Cowboy Basketball Releases Non-Conference Schedule

The Oklahoma State men's basketball team is gearing up for the 2012-13 season with Tuesday's announcement of the teams non-conference schedule.

The Cowboys will host eight games inside Gallagher-Iba including a big matchup with Gonzaga in New Years Eve. All six of those teams finished in the top four of their respective conferences.

"It's a great home schedule, and we're very excited about having eight home non-conference games, but even more than that, the caliber of teams coming into Gagllagher-Iba Arena will be very challenging," head coach Travis Ford said. "Our fans will enjoy having teams like Gonzaga, South Florida and Missouri State coming into our place. It's something we worked really hard on, to give our fans and our team a challenging schedule at home."

The game against the Zags is considered one of the biggest matchups in Stillwater in recent history as Gonzaga advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago and finished with a 26-7 record.

Oklahoma State will also host the Big East's USF for its first game inside Gallagher-Iba. . The Bulls finished 22-14 last year and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

Also included in the home non-conference portion of OSU's schedule is a visit from the Missouri State Bears. Both games will be played prior to finals week of the fall semester.

OSU will begin the season in San Juan, Puerto Rico, competing in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Nov. 15-18.

The Cowboys will hit the road to start December off with a matchup against the Virginia Tech Hokies.

After that, OSU will host six-straight games in Gallagher-Iba Arena during the month of December.

In all, the Cowboys will play eight non-conference games at home during the 2012-13 season, plus an exhibition contest against Ottawa University of Kansas to unofficially start the season on Nov. 1.

The regular season kicks off on Friday, Nov. 9 when the Pokes host UC Davis below is the full non-conference schedule for the OSU Cowboys.

Oklahoma State 2012 Non-Conference Schedule
Thu, Nov 1 Ottawa (Exhibition)-7 pm
Fri, Nov 9 UC Davis-8 pm*
Thu-Sun, Nov 15-18 Puerto Rico Tip-Off
Sun, Nov 25 Portland State-1 pm
Sat, Dec 1 at Virginia Tech- TBA
Wed, Dec 5 USF-7pm
Sat, Dec 8 Missouri State-3 pm
Sun, Dec 16 Central Arkansas-3 pm*
Wed, Dec 19 Texas-Arlington-7 pm
Sat, Dec 22 Tennessee Tech-12 pm
Mon, Dec 31 Gonzaga -TBA

* denotes a doubleheader with the women's team home games