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Hoops Preview: Cowboys Host Reigning CAA Champ, Unbeaten Charleston

Oklahoma State will try to string together consecutive home wins on Sunday.

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STILLWATER — Oklahoma State’s game against Charleston will be the Cowboys last home game of November.

The Cougars were an NCAA Tournament team last season and bring an unbeaten record into Stillwater. The Cowboys picked up their first win of the season Wednesday after a tough loss against Charlotte to start the year.

Viewing Info

Time: 3 p.m. Sunday
Location: Gallagher-Iba Arena
TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma

Projected Lineups
Oklahoma State Class PPG RPG APG BPG SPG
Isaac Likekele Freshman 10.5 4.5 4.5 0 2.5
Thomas Dziagwa Junior 15.5 5 2.5 0 1.5
Lindy Waters Junior 14.5 5 3.5 0 2
Cameron McGriff Junior 18.5 8 1.5 0 1.5
Yor Anei Freshman 2.5 2.5 1 2 0
Charleston Class PPG RPG APG BPG SPG
Zep Jasper Redshirt Freshman 10.3 3.7 2 0 0.7
Grant Riller Junior 23 3.3 3.7 0 1.3
Brevin Galloway Sophomore 11.7 4 0.7 0 1.3
Jarrell Brantley Senior 16.7 10.3 1.3 2 1.7
Nick Harris Senior 0.7 4 0.3 1 0

 

Princeton of the Prairie

Duncan Demuth narrowed down his college choices to two: Oklahoma State and Princeton.

The two have similarities. Much of OSU was modeled after Princeton as Oklahoma A&M was dubbed the “Princeton of the Prairie.” OSU got its first mascot, a tiger, from Princeton, and that also is the origin of OSU’s school colors. Both school do have there differences, though.

“Oklahoma State: It’s my dream to play Power Five basketball; this is the real deal, the highest it could get,” Demuth said. “Princeton: It’s good basketball, and you can go there and get a degree that could set you up to make millions of dollars.”

Demuth, now a finance major at OSU, said he wasn’t really sure what career path he planned on taking if he went to Princeton to make said millions. It ended up not mattering as he chose OSU after some reflection with his AAU coach.

“I’m a smart kid, but I’m not Ivy League smart,” Demuth said. “I would spend my college life studying and being in the library all the time. I should come here and play the game I love in front of huge crowds and make tournament runs.”

OSU coach Mike Boynton has found himself in many recruiting battles, but it’s not too often he has to scrap with such prestigious academic institutions. In nearly any answer he gives about Demuth, Boynton raves about the freshman’s basketball IQ, something that must have transferred over from the books.

“He was waiting to see if his scores were good enough for him to get into one of those (Ivy Leauge schools), and they were,” Boynton said, “but he still wanted to be able to feel like he had higher caliber basketball experience.”

Don’t Sleep on the Cougars

When one thinks of the College of Charleston, basketball power probably isn’t the first thought in his or her head.

However, Charleston is coming off a 26-win season in which the Cougars finished first in the Colonial Athletic Conference’s regular season and the conference tournament. In the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Charleston fell to fourth-seeded Auburn 62-58.

The Cougars enter this season with experience, having nine upperclassmen. Charleston is 3-0, having beaten Presbyterian, Western Carolina and Rhode Island.

“They’re a legitimate Top-25 caliber team,” Boynton said. “They have a lot of experience, a lot of winning experience, which is even probably more important because the environment, playing against a Big 12 team, that won’t be a factor to their mindset. They’ve played against really good teams and had success. I think they shoulda won the tournament game that they played last year. They’ve got really good players. That’s always where it starts.”

Cunningham’s Status Still Unknown

Graduate transfer point guard Mike Cunningham was limited in practice Friday. He spent a majority of the time off to the side with strength coach Jake Manzelmann jogging bleachers, on a stationary bike and working with a medicine ball.

After practice Boynton again said he wants to get Cunningham as close to 100 percent mentally and physically as possible before his return instead of rushing him back.

“He’s been doing more and more every day,” Boynton said. “Hopefully he’ll practice a little bit more (Saturday), and we’ll see Sunday if he feels good enough to go out there.”

Last Meeting

Sunday will be the first time Oklahoma State and Charleston have met since Nov. 29, 2002.

A couple things stand out about that game. No 1: Charleston won 66-58. No. 2: The game was playing in Anchorage, Alaska, in the Great Alaska Shootout semifinals.

Tony Allen led the Cowboys with 23 points off the bench in the game.

Sunday’s matchup will be the programs’ third all-time. The first came in 1996 where OSU won 67-49.

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