STILLWATER — Basketball may be a large part of Michael Cobbins’ life for years to come.

But as for what he may ahead after his basketball career the Amarillo, Texas, native already has an idea — the family barbecue sauce business.

Cobbins can’t help but boast about ‘Haps Barbecue’ named after his deceased grandfather, who was known as ‘Happy’ because, as Cobbins put it, “he was always happy about everything.”

While the product may be small potatoes, he said there have been talks of getting the sauce on shelves in Walmart in the Amarillo area. And while it’s been a slow process, Cobbins, who is majoring in business at Oklahoma State, said he can see himself spearheading the business after basketball.

“Family has a barbecue sauce business, so I might take that over,” Cobbins said.

Travis Ford said he hasn’t heard of the Cobbins family barbecue sauce, but he isn’t surprised that his redshirt sophomore forward already has his eye on working in the business field.

“For him to fully understand what he wants to do does not surprise me, one single bit,” Ford said. “He’s very mature, very responsible guy. He’s somebody we don’t have to tell something twice to — which we have a few of those.”

Though Cobbins was restocked with the family sauce when he visited home over Christmas break, he said he’s been without for some time. Fortunately for him, the Cowboys will be taking a trip down to Lubbock, Texas — a two-hour trip from Cobbins’ hometown — Wednesday for a contest with Texas Tech. ...

“I’ve got a lot of friends and family coming to the game, so it’s going to be another good Big 12 game,” Cobbins said. “It’s almost like going back home. I’d like to play good in front of the family, of course, but I just look at it as another game.”

Playing well in front of family and friends may not be too hard to come by for Cobbins. Ford said Cobbins has been the most consistent player of late and has been a key factor to the Cowboys’ five-game winning streak.

“I’ve been very proud of Michael Cobbins and I would repeat that,” Ford said. “Obviously we’ve had other players who are doing well, but Michael Cobbins is really doing a lot of things inside that are almost changing the games for us. He’s blocking shots, rebounding, scoring points, running the court.

“We’re not getting consistent play out of Philip (Jurick) like the way I want to, so (Cobbins) is having to double up down low at times. In the Big 12 it’s just a battle. It’s as physical as it is in any league and Michael’s down there doing it night in and night out and really doing a big job of helping us.”

The Cowboys could use the continued production from Cobbins with what is now at stake for OSU in the Big 12 Conference. With the recent struggles by Kansas, which lost two games following the upset by OSU in Lawrence, Kan., the Cowboys find them half a game back of the leaders — KU and Kansas State, which lost to the Jayhawks Monday night — and could find themselves tied a top the standings with a win over the Red Raiders.

“We have a lot of great teams in the Big 12 and we’re just fighting for spots right now. It’s a good thing that’s going on, good competition,” Smart said. “It’s real wide open, nobody’s a dominant team. Everybody thought Kansas was, but we see what happened with them. The door’s wide open.”

Jason Elmquist is sports editor of The Stillwater NewsPress.