Cowboys Set to Face Red-Hot Longhorns to End Regular Season

Oklahoma State will face the red-hot Texas Longhorns in Austin, TX to finish out the regular season.

Oklahoma State (16-14, 6-11) at Texas (19-11, 9-8)
Date / Tipoff: March 7, 2020 / 3 p.m. CT
Site: Frank Erwin Center (16,734)
Series: UT leads 52-44 (UT leads 31-13 in Austin)
Last: UT won 76-64 in Stillwater on Jan. 15
TV: ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg, Chris Spatola)
Webcast: WatchESPN app or espn.com/watch
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb)
Satellite Radio: XM 389

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State is fresh off a 69-63 win over Kansas State and have won six out of the last nine games, but the Pokes are set to face one of the hottest teams in the country right now in the Texas Longhorns.

Despite starting the Big 12 slate off slow, UT is currently riding a five-game win streak that includes ranked wins against West Virginia and Texas Tech, as well as a thrilling 3-point buzzer-beater win over Oklahoma on Tuesday night.

“I’m not sure I watched a ton of their early games, but I’ve obviously watched them in the last couple of weeks and they’ve been playing really well,” Mike Boynton said of Texas. “Andrew Jones, which may be one of the best stories anywhere in the world, really, I’m not even talking college basketball. He’s playing at a really high level, playing like the All-American that he was when he came there. Courtney Ramey, who I’ve got some familiarity with, is playing at a high level. They’ve got three really good guards, that’s a good place to start. They can all make plays off the dribble and they’ve got, like we talked about, confidence. Talked about it when we didn’t have any, it’s hard thing. It’s hard; but when you have it, and they’ve got a coach who’s done a really, really good job with his team.”

Boynton’s absolutely correct, Jones might be one of the coolest stories on the planet. A top-30 high school player in the country in the 2017 class, he averaging 11.4 points and 3.9 rebounds a game his freshman season. Less than a year later, Jones was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in early January of his sophomore season and was granted a medical redshirt.

He beat cancer and now he’s beating up the league. Jones is averaging 11.6 points on 42% shooting from the field. The Longhorns are also getting great play out of the other two guards, Matt Coleman III and Courtney Ramey. Coleman III leads the team with 12.6 points a game and Ramey with 11.1. They’re also great solid play out of forward Jericho Sims who’s averaging 9.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

Just like Texas, the Cowboys struggled to start Big 12 play. But, just like Texas, the Cowboys have been on a tear lately and are playing just about as well as anyone in the conference. Boynton mentioned after the win over Kansas State on Wednesday that this was the best time to be playing their best basketball.

A win on Saturday against Texas greatly improves Oklahoma State’s chances in the Big 12 Tournament, as well as their seeding in postseason play.