Oklahoma State's Probable Starters
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG Notes
F 12 Fredrik Jonzen 6-10 241 Sr. 11.8 7.1 Four double-doubles this season
F 23 Ivan McFarlin 6-8 220 So. 10.7 7.3 Six double-figure rebounding games this season
G 5 Victor Williams 5-10 185 Jr. 12.3 3.7^ Double-figure scoring in 17 games this season
G 30 Cheyne Gadson 6-3 202 Jr. 5.7 2.6 Has started three games for OSU this season
G 34 Melvin Sanders 6-5 220 Jr. 7.7 3.5 Started 53-consecutive games for the Cowboys
Fresno State's Probable Starters
Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG
F 12 Noel Felix 6-9 220 Jr. 8.1 4.9
C 33 Melvin Ely 6-10 260 Sr. 23.7 10.1
G 4 Damon Jackson 6-4 196 Jr. 10.1 3.5
G 5 Chris Sandy 6-2 180 Jr. 9.4 3.3
G 22 Travis DeManby 6-4 200 Jr. 5.8 3.2^
^ denotes assists per game
Sunday's Game
Oklahoma State takes a break from conference action this weekend as the Cowboys travel to the west coast for a matchup with the Fresno State Bulldogs on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 1:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ABC. OSU is 18-5 overall after an exciting 64-62 win over No. 24 Texas Tech on Wednesday night. Fresno State is 14-10, coming off a 66-57 loss to Nevada at home Thursday. Maurice Baker is out vs. Fresno State after suffering a sprained right ankle vs. Texas Tech. His future status is day-to-day.
Last Time Out For Oklahoma State
Senior Maurice Baker scored a team-high 19 points, including 11 straight to start the second half, and Terrence Crawford hit the game-winning field goal on a putback with 5.3 seconds remaining as the Cowboys defeated No. 24 Texas Tech, 64-62, Wednesday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena. Baker left the game at the 7:02 mark when he sprained his right ankle. Victor Williams scored 10 of OSU's final 21 points, but missed a jumper from just inside the three-point arc with seven seconds remaining. Crawford grabbed the rebound in the middle of the lane and put it in for the winning bucket. Andre Emmett scored 29 points for Tech, but OSU outrebounded the Red Raiders, 41-36, including a 15-8 margin in offensive boards. The Cowboys had five blocks, with Andre Williams swatting three and Ivan McFarlin two.
Last Time Out For Fresno State
Melvin Ely scored a game-high 26 points on 12-of-21 shooting, but no other Bulldog scored more than seven as Fresno State fell to Nevada, 66-57, Thursday night in Selland Arena. Garry Hill-Thomas scored a team-high 21 points for Nevada, while Corey Jackson had 17 points and 15 rebounds. Fresno State was outrebounded, 44-37, and sent Nevada to the free-throw line 33 times, compared to just 15 for the Bulldogs. Fresno State shot just 37.3 percent from the floor, including just 17.4 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
OSU-Fresno State: The Series
Oklahoma State has never met Fresno State on the hardwood. Coach Sutton has also never met the Bulldogs in his career. And, despite combining for 1,941 games in nearly 63 years of coaching, Coach Sutton and Coach Tarkanian have met only once in their careers. The date was Jan. 20, 1973, and Coach Tarkanian's Long Beach State 49ers defeated Coach Sutton's Creighton Bluejays, 68-51, in Long Beach, Calif.
Comeback Cowboys
OSU has trailed every opponent this season at some point in the game, including seven games where the Cowboys were in double-digit deficits. In two of those games, OSU came back to win. The first was vs. Arkansas, when the Cowboys trailed the Razorbacks by 22 points midway through the first period. OSU ended up winning that game by nine. Against Texas Tech in Stillwater, OSU fell behind by as many as 15 points with 12 minutes remaining in the game, but defeated Tech, 64-62. In the other five games, OSU lost by single digits in three of those.
Cowboys In The Polls
Oklahoma State is currently ranked 12th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and 14th in the Associated Press poll. The Cowboys dropped from ninth in both polls after falling to Oklahoma and Kansas State last week. OSU's No. 5 ranking earlier this season was the highest ranking OSU has achieved since the Cowboys were ranked second nationally in mid-February of 1992. OSU was ranked No. 2 for two weeks before dropping back to eighth that year. Five of Oklahoma State's opponents this season are ranked in the top 25 of at least one poll (Kansas, Oklahoma, Cincinnati, Missouri and Texas Tech), while two more (Missouri, Texas) are receiving votes in the Coaches' Poll.
Up Next: Back to Conference Action - OU and A&M
Oklahoma State will return to conference action next week as the Cowboys host the Oklahoma Sooners in Bedlam: Part II on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 8 p.m. in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The game will be televised by ESPN Regional. Then its off to College Station, Texas, and a matchup with the Texas A&M Aggies on Sat., Feb. 16, at 5 p.m. in a game televised by Fox Sports Southwest.
McFarlin Posting Big Numbers
Oklahoma State sophomore Ivan McFarlin is showing the league what the coaching staff has known all along - he's a prime-time player. Against Nebraska, he set career highs in both points and rebounds with 20 and 17, respectively. It was the most rebounds by a Cowboy since Bryant Reeves had 20 vs. Kansas in 1995. In I-Mac's first season with the Cowboys (he was a partial qualifier last year), he has 14 double-figure scoring games with a season-high of 20 points. He also recorded his first double-double in the second game of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds vs. Austin Peay. He had back-to-back double-doubles with 10 and 10 vs. Arkansas and 11 and 11 vs. Ball State. He had four-straight double-figure rebounding games through one stint in the season. In the first exhibition game of the season, I-Mac had 20 rebounds, including 10 on each end of the court. He leads the team in steals with 34 and blocked shots with 24. He is first in field-goal percentage in conference games only, shooting 65.6 percent, and second in all games, connecting on 61.0 percent of his shots.
Victor Williams Showing Leadership Qualities
While fellow starting guard Maurice Baker was hampered by injury, junior Victor Williams stepped up with 18 points vs. Texas. It was his third-straight game with 17 or more points, and he now has 15 double-figure scoring games this season. Vic is second on the team in scoring with a 12.4 ppg average, and is also second on the team in free-throw percentage (.786). He has 81 assists, leading the team, and 44 turnovers, a 1.84 assist-to-turnover ratio.
