Oklahoma State takes down Green Bay 89-76 in season, Lutz era opener

STILLWATER, OK – The college basketball season is officially upon us and the Oklahoma State Cowboys got it started the right way with an 89-76 victory over the Green Bay Phoenix in front of an excited home crowd.

The opener was the first game of the Steve Lutz era in Stillwater after the 52-year old took over the program in the offseason following the departure of Mike Boynton. The victory gives Lutz his 70th tally in the win column in his head coaching career.

Lutz offered comments after the game on his thoughts on the overall experience and value of what he saw from his squad’s first game.

“I thought it was a great night. You know, I thought that that's a a great step step forward in terms of getting Cowboy basketball in Gallagher Iba back to being the rowdiest arena in the country. 

“I thought that the students were good. I thought the overall fans were good, and I thought that our guys gave them at times, albeit it was not pretty, I thought that our guys gave them things to make them want to come back and watch them play again. So I I thought it was a tremendous step forward and look forward to building upon that.”

The first half saw a fair share of strong basketball from the Cowboys as well as some mistakes often found early in a season of a team with little experience together in real game action. As a result, Green Bay was able to get hot in the early going, shooting 14-24, including seven made 3-pointers.

The Cowboys were not quite as efficient, going 13-32 in the first half from the field, but made up for it going 9-9 at the free throw line.

The Cowboys entered the half with a 39-38 lead behind a healthy sharing of the scoring with eight Cowboys putting the ball in the basket, including all five starters.

Bryce Thompson led the scoring for the Cowboys in the first half with nine points. Marchelu Avery, who came off the bench, was just behind with eight points of his own.

Part of that Phoenix offensive efficiency was two scorers in double digits. Marcus Hall led the way with 16 points while Anthony Roy was responsible for 11.

The second half was much more of a dominant, clean performance from the Cowboys, taking as big as a 22-point lead. 

After leading the first half Cowboys scoring, Thompson backed it up again with 13-points in the second half, bringing his game total to 22-points. He was 4-5 from the beyond the arc and also was able to add five rebounds. 

Lutz commented on the work Thompson has put in to get ready for this season after missing nearly the entire offseason recovering from last season’s injury. 

“He puts an enormous amount of time in in the gym and works at it. So he deserves to be rewarded with the shots going in in the games.”

The Cowboys had three more Cowboys finish in double digit scoring. Big man Abou Ousmane finished with 16 points while providing eight rebounds. Avery and Davonte Davis each provided 10-points in the game. Arturo Dean also turned in a solid performance with eight points and seven rebounds.

In total, 10 Cowboys recorded a made basket on Monday night.

What stands out most from this game is the Cowboys went 10-22 on three point shots and 21-24 at the free throw line. 24 of the 89 points came from players off the bench. The Cowboys led for just over 24 minutes of the 40-minute contest. 

The biggest improvement from the Cowboys will need to come on the defensive end as they allowed both Hall and Roy to finish with more than 20-points. Roy surged with a 16-point second half to finish with 27 total while Hall finished with 21. Outside of those two causing fits, there was only more scorer with more than seven points for the Phoenix.

Lutz echoed this sentiment post game.

“We gave up 58% in the first half. We gave up 41% in the second half and still 37% from the three. You're not gonna win games that way. I know we won tonight and I know that we were great in rebounding, wr were great at shooting free throws, we took care of the ball for the most part, but you're not going to be able to play that kind of defense and win in the Big 12, you're just not.
You're kidding yourself if you think if that's gonna happen.”

Nonetheless, the Pokes start their 2024-2025 season with a 1-0 record under Steve Lutz and will now prepare for their next game, six days from now when they host St. Thomas in Gallagher Iba Arena.