Cowboy Basketball opens two-game road swing Saturday at Cincy

Saturday, February 28

Cincinnati, Ohio / Fifth Third Arena

1:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

Cincinnati

Cowboy Basketball opens two-game road swing Saturday at Cincy

February 26, 2026 | Cowboy Basketball

Cowboy Notes (PDF)

OKLAHOMA STATE (17-11, 5-10) at CINCINNATI (15-13, 7-8)
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 | 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET)
Cincinnati, Ohio | Fifth Third Arena (12,012)

Watch: CBSSN w/ Jordan Kent & Michael O'Donnell
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network w/ Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb & Kendall Mae Stark
Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: OSU leads 5-3 (1-2 in Cincinnati)
Last: Mar. 11, 2025 in Big 12 Tournament (UC, 87-68)

Opening Tips:

The Oklahoma State Cowboys begin a two-game road swing Saturday against the Cincinnati Bearcats (1 p.m. CT, CBSSN).
The trip continues Tuesday in Orlando, Fla. with a 6 p.m. CT tip vs. UCF (ESPN+).
The Cowboys are 2-1 against Cincinnati in Big 12 era meetups. This is their first visit to Fifth Third Arena since an 80-76 win on Feb. 21, 2024.
The teams met twice in 2024-25. OSU took the regular season finale in Stillwater (78-67) but lost a rematch three days later in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament (87-68).
OSU snapped a five-game losing streak with Tuesday's 91-84 win over West Virginia. It was the Cowboys' first overtime victory in just over four years, snapping what had been an eight-game OT losing streak.
The good feelings were short-lived with Parsa Fallah suffering a season-ending ACL tear on the final play while scoring the last of his team-high 18 points. The senior forward was averaging 14.7 points and team-best 6.0 rebounds for the season.
The Cowboys will need others to emerge in a front court already been thinned by season-ending ailments to forwards Robert Jennings II and Lefteris Mantzoukas.
6-foot-11 forward Andrija Vukovic is one likely candidate. He scored a career-high 12 points in the WVU win while collecting five rebounds and a pair of steals. The sophomore is averaging 5.0 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per game while shooting 63% from the field.
OSU is averaging 83.8 points this season (third in the Big 12 and 29^thnationally), but that number dips to 69.9 in true road games. The Cowboys are just 1-6 in enemy territory.
OSU ranks second in the Big 12 in free throw makes (18.0) and is 13-3 this season when outscoring its opponent at the foul line.
Minus Fallah, the Cowboys still have scoring depth. Five others are averaging at least 9.4 points, led by Anthony Roy (16.8 ppg). The senior ranks among the league leaders in threes (5^th, 3.08) and three-point percentage (4^th, .399).
Kanye Clary (9.4 ppg, 4.9 apg, 2.51 A:TO) has been at his best in conference play, averaging 10.5 points and 5.3 assists against Big 12 foes.
Clary and Jaylen Curry (3.9 apg, 2.66 A:TO, team-best 37 steals) are keys to a Cowboy offense that ranks 11^th nationally in adjusted tempo, per KenPom.

On This Date: Feb. 28
1925 – Oklahoma A&M defeated Arkansas, 25-23, to wrap up the Southwest Conference title. A year later, the Aggies left to join the Missouri Valley Conference.
1948 – A 36-27 road win at Creighton was Henry Iba's 300^th victory as Oklahoma A&M head coach.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Feb. 24, 2026 in Stillwater | OSU 91, WVU 84 ot

Parsa Fallah scored six of his team-high 18 points in overtime to help up-tempo OSU put away defensive-minded West Virginia and snap a five-game losing streak.
Fallah (who also injured his knee on a game-sealing dunk in the final seconds) led a group of six double-figure scorers for the Pokes who shot 49.2% and outscored the visitors 19-6 at the line.
Honor Huff finished with 20 points on 6-of-12 three-point shooting for WVU, which entered with the nation's No. 5 scoring defense (63.5).
OSU was nearly three-quarters of the way to that average by halftime, closing on a 13-2 run to take a 46-33 lead into the locker room.
However, the Cowboys cooled after the intermission, missing 13 of their first 15 shots, as WVU rallied from a 14-point deficit.
The lead changed hands six times in the final 10:48 of regulation, which ended with Chance Moore's game-tying layup at the 19-second mark and a missed OSU three at the buzzer.
Fallah and the Cowboys regrouped, scoring the first seven points in overtime to secure the win.

More West Virginia Leftovers:

The Cowboys topped 90 points for the 11^th time -- just one shy of the program record set in 2016-17.
The 27^th OSU-WVU meeting was the first to extend pass 40 minutes. The win tipped the series scales in OSU's favor (14-13, 7-6 in GIA).
After going nearly two years without an overtime, the Cowboys logged their second in as many weeks. The win was their first in OT since Feb. 19, 2022 against Kansas State, snapping what had been an eight-game losing streak.
OSU had six double-figures scorers for the second time this season (Dec. 29 vs. Bethune-Cookman). It was just the third time in program history that the Cowboys have achieved that feat in Big 12 play.
OSU used its 17^th unique starting-five in 28 games this season.
The Cowboys are 5-0 with Ryan Crotty in the starting five. Tuesday's start was his first since Nov. 22.

Also Trending:

Parsa Fallah and Anthony Roy share the team lead with seven 20-point games apiece.
Fallah and/or Roy have led the Cowboy scoring in 13 of the 15 conference games.
The Cowboys have scored at least 81 points in all 17 victories but are 0-10 when falling short.
OSU is 14-1 this season when tied or leading at halftime (29-3 overall under Lutz). The lone loss came at TCU on Jan. 20.
The Cowboys are 13-1 when out-rebounding their opponent (25-6 Lutz era). The lone loss came Feb. 21 at Colorado.

