Rockin' In The New Year In Gallagher-Iba: OSU Hosts Zags Dec. 31

The Oklahoma State men's basketball team will host the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Monday, Dec. 31, at 7 p.m. CST, it was announced Tuesday by ESPN and the Big 12 Conference. The game will be televised on ESPN2 in the primetime slot.

From a football standpoint, the scheduling is great for Cowboy fans because none of the bowl games with Big 12 ties will be played from Dec. 30-Jan. 2, giving fans a chance to experience one of the most highly anticipated non-conference home games in Oklahoma State history.

There are three bowl games with Big 12 ties on Dec. 29, but the next Big 12 tie-in bowl will be the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3.

This will mark the third-consecutive season and the fifth time in the past eight years that the Cowboys have played on New Year's Eve. Three of the previous four games were played at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Oklahoma State and Gonzaga last met in Spokane, Wash., on New Year's Eve in 2010, with the Bulldogs running away with a 73-52 victory.

The Cowboys and Bulldogs have played fairly frequently for such geographically distant nonconference foes. The teams' meeting this coming season will mark the fifth time the two have played since the 2004-05 season. Gonzaga has won the four previous matchups, most memorably in the 64-62 Gonzaga win in Seattle in 2005-06 when Adam Morrison drilled a heartbreaking dagger 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds remaining in Seattle.