and field goal percentage (3rd, 60.3 percent). He's also third in 3-point percentage at a stellar 50.0 percent (12-of-24). Carroll has three 20-point games this year and pulled down a career-high 12 board at Maryland last weekend.

• Lucas N'Guessan is proving to be a viable option for the Cowboys in the paint. The 7-foot freshman has started the last three games against Georgetown, Rogers State and Maryland, and averaged 8.0 points and 6.0 rebounds on 78.6 percent shooting (11-of-14). What's more, N'Guessan has a nose for the offensive glass. In this three-game span, he's pulled down 4.0 offensive rebounds per game, including six against the Terrapins on Saturday.

• Last week, Phil Forte became just the 17th player in school history to score 1,400 career points. After a 14-point performance at Maryland, the redshirt-senior now has 1,423 points to his credit. He currently ranks fifth in the country with a 97-3 free throw percentage (36-of-37). At 262 career makes, Forte needs just 37 more 3-pointers to tie Keiton Page for the school's career 3-point record.

Tulsa Snapshot

• Tulsa enters Saturday's game with a 4-3 record after overcoming a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Illinois State, 70-68, at the Reynolds Center on Wednesday night.  Sterling Taplin's layup with 11 seconds remaining completed a 14-point comeback over the final 15:35. Taplin finished with 15 points, as did Junior Etou. Will Magnay posted his first career double-double with 10 points and 13 boards.

• Tulsa has come on strong since the debut of Jaleel Wheeler five games ago. An NJCAA All-American at Kilgor College last season, Wheeler leads Tulsa in scoring (13.8 ppg) and assists (3.0 apg) and is second on the squad in rebounding (6.6 rpg). Since his debut, TU is 4-1 with wins over Oregon State and Illinois State, and their only loss is at Little Rock, a 30-win team from a year ago.

• Frank Haith is in his third season at the helm of the Golden Hurricane. The author of over 250 wins and seven straight 20-win seasons at Miami, Missouri and Tulsa, Haith's teams have reached the postseason in 10 of his 13 seasons as a head coach, including last year's at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for Tulsa.

• Despite the at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in March, Tulsa was picked to finish ninth in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll. TU was the nation's most veteran team a year ago, but lost all five starters to graduation.

• The Cowboys are 71-38 all-time against Tulsa, including a 27-21 mark in Tulsa. OSU is 4-6 against the Golden Hurricane in their last 10 trips to the city of Tulsa.

• OSU is 121-60 against current members of the American Athletic Conference. Here's the breakdown; Cincinnati (3-2), East Carolina (Never Met), Houston (12-7), Memphis (5-3), SMU (20-6),  Temple (5-3), Tulane (2-1), Tulsa (71-38), Central Florida (Never Met), UConn (1-0), South Florida (2-0).