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Report: OU, OSU finalize deal to play basketball Dec. 14 in Oklahoma City

Report: OU, OSU finalize deal to play basketball Dec. 14 in Oklahoma City​

  • Aug 22, 2024 Updated Aug 22, 2024

Mason Young

Tulsa World Sports Writer


Bedlam basketball is a go.
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have finalized a contract for their men’s hoops teams to meet on the hardwood Dec. 14 in Oklahoma City, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported Thursday.

Rothstein had previously reported in June from an interview with new OSU coach Steve Lutz that the Sooners and Cowboys were “on track” to play in mid-December at the Paycom Center in downtown Oklahoma City.
The now finalized nonconference matchup for the 2024-25 season keeps alive the in-state rivalry in the wake of Oklahoma’s move from the Big 12 to the SEC in July.

OU and OSU were always home and home opponents while in the Big 12 together, but this new one-off arrangement seems likely to continue in the future now that they’re in separate leagues.

Some will say they’d prefer the schools find a way to play home and home every year, or to at least alternate the single nonconference games between the Norman and Stillwater campuses.

But for now, in this new era of college sports paved by conference realignment, at least Bedlam men’s basketball has a first date.

Former Oklahoma State wrestler AJ Ferrari commits to Cal State Bakersfield

Former Oklahoma State wrestler AJ Ferrari commits to Cal State Bakersfield​

Portrait of Justin MartinezJustin Martinez
The Oklahoman

Former Oklahoma State wrestler AJ Ferrari announced his commitment to Cal State Bakersfield on Friday.

Ferrari joined OSU as the top prospect in the 2020 class, and he won an NCAA title and Big 12 championship at 197 pounds as a freshman in 2021. He also went 10-0 to begin the 2021-22 campaign but missed the rest of the season due to injuries sustained in a car accident.

In August 2022, Ferrari was arrested and charged with one felony count of sexual battery stemming from a July 2, 2022, incident at the home of a Stillwater female who accused him of performing unwanted sexual acts. Less than two weeks after the incident, OSU announced Ferrari was no longer part of the program.

The sexual battery charge against Ferrari was dropped on Oct. 6, 2023. He has not wrestled at the collegiate level since his departure from OSU despite taking a visit to Iowa in December 2023.

Ferrari now plans to join a Cal State Bakersfield program that went 0-12 last season.

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Why Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas series renewal is good for college football

Why Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas series renewal is good for college football | Mussatto​

Portrait of Joe MussattoJoe Mussatto
The Oklahoman

STILLWATER — Not even Mike Gundy, the embodiment of Oklahoma State football, has vivid memories of OSU-Arkansas clashes of old.

Forgive him.

Gundy was 13 in 1980, the last time the Cowboys and Razorbacks played.

What about Sam Pittman? The Arkansas coach grew up in Grove, in northeastern Oklahoma, just 75 miles from Fayetteville. Pittman, 62, is five years older than Gundy. Does he remember the annual OSU-Arkansas games?

“I believe I went to one of those games when I was in high school,” Pittman said.

Pittman graduated from Grove High School 44 years ago, which is exactly how long the OSU-Arkansas series has been on hiatus.

“That kind of hit me a little bit,” Pittman said.

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At 11 a.m. Saturday, the series will be renewed. Gundy’s Cowboys (1-0) will host Pittman’s Hogs (1-0) at Boone Pickens Stadium. Three years from now, in 2027, OSU will make the return trip to Fayetteville. The two schools are scheduled to play another home-and-home series in 2032 and 2033.

At a time when college football is losing the charm of regional rivalries, it’s regaining one in Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas — two schools 190 miles and a three-hour drive apart. Tulsa is the closest FBS program to Arkansas, but Oklahoma State is the closest Power Four foe. And that includes all of Arkansas’ SEC brethren.

The Cowboys and Razorbacks played in every season from 1962 to 1980. Only two of those games (1975 and 1978) were in Stillwater. The rest were played at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, the Hogs’ second home.

OSU and Arkansas played 27 times from 1912 to 1960.

Saturday will mark the 47th meeting between the two schools. Arkansas leads the all-time series 30-15-1.

Gundy said the matchup is not only good from a resume standpoint, but also a geographic one.

“You have a lot of crossover with people,” Gundy said. “There’s a lot of Arkansas people that live up here. There’s a lot of Oklahoma people that have migrated over there with Walmart and all that stuff, so I think it’s good.”

OSU has two players from Arkansas on its roster: cornerback RJ Lester, from Fort Smith, and cornerback DeSean Buckner, from Pine Bluff.

The Razorbacks’ roster includes Bixby brothers Luke and Dylan Hasz, wide receiver Bryce Stephens from John Marshall High School and running back Emmanuel Crawford from Pittman’s hometown of Grove.

There are all sorts of Razorback/Cowboy connections.

