Pokes Back on the Big Stage for Big Monday Showdown Against WVU

The Cowboys are set for their first Big 12 showdown in GIA this season against a tough West Virginia team.

STILLWATER -- Saturday's 85-50 loss to Texas Tech left quite a bit to be desired. The Cowboys entered that game off a strong non-conference showing and with their starting point guard, Isaac Likekele, back on the court.

Despite having Likekele back on the court, and a solid group of veterans, Texas Tech was just too much as their defensive pressure held the Pokes in check for the entire second half.

“We didn't play with enough maturity to deal with not making shots consistently,” said coach Boynton. “We made our lack of making shot effect other areas of the game. We don't usually turn the ball over at a super high rate, but we did today.”

Likekele is coming off an illness that sidelined him for nearly a month and is working to get back to full strength and game shape. I don't think it'll take too much longer, but Mike Boynton and Co. will need the rest of the team to pick up the pace as a tough West Virginia team is coming into town for an ESPN Big Monday showdown Monday night.

The game is being televised on ESPN2, with tipoff set for 8 p.m. in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

The Mountaineers enter this game as the No. 16 team in the country and with an 11-2 record. They're also currently 0-1 to start Big 12 play, but that loss came to No. 3 Kansas and it was only a seven-point margin, 60-53, in Lawrence.

WVU is averaging 73.2 points per game while shooting at a 43 percent clip from the field, and they're holding their opponents to just under 62 points per game. They're also rebounding at a high level as they're in the top 10 in the country with 42.2 RPG, while their rebound margin is No. 18 in the country as they're opponents rebounds are just 34 RPG.

They're led by freshman Oscar Tshiebwe, a 6-9, 258-pound forward/center who's averaging 12.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He's also shooting at a 60 percent clip, so he's going to be a handful for McGriff and Anei down low.

They're also getting great play out of sophomore Derek Culver. Culver is coming off a great freshman season where he averaged 11.5 points and a team-high 9.9 rebounds per game and was named a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 Freshman team.

This season, the 6-10, 255-pound center is averaging 10.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. He, too, will be quite the handful down low for McGriff and Anei.

There's no doubt that Oklahoma State is more than capable of coming away with a win on Monday night. They're averaging 70.3 points per game, and when Likekele was healthy, the entire team was clicking as good as anyone.

Can Oklahoma State pull the upset? ESPN certainly thinks so as they're giving the Pokes the slight edge, a 54.7 percent chance, according to their Basketball Power Index.