Big Shoes to Fill:

OSU will finish the year without the services of Parsa Fallah (14.7 ppg). The 6-foot-10 forward suffered a knee injury in the final seconds of the Feb. 24 overtime win over West Virginia.
Fallah was averaging a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game and ranked second in the Big 12 and among the top-25 nationally in field goal percentage. The senior had also made 40% of his three-point attempts (12-of-30) after making just 3-of-23 in his first three seasons.
Among Cowboys with at least 5.0 field goals made per game, Fallah will finish with the fourth-highest season field goal percentage in OSU history (.598) as well as the second-high two-point (.627) and effective (.623) field goal percentages.
Fallah's four-year collegiate totals include 1,226 points and exactly 500 rebounds.

The Series with Cincinnati:

OSU leads the all-time series, 5-3 (2-1 Big 12 era).
The Cowboys have taken both Big 12 regular season meetings between the schools -- 2024 at Fifth Third Arena and 2025 in Stillwater -- but the Bearcats won a rematch three days later in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
OSU's 2024 win in Cincinnati is the only road victory for either side in this series. The Cowboys are 3-0 in Stillwater, 1-2 in Cincinnati and 1-1 on neutral courts.

More OSU-UC Ancient History:

2024 marked the first time that OSU had faced Cincinnati in a conference men's basketball game but not the other way around. The Bearcats joined the Missouri Valley Conference for the 1957-58 season at the same time OSU was transitioning into what would become the Big Eight, effective in 1958-59 for men's basketball. In the interim, OSU was treated as an independent by the NCAA for postseason purposes but was permitted to play a full MVC schedule. Although OSU was ineligible for a conference title, its games were otherwise counted toward the final standings.
The 1957-58 Bearcats won that MVC title, led by sophomore Oscar Robertson (35.1 ppg, 15.2 rpg). In his first and only visit to Stillwater (Jan. 6, 1958), Robertson scored 29 points, but OSU – led by senior point guard Eddie Sutton -- rallied to deal UC one of just two regular season losses.
When the sides met again six weeks later in Ohio, OSU had risen to No. 6 in the national polls and the Bearcats were No. 3. A very motivated Robertson went for 30 points and 22 rebounds in a 71-59 Cincinnati win.
The teams nearly met a third time when both qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional. According to Iba's 1980 biography, on the eve of the semifinals, K-State coach Texas Winter asked Iba for tips on slowing the Bearcats. Iba, wishing to help his future Big Eight colleague, offered some tactical advice which placed a heavier defensive burden on Robertson. K-State won 83-80 in overtime and advanced to face OSU in the final. The following day, in a third-place matchup, Robertson went for 56 points as the Bearcats trounced Arkansas, 97-62.
The schools met just three other times in the 76 years before Cincinnati joined the Big 12, beginning with a chance encounter in the 1985 All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City.
Both sides were on the upswing in the early 2000's under coaches Sutton and Bob Huggins when they staged a home-and-home.
No. 18 OSU defeated a 31-win Bearcat squad in the 2001-02 season opener at GIA behind 20 points from Victor Williams. Tipoff was delayed by 17 minutes due to a malfunction that prevented GIA's lights from being turned back on after pregame introductions.
Cincinnati won the rematch the following year, upsetting No. 11 OSU, 61-50.

Scouting the Bearcats:

Fifth-year head coach Wes Miller has Cincinnati peaking at the right time.
The Bearcats (15-13, 7-8) have won four of their last five, including a 16-point victory over Kansas last weekend at Allen Fieldhouse.
Cincinnati is No. 54 in the NCAA NET rankings, led by a defense that ranks 13^th in efficiency, per KenPom. It's the third straight season that Miller's Bearcats have fielded a KenPom top-25 defense after 19th and 22nd-place finishes in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Opponents are averaging just 67.5 points on 41.5% shooting.
The front court combo of 6-foot-11 Baba Miller (13.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 33 blocks) and 7-2 sophomore Moustapha Thiam (12.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 40 blocks) have played a major role.
Miller, a former FAU and Florida State forward, ranks 13^th nationally in rebounds and has posted 11 double-doubles.
Thiam was the 2025 Big 12 blocks leader as a freshman at UCF.
Veteran guards Jizzle James (11.1 ppg) and Day Day Thomas (10.9 ppg, 3.5 apg) are both in their third seasons with the program.

A Cowboy win would...

Give them back-to-back victories and push their season record to 18-11, exceeding their 2024-25 win total (17-18) with a week to play in the regular season.
Increase their all-time series lead over Cincinnati to 6-3 (3-0 in Big 12 regular season games).
Make them 2-2 all-time against the Bearcats in Cincinnati (2-0 since FTA's renovation).
Be their second true road win this season (2-6).
Make them 3-1 against UC head coach Wes Miller.

A Cowboy loss would...

Make them 17-12 (5-11 Big 12) on the season.
Drop their road record to 1-7.
Narrow their all-time series lead to 5-4 (2-2 since UC's move to the Big 12).
Make them 1-3 all-time against the Bearcats in Cincinnati (1-1 since FTA's 2018 renovation).

Up Next: at UCF
Tuesday, 6 p.m. CT (ESPN+)

The Cowboys continue their two-game road swing Tuesday evening in Orlando against UCF.
OSU will be looking for a series sweep after winning the Jan. 6 meeting in Stillwater. The Knights had won 11 straight coming into that game and were ranked 25^th in the AP Poll.
UCF (20-7, 9-6 heading into Saturday's home game against Baylor) is heating up again. The Knights have won three straight after sweeping a two-game road swing at Utah and BYU. They led by as many as 36 points in the BYU win and knocked down 14-of-24 threes.