Cowboys Look To Extend Win Streak Against Red Raiders

The Basics

• Oklahoma State (19-9, 8-7 Big 12) is one of the nation's hottest teams, and their next victory would secure the 35th 20-win season in school history. The Cowboys are one of just four major conference schools to have won nine of their last 10 games, joining No. 14 Purdue, No. 4 Arizona and No. 13 Florida. In their last outing, the Cowboys overcame a 14-point deficit to take down Kansas State, which was the program's biggest road comeback since the 2004 meeting with the Wildcats (16 points). Now, OSU turns its attention to Texas Tech (17-11, 5-10 Big 12), which took West Virginia and Iowa State to overtime in its last two games. The Red Raiders have faced KenPom top-10 opponents in three of their last four outings, which included a win over Baylor, 84-78, in Lubbock on Feb. 13.

On the Air

• Oklahoma State and Texas Tech will face off on ESPNU with Dave Armstrong and former Cowboy guard Bryndon Manzer on the call. This is the last of 13 scheduled appearance on ESPNU for the Cowboys this season. OSU is 9-3 on ESPNU this season, and 38-31 all-time on the network, which hosted its inaugural broadcast at Gallagher-Iba Arena on March 5, 2005.

As always, Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb will have the Cowboy Radio Network call from the historic white maple floor.

Oklahoma State Snapshot

• COWBOY QUICK HITTERS: Jawun Evans joins Baylor's Jonathan Motley as the only players to win three Big 12 Player of the Week awards this season ... In the last three games, Evans averaged 21.3 points and 10.0 assists ... Evans' understudy, Brandon Averette, hasn't missed a shot in three games (8-of-8) ... According to KenPom, Oklahoma State has faced the nation's No. 2 strength of schedule ... The Cowboys have now won five straight Big 12 road games for the first time since 2012-13 ... The last OSU team to win six straight road games was in 1950-51 ...  Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology report has the Cowboys as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament ... The last team to make the NCAA Tournament field after falling in their first six conference games was 1985-86 Maryland.

• Three-time Big 12 Player of the Week Jawun Evans is one of just four power conference players nationwide averaging at least 16 points and 6 assists in conference play. One of 30 players still in consideration for the Naismith Trophy, Evans ranks second in the Big 12 in scoring (18.3) and assists (6.0), and is third in steals (2.0). Evans has 11 20-point games and three 30-point games this season alone.

• On Jan. 18, OSU fell to 0-6 in league play following a home loss to K-State. What a difference a month can make. The Cowboys are now in fifth place at 8-7, having won nine of their last 10 and five straight on the road. The Cowboys are currently +9 games better than last year's 12-20 season, which makes OSU the 10th most improved team in the country. With three Big 12 games left to play, OSU has already won five more league games than last season (3-15), which is tied for the second largest turnaround in conference play in school history, and they're only a game off the record of +6 wins set by the 2012-13 squad.

• Jeffrey Carroll is the nation's most improved power conference player, and in the conversation for the best wing player in the Big 12. The redshirt junior is only playing 3.4 more minutes per game this year but boasts a scoring improvement of +9.1 points per game over his 2015-16 season. He is the only Big 12 player averaging at least 17 points (17.3, 3rd Big 12) and 6.6 rebounds (6.6, 8th Big 12), and he is the nation's only active power conference player averaging 17 points or more that can claim an improvement of +9.0 points from last season. Carroll joins Bryant "Big Country" Reeves as the only Oklahoma State players to ever make the same leap from one year to the next.

• Carroll entered the 2016-17 season with a career-high scoring game of 18 points but has tied or topped that mark 17 times this season, including in 11 of the last 15 games. He has 13 20-point scoring games this season, including eight in Big 12 play, and ranks second in scoring in league games at 18.1 per contest. Carroll is shooting an incredible 47.5 percent from 3-point in Big 12 play, which is third in the conference.

