Preview: OSU vs. Missouri State

Vitals

Tip: 3:00 PM
Location: Stillwater, OK
TV: Fox Sports Plus (Cox OKC – 68 | Cox Tulsa – 68 | Suddenlink – 75 | DirecTV – 677)
Online Stream: here
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network
Online radio: here
Announcers: Mike Wolfe and Bryndon Manzer
Line: OSU -19

Records

Cowboys – 6-1
Bears – 2-6

Best win

Cowboys – NC State (KenPom: #29)
Bears – Malone (KenPom: does not compute)

Worst loss

Cowboys – Virginia Tech (KenPom: #67)
Bears – Jacksonville (KenPom: #268)

KenPom rank

Cowboys – #26
Bears – #230

Data nerds

[table id=71 /]

Adj. efficiency – Points per 100 possessions (adjusted for quality of opponent and site of game).
Adj. tempo – Possessions per game (adjusted for schedule and pace of other team).
Effective FG % – Takes into account extra value of 3s.

Three things to watch

1. 50 points? – Missouri is the 342nd worst shooting team in the country (see above) out of 347 teams. There are only five teams in the country that are more inept at shooting the basketball than they are! OSU (thus far) has a top 15 defense…can Missouri State break the 50-point mark?

2. Will Nash rebound? – Not literally, of course, but figuratively. Nolan and I had a 20-email thread going yesterday about what Nash’s deal is. I thought Nolan put it well when he said “Nash against South Florida was like a bad version of last year’s Nash, which is not good.” So will we get good Nash or bad Nash? And can OSU win Big 12 games when bad Nash shows up?

3. Rest – Smart, Nash, and Markel are all in the top 175 in the country in % of their team’s minutes played (Markel has played 88.4% of OSU’s minutes). Ford should try to get a big lead early and get those guys some rest in what will, hopefully, be a laugher.

Predictions

Cowboys 76-48