Published: January 06, 2009 04:58 pm         

One last step for Cowboys

With the Big 12 season only days awaym the Oklahoma State Cowboys have one thing in mind.

Savannah State.

The Cowboys host Savannah State tonight at 8:05 p.m. inside Gallagher-Iba Arena in the last contest before the start of the Big 12 schedule on Saturday against Texas A&M.

“The mentality of this team right now has to be totally Savannah State,” assistant coach Frank Middleton said. “You can’t take anyone for granted or look past anyone. We know what’s around the corner, but we have to concentrate on tomorrow.”

Middleton and head coach Travis Ford have seen a lot of Savannah State during the last few years. When the duo coached together at Eastern Kentucky and UMass, they saw the Tigers twice a year. Both have been very impressed with the progress that the Tigers have made in only a handful of seasons but know that it is also a team that cannot be overlooked.

“You have to be careful, every time you go out, of the other teams record and the teams they’ve beat and the teams they’ve lost to,” Middleton said. “You really have to concentrate and get your kids ready to play.”

The Big 12 season is arguably the most important stretch of the schedule for any team, and with an opponent that has had as little success as Savannah State has had recently — the Tigers have scored only 115 combined points in their last three games — it can be difficult to focus on the task at hand.

“Most people know that we have (Texas) A&M Saturday, but we know that it will be a lot tougher to beat A&M if we lose to Savannah State,” guard Terrel Harris said.

When Middleton played for Southern Illinois in the late ’80s, college basketball was much different than it is now. In only seven years of coaching at the collegiate level, Middleton has noticed a surprising trend. The gap between the high majors and the low majors has closed drastically. Oklahoma State — one of those high major schools — faces another low major school that prior to its three-game losing streak was off to one of the best starts in school history.

“Coach (Ford) has made a good point on focusing on the task at hand instead of looking ahead,” Harris said.

It would be very easy to look past a team only three years removed from a season where it went winless, but Ford has had his team focused on this game for more than a week.

“We just really want to use Savannah State as a stepping stone for getting ready for the Big 12 game Saturday,” Harris said.

Prior to starting this short stretch of games which includes the Tigers, Northwestern State and Arkansas State, Ford wanted to make sure his team knew the importance of eliminating stumbles through this stretch and the importance of building momentum heading into a matchup with Texas A&M on Saturday.

“Coach said, a few weeks ago, if we don’t take care of these next three games, A&M is going to be a hell of a game,” Harris said.

But even with the extremely pivotal Big 12 season on the very nearing horizon, the Cowboys (10-3) are still focused on the next game.

“It’s just another stage in our season,” Harris said. “It’s just the next game in our season.”

     

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