QUICK PREVIEW
Winner of three straight, Oklahoma (10-3, 1-0) plays its Big 12 home opener when it hosts Oklahoma State (11-3, 1-1) on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT inside Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners are coming off a 67-57 road victory over West Virginia on Saturday, their league-leading sixth win away from home. After a 10-1 start, Oklahoma State has lost two of its last three games (coming off a 63-45 home win over TCU on Wednesday).
ON THE AIR
Saturday's contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Sirius 138; XM 194) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck calling the action. The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla announcing.
PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State enters Saturday's game with an 11-3 overall record (0-2 true road games) and a 1-1 Big 12 mark. The Cowboys began the year with a 10-1 record but have lost two of their last three (fell 69-68 at home to Gonzaga and 73-67 at Kansas State before posting a 63-45 home win over TCU on Wednesday). Their other road loss came at Virginia Tech, 81-71, on Dec. 1.
The Cowboys are shooting .447 from the field, .320 from 3-point range and .767 from the free throw line to rank fourth, sixth and first in the Big 12, respectively. They are allowing opponents to shoot .374 from the field (rank third in league) and .310 from behind the 3-point line (sixth). OSU is outrebounding its foes by 3.8 a contest and averages a +2.5 turnover margin (leads Big 12).
Junior guard Markel Brown is averaging a team-high 14.5 points per game to go along with averages of 4.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in a team-high 34.3 minutes a game. Freshman guard Marcus Smart has been one of the Big 12's top performers this year, averaging 14.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.3 steals. He ranks eighth in the league in scoring, fifth in assists and first in steals. Over the past three games, Smart is averaging 20.7 points on .677 field goal shooting. Sophomore forward Le'Bryan Nash averages 13.7 points and 4.6 rebounds on the year (8.3 points and 4.0 over the last four games), while freshman guard Phil Forte scores 10.6 points per contest with the help of a team-high .388 mark from 3-point range (2.4 treys per game). Senior center Philip Jurick pulls down a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game and has a team-high 17 blocks in 14 outings.
The Cowboys are under the direction of fifth-year head coach Travis Ford, who owns a 91-58 record at OSU. The 1994 Kentucky graduate is in his 16th season overall and owns a 281-204 career mark.
LAST YEAR VS. OSU
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State met twice last year, with each team winning at home. The Cowboys won the first matchup, 72-65, on Jan. 9 in Stillwater behind 21 points and eight rebounds from Le'Bryan Nash and 18 points from Keiton Page. OU's Carl Blair came off the bench to supply career highs of 20 points, 10 rebounds and five steals, and Romero Osby finished with 18 points and 10 boards. The Sooners lost by just seven despite shooting a season-low .324 from the field (OSU shot .386).
In the rematch in Norman, OU posted a 77-64 win, good for its largest Bedlam margin of victory since 2002-03. The Sooners held a 30-12 halftime lead, limiting the Cowboys to just four field goals on 34 possessions. It was OSU's lowest scoring output in a half of a Big 12 game. The Cowboys were 4-for-24 from the field in the first half and 1-for-7 from 3-point range. The second half told a different story, as OSU scored 52 points on .500 field goal and .500 3-point (12-for-24) 3-point shooting. Steven Pledger was 6-for-8 from the field and 3-for-4 from 3-point range for OU en route to a 17-point day, while Osby tallied 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Cameron Clark added 14 points and Sam Grooms had 10 points and a game-high six assists. Page scored 29 points on Lloyd Noble Center opponent records of nine 3-pointers and 17 attempts. OU shot .468 from the field while holding OSU to a .367 mark.
OU-OKLAHOMA STATE HISTORY
Oklahoma owns a 128-94 series lead over Oklahoma State and is 80-26 against the Cowboys in Norman. OU has won eight of the last 13 overall meetings and 10 of the last 16. OU is 18-17 against the Cowboys since the start of the Big 12 in 1996-97 (13-3 in Norman). The Sooners have won eight straight in the series at home, and 11 of the last 12. OU won 77-64 last year at Lloyd Noble Center.
