Oklahoma State Gets Second Chance At Utah on Saturday

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State (10-10 overall, 2-7 Big 12) is looking to end a three-game losing streak as the Pokes play host to Utah (12-8 overall, 4-5 Big 12) on Saturday.

Up to this point in Big 12 play, the Utes are averaging 76.5 points per game on 46% shooting from the floor, 34% from 3-point range and dead last in the conference with 62% from the free throw line. They are, however, leading the conference in rebounding with 40 per game, an area in which the Cowboys have really struggled at times.

They’re also 14th in the conference in turnovers per game with nearly 13 per game.

Despite not being very high up the stat chart in conference play, the Utes definitely got the best of the Cowboys in the first match up as they won 83-62, ending a four-game losing streak. 

The Cowboys had just beat K-State in Stillwater by 13 points, 79-66, and looked really good doing it. But that’s when the wheels fell off. 

I asked head coach Steve Lutz if the coaching staff had possibly learned anything new about the Utes in the five games between the first and second match up, to which he didn’t really have an answer.

“They kicked our butts so bad there, I don’t know what to tell you,” Lutz said.  “We didn’t compete hard enough to see what would work and what wouldn’t work. It was kind of like [Wednesday] night; I thought K-State, the first time, we were the better team. [Wednesday] night they were the better team. When [K-State] came here, I thought that they were a little bit fractured, and then [Wednesday] night I felt at times we were fractured. At Utah, it’s just such a hard thing to say because we didn’t give our best that night.”

And there really hasn’t been any good basketball from the Pokes since the win over K-State back on Jan. 7. They beat a bad Colorado team on the 18th, but Steve Lutz accredited the lack of good play to selfish basketball.

“Selfish play, I’d start there,” Lutz said. “I think that we try to go make plays when there’s no play to be made. What I mean by that is, if I’m one on one, and I have a clear path to the basket and I have a chance to go make a play, it makes a lot of sense to go, to jump into the guy, put your shoulder in his chest and go score the ball or get fouled. But when I’m going one on three or I get a catch and I’m trying to get downhill and I’m driving into the paint and they’ve got 6-10 and 6-11 then my guard, I’ve got three people guarding me. It makes no sense to shoot those shots. You’re either one, gonna miss, two, gonna turn it over, but nothing good is gonna come out of that.

“We’ve gotta get back to being a better team, making more team plays, being less selfish. Maybe when we need a basket, not thinking, ‘OK, man, I’m gonna do it all by myself, and I’m gonna bring us back.’ Work through the offense and when a good shot comes, now go take advantage of it.”

We’ll see if the Cowboys can get out of the schneid they’ve been in for a few weeks as tipoff for the game is scheduled for 2 p.m. and it will be streamed on ESPN+.