Creighton Basketball: 3 keys to Bluejays taking down Oklahoma State
By John Makuch
Creighton Basketball will look to recover from their recent upset during a trip to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State. The Blue Jays come in at 5-1 following a loss to Colorado State, and now they have their first true road game of the season against the Cowboys.
The Blue Jays got a weaker draw in the Big East-Big 12 Challenge with the Cowboys holding a 3-3 record heading into their strongest matchup of the year. Oklahoma State has lost to Abilene Christian, St. Bonaventure, and Notre Dame to start off their season, and they are looking to prove something and stay above .500.
All-time, Creighton holds the advantage by a slight 21-19 margin but they are 7-13 in Stillwater, so this is a chance for them to close the gap in terms of that record. However, this is their first matchup since Dec. 20, 1998, which Creighton won 66-60.
Oklahoma State recently picked up a win against Houston Baptist 92-65 in a tune-up game for them, and they spread the ball to a variety of scorers with six players scoring in double figures. But this team is looking to get Bryce Thompson potentially back for this one, the Senior guard who started his career at Kansas has only played three games this season but averaged 14.3 points per game in those contests.
Javon Small leads the way in scoring for this team as the lead guard with Thompson out, putting up 14 points per game. Big man Mike Marsh will match up with Ryan Kalkbrenner and Marsh is putting up 14 points and seven rebounds per game, so that matchup could be fun to watch in this late one. The Blue Jays very much need a statement win here, but how can they get it done?