College Basketball Preview: A look at Stanford-Oklahoma St

Stanford Cardinal at Oklahoma St Cowboys, Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater, OK
Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 9:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPNU
Opening Line: OSU -11
Current Line: OSU -9
Opening Total: 128 1/2
Current Total: 127 1/2
Money Line: OSU -450 / Stanford +375

Oklahoma St is a 9 point favorite at home versus Stanford in college basketball

The 6-3 Stanford Cardinal travel to Stillwater to take on the 10-1 Oklahoma St Cowboys. Both of these teams played in the 76 Classic tournament in Anaheim Thanksgiving weekend, but they didn’t play against each other. Stanford lost to Murray St and Tulsa in that tournament, and lost at Butler last Saturday 83-50. Oklahoma St lost in the semifinals of that tournament to Virginia Tech, but has won 6 games in a row since then. Neither of these teams have played an extremely tough schedule so far, and their records might be an indication of that. Both of these teams are expected to contend for NCAA tournament or NIT bids playing in tough conferences. Stanford is 7-16 ATS versus teams with winning records in the last 2 seasons. Oklahoma St is 16-3 ATS as a favorite the last two seasons. Oklahoma St is 10-1 ATS at home in the last 2 seasons, including 8-1 ATS against teams with winning records at home in the same span. The two teams played last year at Stanford and Oklahoma St won 71-70 in the first ever meeting between the schools.

Stanford is outscoring opponents 67-60 on the season. The Cardinal are shooting 43.3% from the field and 34.6% from 3 point range. The Cardinal make 63.9% of their free throws. Stanford averages 37.1 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +6.8 on opponents. Stanford averages 11.2 assists and 14.4 turnovers a game. They average 4.7 steals and 3.9 blocks a game. Guard Jeremy Green leads the scoring with 16.4 PPG, and he shoots 41.5% from three point range. Josh Owens and Jack Trotter are tied in rebounds with 6 per game. Jarrett Mann leads the team in assists with 3.3 a game.

Oklahoma State shoots 46.5% from the field, and 30% from three point range. The Cowboys make 71.4% of their free throws. Oklahoma St averages 38.1 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +7.3. The Cowboys average 11.3 assists a game and 14.7 turnovers a game. They are averaging 3 blocks and 6.4 steals a game. OSU is outscoring opponents 72-62 on the season. Senior forward Marshall Moses leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 17.7 PPG and 8.6 RPG. Junior guard Keiton Page is second in scoring with 15.2 points a game. Page also averages 2.3 assists a game. Ray Penn leads the team in assists with 2.9 per game. Darrell Williams contributes 8.4 rebounds a game.

Neither of these teams have very much size, as neither has a player over 6’9″ that plays significant minutes. Gallagher-Iba Arena is a tough place to play as it can get very loud. Both of these teams are prone to turnovers, and who ever forces the most turnover might be the difference in the game. This is Stanford’s second game outside of the state of California this season. The first was last Saturday when they were destroyed by Butler 83-50. Oklahoma St is coming off a 68-60 win over Alabama in nearby Oklahoma City.