Men's Basketball profile: Oklahoma State
BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Monday, January 16, 2012
1/16/12 at 5:36 AM
9-8 overall, 2-2 Big 12
Three questions
with Keiton Page
Position: Guard
Class: Senior
Height: 5-foot-9
Weight: 165 pounds
Hometown: Pawnee
Page is OSU's leading scorer this season and is the 17th-leading scorer in program history. He has made 238 career 3-pointers and needs seven more to catch Obi Muonelo for second place on the all-time list.
Your basketball career has been well-documented. Any other sports in your background?
I was a baseballer when I grew up. That was actually my favorite sport when I was growing up. I stopped playing in the seventh grade. I was a better baseball player than I was a basketball player, but I just enjoyed basketball and loved basketball more than I did baseball. My dad didn't tell me to quit playing, but he knew and he just kind of told me that if I wanted to play in college somewhere, I might need to focus on one sport. I was just always in the gym with my dad being a basketball coach. I was playing baseball a lot because of my brother. He was a baseball player growing up too and he stopped his freshman year. But I was just in the gym so much because my dad was a coach and I just loved the game so much that I wanted to concentrate on basketball.
You are most associated with Pawnee, where you had a record-setting high school career, but didn't you sort of grow up all over the place?
I lived in Hominy - that's where my dad was coaching at that point - until my fourth-grade year. I went to fourth grade through eighth grade in Yale, then transferred to Pawnee my freshman through senior year.
All those places are small towns. What's cool about small towns in Oklahoma?
I just like the small-town atmosphere, like when I used to watch my dad's teams make it to the state tournament. The ones I remember the most were my brother and (when he played at) Yale. It was just funny. There was a sign that, when you were going to the state tournament, we would always leave and it said 'last one out of town turn off the lights.' That's exactly how it is with small towns. You have an entire community's support and it feels like when you are at those games you have the whole town and the whole community behind you.
THE BREAKDOWN
Looking back
OSU followed one of its best games of the season - the Cowboys led by as many as 17 points in a victory over Oklahoma - with one of the most lopsided defeats in program history. Baylor dealt OSU a 106-65 blemish Saturday. The 41-point difference was the largest in a Cowboy defeat since a 42-point loss at Creighton in 1932.
The week ahead
Wednesday: at Iowa State, 8 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Kansas State, 12:30 p.m.
OSU has lost 12 consecutive Big 12 road games. The Cowboys will return to the scene of their last league road victory. They won at Iowa State on Feb. 17, 2010.
The big picture
Can OSU bounce back from a historic defeat?
"If you are playing at this level, you should respond to this," coach Travis Ford said in a radio interview after the loss at Baylor. "It shouldn't hurt your confidence or you don't need to be playing at this level. It happens. This is part of the game. It can happen in any given game, especially when you are as young as we are. It's how you respond to it, and we will see what they are made of."
What was the most surprising aspect of the Baylor game?
OSU went to Waco ranked 20th nationally in field-goal percentage defense and 26th in 3-point percentage defense. Only nine times in OSU history has an opponent scored more than the 106 points Baylor scored. The Bears shot 52.9 percent from the field and 51.7 percent from 3-point range, making 15 shots from behind the arc. That's two shy of the single-game record for 3-pointers by an OSU opponent.
Has there been a positive development in 2012?
Brian Williams. He was averaging 3.8 points before a New Year's Eve game against Virginia Tech. He has averaged 11 points since, reaching double figures in four of five games.
Associated Images:
OSU's Brian Williams is guarded by OU's Steven Pledger during Monday's game in Stillwater. MICHAEL WYKE / Tulsa World
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