• A minor shift in defensive philosophy has been at the heart of OSU's recent resurgence. After six straight losses, including five in close games (one or two possession games in the final five minutes), the Cowboys tweaked their defense and the results are staggering. Since the change, OSU has won nine of their last 10 games, including five straight road games. In 400 minutes of clock time in this nine-game resurgence, OSU has only trailed for just 145:22.

• The Cowboy offense is on record-setting pace. KenPom ranks the Oklahoma State offense No. 1 in efficiency nationwide. At 85.9 points per game, OSU is on pace to set a new school record for scoring average (current record: 83.5 in 1988-89), and in fact, is on pace to be the second-highest scoring squad in Big 12 history behind only the 2001-02 Kansas team that averaged 90.9 per game. The Cowboys have scored 95 points or more nine times this season, including a school-record tying five 100-point performances.

• With a win in Ames, Iowa on Tuesday, Phil Forte III would join Iowa State's Naz Mitrou-Long as just the second active Big 12 player to win in every league venue. The redshirt senior is OSU's all-time 3-point king with 316 career 3-pointers, which ranks sixth in Big 12 Conference history and is third among all active players nationwide. Forte has been on fire since Big 12 play began and is averaging 2.7 3-pointers per game on 47.7 percent shooting from deep, which ranks third in the league in both categories.

• With the win at Texas Tech on Jan. 21, Brad Underwood picked up his 100th career victory in his 122nd game, which tied him for the 10th fastest coach to reach the century mark in college basketball history. At 108-23, Underwood owns an 82.4 career win percentage, which is tops among all active coaches, and his 89 wins at Stephen F. Austin tied him with Brad Stevens of Butler for the most victories by any coach after three seasons.

• OSU fields one of the youngest and most inexperienced lineups in the country. Even with fifth-year senior Phil Forte and his 130 career games, OSU still ranks 279th nationally in experience according to KenPom. The Cowboys entered the 2016-17 with just 15 combined years of collegiate experience and currently have just 293 collegiate starts on the roster. OSU's average age of 20.2 years is tied with Texas for the youngest in the Big 12.

• The Cowboys have cleaned up on the offensive glass this year. OSU is 11th nationally with 13.86 offensive boards per game and fifth in offensive rebound percentage at 38.6 percent. A true team effort, only one player on the team ranks inside the top 100 in the country in offensive boards - Mitchell Solomon (82nd, 2.82). The Cowboys have pulled down 15-plus offensive boards in 12 games this year.

Texas Tech Connections & Snapshot

• After falling to Kansas State, 96-88, at home on Jan. 18, OSU head coach Brad Underwood knew he had to make a change defensively. The Cowboys unveiled those changes for the Texas Tech game three days later, and it's made a world of difference for OSU. The Cowboys ended their six-game losing streak with a resounding 83-64 win over the Red Raiders in Lubbock, and have won nine of their last 10 overall since the defensive change.

• The Red Raiders are under the direction of first-year head coach Chris Beard, who was the architect of Little Rock's magical 30-win season that included a first-round NCAA Tournament double-overtime upset over Purdue, 85-83, in 2016. Beard is no stranger to Lubbock or the state of Texas for that matter. Originally from The Woodlands, and a 1995 graduate of the University of Texas, Beard spent time on the coaching staffs at Texas, Incarnate Word, Abilene Christian and North Texas before joining Bob Knight at Texas Tech in 2001. He remained on staff in Lubbock through 2011 before getting head coaching gigs with the South Carolina Warriors (semi-pro), Angelo State and Little Rock.

• Last year's win in Stillwater broke a 12-game losing streak in Gallagher-Iba Arena for the Red Raiders. Texas Tech swept last year's season series and had won three straight over OSU, but the Cowboys still have a firm grasp on the overall series at 42-19. Dating back to 2011, OSU has won 10 of the last 14 games in the series. OSU leads the series in Stillwater, 21-4.

• Phil Forte has found success against the Red Raiders over his career. The redshirt senior missed both of last year's meetings due to injury but has averaged 14.8 points on 52.9 percent (27-of-51) shooting from 3-point in eight career meetings against Texas Tech. Forte has seven double-digit scoring games against Texas Tech, including a 21-point performance the last time these two teams met.