It was a rough trip out west for Oklahoma State as the Pokes lost both of the games to Utah and BYU by a combined 168-131, dropping the Pokes to 9-7 overall on the season and 1-4 in Big 12 play.
The lone win in conference for the Pokes came at home against Kansas State, 79-66 and was one of the most complete games the Pokes have played all season. Not a perfect game but enough to get past the Wildcats.
Up until the Utah game, the Cowboys had held Houston, West Virginia and Kansas State all to under 70 points, which is saying something in the Big 12. Again, not perfect but usually enough to win you a game if you do enough on the offensive end.
But the defense in the Big 12 this season has been something else as the Pokes rank towards the bottom of the conference in defense.
“You look at the defensive numbers in the Big 12 and we’re dead last,” Lutz said after BYU. “So, we’ve got issues, we’ve got to be better. The second half I thought we were much better, [we] held them to 39 points. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible either. I thought we moved the ball better. In the second half, offensively, I think we had 12 assists on 15 made baskets, which allowed us to score some and get our defense set. We didn’t make any shots in the first half; therefore, we’re playing transition defense the whole second half. That’s on us, but we’ve got to get better defensively.”
The problem with the game against BYU is they allowed the Cougars to shoot 60% from the floor, 42% from 3-point range and score 46 points in the first half, while shooting just 26% from the floor, 33% from 3-point range and scoring just 26 points on the other end in the first half.
They were better in the second half as they started with a 22-2 run and shot 60% from the floor and 44% from 3-point range. They also outscored the Cougars 43-39 in the second half. But when you trail by 20 going into the break, it’s hard to come back from that.
The first half of the game against Utah was fairly similar as the Pokes shot just 23% from the floor, 15% from 3-point range and scored just 26 points, while giving up 37 points on the other end on 47% shooting from the floor by the Utes.
While the points weren’t great in the second half with 36, the Cowboys shot 44% from the floor and 40% from 3-point range.
If the Cowboys can put a near-complete game together, they’re very good. Athletic, fast and play defense well. The problem is they haven’t figured out how to put two complete halves together due to a seemingly lack of identity and confidence on both ends for 30+ minutes of a game.
There are still winnable games coming up for the Pokes, but also the most challenging games against Arizona, Texas Tech x2, at Houston, UCF x2, at Kansas, Iowa State and at Baylor. So, some confidence and clarity on both ends of the court is imperative for the Pokes as fast.
