Could this go down as the best home season in Cowgirl basketball history?
Tyler Waldrep
OSU Sports WriterSTILLWATER — When the Cowgirls return to Gallagher-Iba Arena for Saturday’s contest against Colorado, Oklahoma State will be eight quarters away from securing the best home finish in program history.
“Every single game, I want to make them proud,” Oklahoma State coach Jacie Hoyt said of the fans. “I want to give them a reason to come back, and I think we’ve done that so far, and it’s a real sense of gratitude that I have, but also a real sense of responsibility that I feel.”
In the 90s, a few Cowgirl teams went undefeated while playing 12 and 13 games inside the confines of GIA. In 2011-12, OSU went 18-3 at home, and in 2015-16 the Cowgirls went 16-1 at GIA.
If these Cowgirls (20-4, 10-3 Big 12) can beat Colorado (16-8, 7-6 Big 12) and Cincinnati (14-9, 6-7 Big 12), the eighth and ninth teams in the conference standings heading into the Saturday, in back-to-back games then Oklahoma State will finish with a home record of 17-1 with wins over three teams currently ranked inside the top 25 including No. 11 TCU, No. 14 Kansas State and No. 18 West Virginia.
As of Saturday morning, all three teams ranked 13th or higher in the NET. Oklahoma State also beat Iowa State (38th) and Fairfield (46th) to boast a home record of 5-0 against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents.
The Wednesday night win against Arizona (59th, four spots short of Quad 2) came in blowout fashion 83-64, but that wasn’t the only reason it was significant. That victory guarantees the Cowgirls will finish with a winning record in Big 12 play. In the last four NCAA Tournaments, every team with a winning record in Big 12 play made the bracket.Oh, and the announced attendance that evening was 2,675, which Hoyt praised as a great showing considering the icy conditions and cold weather.
“It means everything the way that our fans have continued to show up for us,” Hoyt said. “I was disappointed with the weather today because we just have had so much momentum, and they’ve been so awesome for us. Even tonight, I was really proud of the turnout because they had a lot of reasons not to come, with the weather and school being canceled and all that stuff. It means the world. … It helps so much with not just in-game atmosphere but also recruiting.”
According to OSU records, it’s the 16th largest home crowd of the Hoyt era (48 games) and the 11th largest crowd ignoring Oklahoma State’s two Bedlam matchups and its three morning games, which serve as field trip opportunities for kids.
Although the crowd against Arizona was only the seventh-largest home crowd of the season, it practically ensures Oklahoma State will set a record season-long attendance for the Hoyt era.
Last season, 2414 fans came out to watch the average Cowgirl game. In her first year, 2,514 fans came out, but that average plummets to 2,259 if you don’t count the Bedlam crowd.
The current team is on track to finish with a season-long attendance average of 2,697. In fact, the Cowgirls can play their last two games in front of empty gyms and still average 2,397 fans for the season, which would finish ahead of each of the last two years if factoring out the Bedlam matchups.
Speaking of those final games, both Colorado and Cincinnati have struggled away from home in Big 12 play this season, going 1-6 and 2-4, respectively, ahead of Saturday’s games. Plus, Oklahoma State beat Cincinnati 64-48 on the road on Jan. 8.
Winning those games would also give the Cowgirls a 41-9 record at home in the Hoyt era, which would be on the shortlist for the best three-year stretches inside GIA.
Oklahoma State has only finished with nine or fewer home losses in a three-year stretch 12 times, although all aren't created equal since home seasons used to be much shorter.
Oklahoma State only has three such runs since moving to larger home schedules.
2016-18: 42-9 at home
2014-16: 43-8 at home
2012-14: 45-9 at home
Other noteworthy Cowgirl records at GIA sorted by losses:
Six losses
1993-95: 31-6 (37 games)
1991-93: 30-6 (36)
Seven losses
1994-96: 27-7 (34)
1989-91: 33-7 (40)
1976-78: 21-7 (28)
Eight losses
1996-98: 26-8 (34)
Nine losses
1990-92: 30-9 (39)
1988-90: 28-9 (37)
1987-89: 24-9 (35)
So, there are several milestones that Hoyt’s squad could begin celebrating soon, but the Cowgirls head coach said the team remains focused on the postseason.
As of Friday morning, ESPN bracketology projects No. 20 Oklahoma State as a seventh seed.
“Going into the year, we were really hungry to get to the tournament,” Hoyt said. “We still have a lot of business to take care of. But now that we’ve positioned ourself where we have it is really about seedings. … We’re really just focused on one game at a time and understanding that while March looks promising at this point, we want to play as long as possible and those seedings matter.”
