Oklahoma State Loses to FAU 86-78 In Opening Game of Charleston Classic
It was a rough outing in the opening round of the Charleston Classic for Oklahoma State as they lost to Florida Atlantic, 86-78.
It marked the first lost for the Pokes under Steve Lutz, dropping them to 3-1 on the season. With the loss, they move into the consolation bracket and will face Miami at 1 p.m. CT on ESPNU on Friday.
“At the end of the day, we just preached over and over and over about our defense, and I thought in the first half our defense was pretty good,” head coach Steve Lutz said after the game. “We forced a lot of turnovers, and then in the second half we only forced four turnovers. We fouled them and put them to the line; I think we fouled 23 times in the second half, and they scored 28-of-32 from the free throw line in the second half. So, anytime you do that and stack on missing 25 layups probably, I lost count, you’re going to have a hard time winning games against any teams.”
A lot went wrong for the Pokes in the second half to lead to the loss as they combined for 25-of-73 shooting from the floor in the game, 6-of-26 from 3-point range and 22-of-32 from the free throw line.
They also combined for 33 team fouls, the most fouls from an OSU team since the NCAA tournament loss to Gonzaga back in 2014.
There were a combined 81 free throws shot between the two teams, with FAU going 35-of-49 from the line. Keeping in the same line as free throws, three Cowboys fouled out late in the second half, with Bryce Thompson fouling out first. He finished the game with eight points, 0-of-8 from the field, 0-of-2 from 3-point range and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
Abou Ousmane fouled out with seven points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field with just three rebounds. Chi-Chi Avery was the third Cowboy foul out, finishing with six points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field with seven rebounds.
Khalil Brantley led the way in scoring for the Pokes with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting with four rebounds and three assists, while Robert Jennings finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field with 11 rebounds, finishing with a double-double.