Oklahoma State Revisits Their Waterloo, Boynton's Waterloo, Lutz is Very Aware
STILLWATER – Cowboys first-year basketball head coach Steve Lutz is a smart guy. Lutz is in his fourth season as a Division I head coach. He coached for a lot of successful head coaches as an assistant. Lutz knows the difference between an acceptable loss and a bad loss. Lutz in his previous three seasons as a head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Western Kentucky was coaching at schools that preyed on Division I big dogs. Lutz played several close, but never had that big upset. His forte was winning the majority of the games he was expected to and a good share of those 50/50 games.
Lutz is well aware of why he got the job at Oklahoma State. His predecessor, Mike Boynton, did not win all those games he was expected to. The losses in the Big 12 schools and to other majors like Texas A&M, Notre Dame, and Creighton were tough. It was the 64-59 season opening loss at home to Abilene Christian and then losses at home in 2022 61-60 and in Carbondale, Ill. 70-68 to Southern Illinois represent a “Waterloo” for Boynton. Those losses kept Oklahoma State down, NCAA consideration a foregone conclusion, and were simply embarrassing.
You could tell in the meeting with the media on Tuesday that Southern Illinois is a topic that has been discussed and the preparation for this contest has been thorough.
“This year, we are obviously 0-2 against them (last two seasons), I lost to them last season and they lost to them the year before,” said sophomore guard Connor Dow, who was a freshman last season and a signed recruit the season before. “They play totally different and they have new coach (Scott Nagy). They like to drive the ball aggressive downhill. They are physical. It will be a good game for sure. We have to keep them off the boards and just guard.”
An excellent short scouting report from Dow. The three players that met with us on Tuesday in Brandon Newman, Robert Jennings II, and Dow certainly looked business-like and were talking a lot of defense and the key to playing better defense is better communication.
“Southern Illinois has a good basketball team,” Lutz said knowing full well this is a litmus test for his team early in Cowboys tenure. “They are very well coached. Scott Nagy has won a bunch of basketball games. They play a fast pace which should bode well for us considering the last two teams that we’ve played have been the opposite. It should be a fun and exciting game. Hopefully, we can put together 40 minutes. That is our biggest dilemma right now.”
SIU lost their opener to College of Charleston 90-80 in a neutral site in the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. before coming home to beat Missouri S&T 88-64.
Lutz says he is learning more and more about his team. He has been working to improve the big items and he’s seen and he has communicated his concerns on the small things as well. It is a process, but Thursday night the process presents a team that Oklahoma State really needs to beat.