SIU comes off their 41 point win against Saint Louis to take on Big 12 Oklahoma State Tuesday at the Banterra Center.
Meet the Cowboys:
The Cowboys are coached by Mike Boynton in his 7th year as head coach. Boynton followed Brad Underwood to Stephen F. Austin from South Carolina where both were assistants when Underwood got the head coaching job there and followed him over to Oklahoma State when Underwood got the job there. After Underwood left for Illinois after 1 year at OSU, Boynton was named head coach. Boynton has made just 1 NCAA Tournament in Stillwater in 2020-21 with #1 NBA pick Cade Cunningham on the team and they lost to #12 seed Oregon in the 2nd round. It's been a struggle since for Boynton in the tough Big 12 Conference and that won't get any easier this year with the addition of Houston, BYU, and Cincy to the conference.
Oklahoma State was picked 10th of 14 in the Big 12 Preseason Poll ahead of Cincinnati, Oklahoma, BYU, and UCF. The Cowboys started off the season with a home loss to #175 Abilene Christian and have neutral site losses to #102 St. Bonaventure and #177 Notre Dame. They're coming off a 79-65 home loss to #11 Creighton.
On the offensive end, Oklahoma State is 120th in the country in 3 point % (34.6%), 90th in the country in 2 point % (53.3%), and 94th in the country in effective field goal % (52.7%). The Cowboys are 60th in the country in 3 point attempts per field goal attempts (42.9%) and 36% of their points come from 3 (56th in the country). One area of concern for the Cowboys is free throw shooting as Oklahoma State is 337th in the country at the free throw line (61.9%).
On the defensive side, the Cowboys are 88th in the country in 2 point % against (46.6%) and 50th in the country in offensive rebounding % against (25.0%).
Oklahoma State's leading scorer and leader in assists is 6-3 Junior Javon Small averaging 15.7 points per game and 5.3 assists per game. Small was a 3 star recruit out of Chandler, Arizona and chose East Carolina over offers from Akron, Ball State, Indiana State, and IUPUI. Small was one of the most improved players in the country in his Sophomore season at East Carolina raising his points per game from 2 PPG to 15.8 PPG before suffering a season-ending leg injury in January. Small entered the portal as a 4 star transfer and ended up at Oklahoma State. This season, Small is 309th in the country in 3 point % (13-32, 40.6%), 440th in the country in effective field goal % (54.4%), and 333rd in the country in true shooting % (59.5%). Small is also 62nd in the country in assist rate and 77th in the country in free throw % (19-21, 90.5%).
The Cowboys' leading rebounder is 6-8 Freshman Eric Dailey Jr. averaging 6.3 rebounds per game. Dailey was a 4 star recruit out of IMG Academy and chose Oklahoma State over offers from Alabama, Florida, and Florida State. Dailey has experience playing for USA Basketball and was named one of the 20 "Under the Radar" Freshmen coming into the year by CBS's Jon Rothstein. Dailey is 336th in the country in defensive rebounding % (19.4%), 386th in the country in effective field goal % (55.1%), and 97th in the country in free throw rate (63.3%).
6-11 Freshman Brandon Garrison was a 4 star recruit out of Oklahoma City and chose Oklahoma State over offers from Arkansas, Florida, Houston, and Kansas. Garrison is the 2nd McDonald's All-American Boynton has brought in with Cade Cunningham. Garrison is the team leader in blocks with 1.9 blocks per game and he's 18th in the country in block % so far this season (11.6%). Garrison is also 237th in the country in offensive rebounding % (10.3%) and 439th in the country in defensive rebounding % (18.2%).
Other players to watch out for include 6-1 Senior John-Michael Wright is in his 2nd season at Oklahoma State after 3 seasons at High Point and is the team leader in steal at 1.3 steals per game. Wright is 363rd in the country in steal % (3.0%). 6-6 Senior Bryce Thompson was a 5 star recruit out of Tulsa, Oklahoma and spent 1 season at Kansas before transferring to Oklahoma State. Thompson missed a few games this season with a leg injury but returned for their last game against Creighton. Thompson led the Cowboys in scoring last season with 11.8 points per game. 6'10 Senior Mike Marsh is a transfer from Jacksonville and is 141st in the country in defensive rebounding % (12.1%) and 233rd in the country in offensive rebounding % (20.9%). He's also 423rd in the country in 2 point % (25-42, 59.5%).
