Arkansas @ Oklahoma State preview
Gallagher-Iba Arena
Last Meeting ( Jan 27, 2018 ) Oklahoma State 65, Arkansas 66
Cade Cunningham has missed Oklahoma State's last two games due to COVID-19 protocols and hopes to avoid missing a third, especially since one of his opponents will be a close friend.
Cunningham could return Saturday afternoon when the Cowboys host Arkansas in the Big 12/SEC Challenge in Stillwater, Okla. If he does, he will face former high school teammate Moses Moody.
Oklahoma State (10-4, 4-4 Big 12) split its games without Cunningham, losing to No. 2 Baylor before notching an 81-60 victory at Iowa State on Monday.
Cunningham, the Big 12's leading scorer with 18.0 points per game, participated in some pregame warmups on Monday but sat out as the Cowboys got career games from fellow freshmen Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe (22 points, 12 rebounds) and Rondel Walker (20 points) in a game that saw Oklahoma State shoot 59.3 percent and rally from an early 11-point deficit.
The Cowboys also got 15 points from Kalib Boone, who has scored 36 points in the last two games.
"Surviving has shown us that maybe we don't have to play small all the time to be successful," Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. "And maybe we don't have to rely on our point guards to dominate the glass and post up all the time. Part of it is KB (Boone) is playing better and MA (Moncrieffe), the game is slowing down for him."
Moody was Cunningham's teammate at Florida's Montverde Academy, the same program that produced NBA players Ben Simmons, D'Angelo Russell and RJ Barrett. Moody is seventh in the SEC in scoring at 16.6 points and is actually coming off his quietest game of the season.
Arkansas (13-4, 5-4 SEC) has won three straight following double-digit losses to Alabama and LSU. Moody has sandwiched a pair of five-point games around a 26-point performance at Vanderbilt on Jan. 23.
With Moody experiencing an off night, the Razorbacks posted a 74-59 win over Ole Miss on Wednesday by getting 19 points from reserves JD Notae and 14 from Davonte Davis.
"After the last two losses at Alabama and at LSU, I feel like we weren't in sync," Notae said. "But now, you can feel it. I feel like we're starting to get our groove back, people are starting to play with confidence."
Oklahoma State has won 10 of the past 12 meetings. On Saturday, the Cowboys will pay tribute to coach Eddie Sutton, who won 260 games with Arkansas (1974-85) and 368 games with Oklahoma State (1990-2006). Sutton died last May at 84.
--Field Level Media