Oklahoma State vs Oral Roberts: 2023-24 college basketball preview, TV schedule

Oklahoma State looks to avoid an upset against the Summit League contender, Oral Roberts.

TV Schedule: Sunday, December 17, 5:00 pm ET (BIG12|ESPN+)
Location: Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma

Year seven hasn’t started great for Head Coach Mike Boynton and Oklahoma State. So far on the season the Cowboys are still trying to figure things out as they sit on a 4-5 record. Four of the five losses have been within five points. The only loss by more than five points was a 14-point loss to a very good Creighton team.

But not all is bad in Stillwater as OSU, in their most recent game, the Cowboys got their biggest win of the season. Last Sunday they picked up a 15-point win over a solid Tulsa team. Javon Small led all scorers with 18 points. Quion Williams added 12 points. The Cowboys made eight threes in the win making 40 percent of their shots from behind the arc. OSU held Tulsa to only three made threes and won the rebounding battle 41-23.

The Cowboys are led by Javon Small in scoring this season with 17.1 points per game. Bryce Thompson, who is still working his way back into form after missing three games earlier this season with a leg injury, joins Small as the only other Cowboy averaging over 10 points. Freshman Forward Eric Dailey Jr has been a bright spot for this OSU team. On the season he is averaging 9.1 points and 6 rebounds, shooting over 52 percent from inside the arc.

Oklahoma State’s next opponent is Oral Roberts out of the Summit League. Oral Roberts, much like Oklahoma State, has struggled to find wins this season. The Golden Eagles enter the game with a 4-5 record, with two of these wins being against teams outside of Division 1. In their most recent game, they fell to Texas Tech 82-76 despite 20-point efforts from Jailen Bedford and Kareem Thompson. Bedford led all scorers with 26 points, followed closely by Thompson with 21 points. ORU only got to the free throw line four times and used 16 made threes to keep them in the game.

Four Golden Eagles are averaging double-digit points this year, leading the team to over 76 points per game. Isaac McBride has been ORU’s best offensive weapon, averaging nearly 19 points per game. He started the season with seven straight games in double digits, with a stretch of five games with at least 22 points. Even with McBride’s efforts, Oral Roberts only walked away with two wins during his 20-plus point streak.

ORU is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. They are top ten in made threes per game at 10.8, making just over 37 percent of their shots from behind the arc. This should be an interesting matchup against a good defensive team in Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are only allowing 6.2 made threes per game on 33.1 percent shooting.

Oklahoma State should walk away with a win in this one. While Oral Roberts does have a good offense, OSU’s defense should be able to slow down their three-point attack. The Cowboys should be able to win the rebound battle and take a ton of shots against the poor Oral Roberts defense. I think OSU should have a strong offensive performance on their home court.

This is OSU’s toughest game remaining before they start Big 12 play. If they can get a win against Oral Roberts, they have three more non-con games where they can put together a nice win streak before they take on a very good Baylor team to open conference play.