Former Razorback great Jimmy Johnson was OSU’s coach from 1979-83. Pat Jones, Johnson’s successor at OSU, grew up in Little Rock and played for the Razorbacks. Houston Nutt played at and coached at both schools.

On Sept. 20, 1980 — when OSU and Arkansas last met — Johnson’s Cowboys lost to Lou Holtz’ Razorbacks 33-20. OSU was in the Big Eight, Arkansas was in the Southwestern Conference and Jimmy Carter was in the Oval Office.

Mike Gundy and Sam Pittman were teenagers.

Pittman, who was born in El Reno before moving to Grove, said his family has requested upwards of 30 tickets to the game.

“I think games like this are really good for college football,” Pittman said, “and for regional football.”

This was in the Tulsa World today

I thought this was really good from Gundy. Especially the bolded parts:

How did OSU beat Arkansas? It began with Mike Gundy pressing his assistant coaches. 'You screwed it up, figure it out.’​



Tyler Waldrep

OSU Sports Writer

STILLWATER — How do you engineer a two-touchdown comeback in the second half when your offense looks stuck in the mud and your defense looks like it just learned quarterbacks can scramble?
For one thing, you don’t wait until halftime.
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy starts pressing his assistant coaches to begin scheming up second-half adjustments in the final minutes of the second quarter.

“I’m just telling you,” Gundy said. “I’m watching s---. You got an issue. We need to fix it. When I come down at halftime, I want to know what the answer is.”
Of course, one of the most pressing issues facing Oklahoma State on Saturday was the athleticism of Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green, who averaged 10.5 yards per carry and picked up four first downs on eight carries.

Although he often ran circles around them, Oklahoma State defenders thought the experience against such an athletic quarterback was good for them.

Oklahoma State linebacker Obi Ezeigbo, who replaced Collin Oliver on Saturday, said rewatching film reminded him how important it is to take an angle that keeps the quarterback positioned to his left or right.

“Just kind of put him to where I’m expecting him to go,” Ezeigbo said. “You know, so make it one side, instead of two. Make it a one-way lane instead of a two-way lane.”

Oklahoma State limited Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green to 5 rushing yards in the second half of Saturday’s 39-31 double-overtime win.
Although Gundy said Oklahoma State should have brought Green down eight additional times, he expressed some sympathy for pass rushers asked to contain dual-threat quarterbacks.

“Defensive line coaches will tell those guys, ‘I want you to fight, scream, spit, claw, bite, whatever you’ve got to do, I need you to get to that quarterback,” Gundy said. “But when you get back there, don’t get out of control … Make sure you have some rush lane presence. (But) I want you – whatever it takes to get back there, you’ve got to get back there.’”


Clearly, Oklahoma State’s halftime adjustments were an improvement considering the Cowboys limited Green to 5 additional rushing yards and no first downs on seven attempts after the first half.
Although good ideas matter when the coaches get together during halftime, Gundy is more concerned with how his assistants compose themselves in front of the players when things go sideways.


“One of the things that I tell them all the time is nobody can panic, and nobody can flinch,” Gundy said. “And I think that’s a big part of it. Because coaches panic a lot and then the players see them panicking. And then so they don’t think, they can’t absorb information. They’re in a panic mode (too).”
Gundy said he tries to prepare players during the week by warning them that their coaches might come up with bad game plans. He wants the Cowboys to be ready to just flush everything if needed.

On Monday, he recalled beating West Virginia once, likely the 17-point second-half comeback in 2018, when Oklahoma State literally scrapped its entire offensive game plan and just did “our turbo stuff.”

Of course, that doesn’t just require composure from his coaches. Second-half comebacks like Oklahoma State experienced against West Virginia in 2018 and against Arkansas on Saturday require a certain amount of flexibility and humility.
Of course, it probably helped that seven of Gundy’s top 10 assistants on Saturday were with him in 2018.

“You got to be willing to say you know what, this was not good,” Gundy said. “I tell them all the time, ‘Guys, I don’t care how they got to this point. I just need an answer. We got two quarters to figure it out, so you screwed it up, figure it out.’ And I think they have to be willing to look themselves in the mirror and say, yeah, you’re right.”

Predictions for tonight's debate?

I think Trump's strategy tonight will mirror his strategy in the last debate: Basically lay back and let Kamala trip over her own words. Same thing he did with Biden. Trump was actually very reserved in the previous debate, I think he'll do the same tonight.

Apparently, Kamala's bff runs ABC News, so she will likely get the questions and that means she will already have the answers memorized and ABC and other MSM sources will be given a script on how to spin her answers. If she does well or even ok, gush about Kamala. If she totally bombs as Biden did, Obama may again put on the call to can her as he did with Biden.

I suspect this will be a pretty uneventful debate. Kamala just wants to get out of tonight not sounding like an idiot, and I don't think Trump will press her. I think it will be a fairly boring debate then in a week or so we'll see if Kamala is willing to do a third debate or not.
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