Links:
They might not be good now, but look at those stud freshmen: they will be good later in the season, and a win against them is going to look pretty good.
(Inflammatory political snark)
They might not be good now, but look at those stud freshmen: they will be good later in the season, and a win against them is going to look pretty good.
Their two 6-10+ guys are gonna be a problem I think. Ebube and Rupert are gonna have to stay out of foul trouble. Gonna take another team effort to pull this one out.
They might not be good now, but look at those stud freshmen: they will be good later in the season, and a win against them is going to look pretty good.
Their two 6-10+ guys are gonna be a problem I think. Ebube and Rupert are gonna have to stay out of foul trouble. Gonna take another team effort to pull this one out.
This is a truly GULP moment. Ebube had been a foul machine against lesser competition, and Rupert hasn't been much better.
SLU's "post" guy was 6' 5'; Ebube had three freaking fouls. This could be really ugly.
I know Ebube was injured for a lot of last year, but he should have had more real playing time. Yes, you lose games when developing talent, but it has to be done.
(Inflammatory political snark)
They might not be good now, but look at those stud freshmen: they will be good later in the season, and a win against them is going to look pretty good.
Their two 6-10+ guys are gonna be a problem I think. Ebube and Rupert are gonna have to stay out of foul trouble. Gonna take another team effort to pull this one out.
This is a truly GULP moment. Ebube had been a foul machine against lesser competition, and Rupert hasn't been much better.
SLU's "post" guy was 6' 5'; Ebube had three freaking fouls. This could be really ugly.
I know Ebube was injured for a lot of last year, but he should have had more real playing time. Yes, you lose games when developing talent, but it has to be done.
Easy for you to say. You aren’t the one trying to keep a job that pays $450,000 a year. No college coach in America is willing to lose to develop talent. Talent develops in practice. And if it doesn’t? That’s what the transfer portal is for. AJ Furgeson never played last year, but very obviously got better.
Playing time is the same argument. You have to look at the overall workload, not just the game minutes. These guys play twice a week, but practice 4-5 times a week. 36 (vs say 32 minutes) minutes, twice a week, doesn’t wear someone out. But the overall workload can. People here treat game minutes like sand in an hourglass. The real world doesn’t work that way.
(Inflammatory political snark)
@austinsaluki was my sentence too long for you to actually read the whole thing? Lol
It just didn't make any sense. Uh . . . LOL
(Inflammatory political snark)
I watched some of OSU against Creighton (the autocorrect previously did Oregon for whatever reason). They look like trouble to me, honestly. Good thing it is a home game. Hoping for the best, and of course, a good shooting night.
It will be a grind IMO and will come down to defense, rebounding, and excellent ball rotation. While we did take care of a A10 team yesterday afternoon, can we sustain that type energy warranted for Tuesday night ?Hope the home crowd can deliver that much needed energy. We shall indeed find out.
Speaking of crowds I understand some of the competition hasn't been stellar and a Saturday 230 start on parade night is not ideal but this team outside of ISU blue has been entertaining to watch I believe bigger crowds should be warranted
Speaking of crowds I understand some of the competition hasn't been stellar and a Saturday 230 start on parade night is not ideal but this team outside of ISU blue has been entertaining to watch I believe bigger crowds should be warranted
Looking at the ticket website and looks like it's gonna be a pretty weak crowd. This program desperately needs to hit a postseason tournament soon.
@austinsaluki Carbondale offers classes in reading and comprehension if you need some help.
@austinsaluki Carbondale offers classes in reading and comprehension if you need some help.
Do you mean "reading comprehension"? In 30+ years working as an English teacher and as an editor in the educational publishing business and elsewhere, I never realized those were two separate skills! Well, every day is a school day, as the saying goes! 😆
My "reading and comprehension" is just fine, I assure you. 😉
(Inflammatory political snark)
SIU is favored by 1, over/under is 132
