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NIT Round 2 Preview: Oklahoma State Welcomes Stanford to Stillwater

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The Cowboys return from an extended six-day break between NIT games to welcome the 3-seeded Stanford Cardinal to Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Here’s how to tune in, if you aren’t making the trek to Stillwater.

• When: Monday, March 19 at 6 p.m.
• Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater, Okla.
• TV: ESPNU (Mike Corey, John Thompson III)
• WebcastESPN3.com or ESPN app
• Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb)

Oklahoma State is 2-1 all-time against Stanford and 1-1 against the Cardinal in Stillwater. The entire series between these two teams has taken place in the last 10 seasons with the the two meeting for three consecutive non-conference matchups during the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

NIT Rounding Out

The winner of OSU-Stanford will play the winner of the 1-4 seed matchup between USC and Western Kentucky, also playing on Monday night, for a trip to the NIT semifinals held in Madison Square Garden.

NIT Bracket

Keep an Eye On: Matchup Between Mitch Solomon and Reid Travis

The Cardinal are led by Travis, the junior forward, with 19.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, both good for top three in the Pac-12. At 6 foot 8 and 240 pounds the two-time All-Pac-12 first teamer is a load and makes Solomon, OSU’s MVP, that much more important. Mike Boynton cannot afford to let Solomon get into foul trouble.

Key For OSU: 3-Point Shooting

The Cowboys desperately need to snap out of a two-game shooting slump from the perimeter. While most teams’ success can down to hitting shots, this OSU team has a much thinner margin for error than most.

If the deep shots are falling, they look like world-beaters. If they aren’t, the Cowboys are pretty mediocre. Their defense goes from stingy and opportunistic to pedestrian pretty quickly.

And what’s worse, I don’t know that you can do a lot to change it. The offense can stagnate at times and better ball movement always helps, but a bunch of those bricks that the Cowboys laid in that 6-of-22 performance against Florida Gulf Coast, weren’t really bad shots. That’s what you get with streaky teams.

Hopefully that pendulum will swing back in the Cowboys’ favor against the 185th-ranked 3-point defense in the nation on Monday night. If it can, the Pokes have a good chance of advancing to Round 3 and extending their season.

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