Preview: #7 Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. #20 Colorado Buffaloes
By Andrew Dill
Dec 13, 2013; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes guard/forward Tre
The Colorado Buffaloes, 20th ranked team in the nation (10-1, 0-0 in PAC-12) will get their biggest test all season Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The Buffs will host the #7 ranked team in the nation, the Oklahoma State Cowboys (10-1, 0-0 in Big-12).
What: Oklahoma State Cowboys (7) vs. Colorado Buffaloes (20).
When: Saturday, December 21st
Where: MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada
Time: 11:30 PM ET, 9:30 PM MT
TV: ESPN2/WatchESPN
The Colorado Buffaloes are looking for their 11th straight victory as the team returns to the MGM Grand for the first-time since the PAC-12 tournament. The Buffaloes are also looking to start 11-1 for the second time in school history; 1941-42′ team started 14-0. The last time the Buffaloes defeated two top-10 teams in the same season, was coach Tad Boyle’s first season with the team in 2010-11′. They went on to defeat Missouri and Texas as both games were played at CEC.
Colorado made their presence known shocking the Kansas Jayhawks moving up into the AP Polls at #21. Oklahoma State’s head coach Travis Ford has some great praise for this CU squad:
"The Cowboys’ record (10-1) matches that of the Buffs, but CU is on a 10-game winning streak – the basketball program’s longest since a 12-win run in the 1961-62 season. Possibly succumbing to holiday hype, OSU coach Travis Ford calls CU “a great basketball team, one of the best teams in America . . . it’s going to be a very challenging trip.”"
Good news for the Buffs is that they will get redshirt-freshman Wesley Gordon back in tonight’s starting line-up. Gordon would miss the game against Kansas and Elon due to an undisclosed injury. He provides tremendous athleticism on the glass averaging 6.3 rebounds per game. Out of his 57 total rebounds, 20 are offensive. Here is what Gordon said about sitting out:
"“I wanted to play – the Kansas game particularly, but we got the win in both games so that’s all that matters.”"
Match-Up To Watch:
Colorado’s Spencer Dinwiddie up against Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart. The 6’6″ guard Dinwiddie leads the PAC-12 in free-throw attempts and free-throws made, currently 74-for-86 on the season heading into tonight’s game. On the other hand, Marcus Smart is taking the Big-12 by storm in his sophomore season. The guard is averaging 16.0 points per game, adding 5.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists. The number that stands out with him right now is his steals per game which is three, ranked first in the Big-12. His defensive presence is outstanding, ranked at 82.0 according to Sports-Reference. Hard to give an advantage to either guard as both play different styles.
Projected Starting Line-Ups:
Oklahoma State Cowboys:
PG: Marcus Smart
SG: Markel Brown
SF: Le’Bryan Nash
PF: Michael Cobbins
Colorado Buffaloes:
PG: Spencer Dinwiddie
SG: Askia Booker
SF: Xavier Johnson
PF: Wesley Gordon
C: Josh Scott