If anyone in the Big 12 can sympathize with what the Texas A&M men's basketball team is going through this season, it's the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
A&M (11-8, 2-5) has had two key injuries and a player transfer. Oklahoma State (10-10, 3-4) lost a starter for the season and had two veteran point guards leave school over the holiday break.
The programs can commiserate over their losses at 3 p.m. Saturday at Reed Arena.
The Aggies have been without Khris Middleton for eight games, Kourtney Roberson for 10 games and freshman Jamal Branch since he stunned the program the day before Big 12 play began by announcing he was transferring. A&M head coach Billy Kennedy also has his fingers crossed that senior point guard Dash Harris, who limped through the second half of Monday's loss at Kansas with a sore arch, will be able to play Saturday. Harris is A&M's only true point guard.
For the Cowboys, starter and third-leading scorer Jean-Paul Olukemi tore his ACL the game before Big 12 play opened and is gone for the season. Former OSU junior Fred Gulley transferred to Arkansas in December, and one game later, Roger Dowell announced he was leaving. Gulley and Dowell were averaging a combined 37 minutes a game at point guard for the Cowboys.
Losing Gulley and Dowell left OSU with one true point guard, freshman Cezar Guerrero. OSU has moved Markel Brown into the starting lineup at point guard with senior Keiton Page helping fill in.
A&M's point guard troubles are newer and, therefore, still unsolved in comparison to OSU's.
"The difference is they've been there for awhile and recruited those guys," Kennedy said. "They've had some injuries and some issues, but Keiton Page has been solid for them all year and been a good leader for them. Le'Bryan Nash is getting more consistent with his effort. Markel Brown was one of the top players in the country. They've got some weapons that we're going to have to be prepared for. It would be really good to have Dash chasing Keiton around a little bit."
Despite the troubles, Oklahoma State beat No. 2 Missouri 79-72 on Wednesday in Stillwater, Okla.
OSU started two freshmen and two sophomores against MU. Nash had a career-high 27 points on 12-of-18 shooting, while the Cowboys shot 60 percent as a team. Redshirt freshman Michael Cobbins had 10 rebounds.
"We've been through a lot and will still go through a lot," OSU head coach Travis Ford said after beating MU. "But this was a great win by a bunch of guys who decided to look at the glass as half full rather than half empty. It shows a lot about them, and I'm proud of every guy in that locker room who continued to play hard and stay positive."
With all the injuries and departures, A&M and OSU have thin benches. OSU had three starters play at least 35 minutes against MU, and the bench consisted of Guererro and junior Philip Jurick totaling 30 minutes.
In A&M's loss at Kansas, the Aggies had three players play at least 34 minutes while the bench combined to play 42 minutes, more than its average in Big 12 games.
Each team got six points off its bench, but the Cowboys' bench players grabed nine rebounds to A&M's two.
OSU has 10 players on its roster, while A&M has 10 scholarship players.
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NOTES -- With Dowell and Gulley leaving, all seven players recruited by Ford in 2009 have left OSU. ... OSU's Brown was ejected in the Missouri game for two technicals. Both came for taunting after dunks. ... A&M assistant coaches Glyn Cyprien and Kyler Keller spent time as assistants at OSU -- Cyprien from 2000-04 and Keller from 1999-2008. OSU went to the Final Four in 2004. ... A&M's Elston Turner set a career high in points the last two games with 23 then 24. He leads the Big 12 in conference games with 2.7 3-pointers a game.
Who: Texas A&M (11-8, 2-5) vs. Oklahoma State (10-10, 3-4)
When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Reed Arena
TV/Radio: Big 12 Network/WTAW-AM 1620
Oklahoma State (10-10, 3-4)
Name Ht. Class PPG RPG
G Keiton Page 5-9 sr. 14.7 *2.0
G Markel Brown 6-3 so. 8.6 5.1
G Brian Williams 6-5 fr. 6.9 3.0
F Le'Bryan Nash 6-7 fr. 13.2 4.9
F Michael Cobbins 6-8 fr. 5.1 4.9
Texas A&M (11-8, 2-5)
G Dash Harris 6-1 sr. 5.9 *4.1
G Elston Turner 6-5 jr. 13.7 3.3
F Jordan Green 6-4 fr. 3.5 2.2
F David Loubeau 6-8 sr. 10.5 4.4
C Keith Davis 6-10 jr. 1.3 4.3
*assists
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