Basketball is Simple, Make Shots and Defend Them, Cowgirls Missed, Cowboys Didn't Defend

STILLWATER – Two basketball teams going in different directions. Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball is in a season where new head coach Steve Lutz is trying to establish a culture, try to finish with a record that will get you some postseason opportunity. Jacie Hoyt and here Oklahoma State Cowgirls are going to the NCAA Tournament barring a complete collapse. They have flirted with being good enough to host. However, every time it looks possible they lose a game that knocks them down analytics and the human polls and out of consideration of the host business. 

Both the Cowboys and the Cowgirls had opportunities on Saturday and couldn’t get it done. Basketball is a simple game. You have to make shots. In order to do that, you have to pass the basketball, protect the basketball, make good decisions on the shot you take. Defending shots is just as important. Don’t let the opponent get comfortable, make your floor feel like theirs. 

On Saturday, the Cowboys were coming off a one-point crushing loss at TCU that for a few seconds looked like their first road win of the Big 12 season. They came home, where they have played better, with No. 12 Texas Tech as the challenge. It would have been a great win.

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Heard (32) defends but struggled scoring at BYU.

The Cowgirls were trying to extend a two-game winning streak that included beating top 10 Big 12 leader Kansas State. Jacie Hoyt’s team has beaten all three of the top teams in the Big 12 and were threatening joining them. The Cowgirls were 20-4 and 10-3 starting the first of two legs on the road in Utah at a mediocre BYU team. 

Oklahoma State didn’t defend great at the Marriott Center on the BYU campus, but good enough to win and they forced 24 turnovers. However, the Cowgirls could make shots. They shot 40 percent from the field and worse, they struggled for a second straight game from three-point range. They only hit 4-of-19 for 21 percent.

“We just weren’t making shots,” head coach Jacie Hoyt said. “If we’re making shots, we’re really good. If we’re not, it’s a struggle.”

On top of that, individually and you hate to lay this on, but the Cowgirls had depended on Stailee Heard and her 16.3 point scoring average. Micah Gray was averaing 14 points a game. Heard had a Big 12 low five points and Gray was under her average at 9 points.

“This is a big-time win for my women and for the program," said head coach Amber Whiting. "They have legitimately been going through some hard things lately, both on and off the court. I’m so proud they stayed with it and had the fight. We still had the problem of turnovers which we have to continue to clean up but their effort, their energy, and their fight is there every single day. I’m so proud of them.”

The Cowgirls may feel better about their chances in Salt Lake City as Utah is now ahead of them in the standings at 11-3. 

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Lutz watched Saturday as Texas Tech tore up his team in Gallagher-Iba.

The Cowboys dropped to 12-13/4-10 with their worst loss of the season 93-55. Steve Lutz has been up and down on the roller coaster of this season, but this was by far the most down and he didn’t mince words.

“What happened today at 2 o’clock in unacceptable for our program,” Lutz said in postgame. “We’re better than that, we’ve been playing better than that and for whatever reason, today, we did not compete at the level that we need to compete at in this league in order to be successful.”

Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland bragged about what a great building to play basketball in with Gallagher-Iba Arena. That is the epitome of a team feeling at home when they start to brag about playing there instead of saying how tough it is to play there. Tech shot 48 percent from the field and 43 percent from three point range and that includes some deep substitutes late in the game. 

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It is easier to find that edge with a back-to-back 30 plus point scorere in JT Toppin.

"In order for us to be what we need to be in these games, we have to keep competing with an edge,” McCasland said. “That's why I just believe that every possession matters, regardless of the score. Our team is embracing that. With that hunter mentality, you're always on edge because someone is coming after you. You aren't comfortable, because win or lose, it's cool. The edge to compete is what this team is starting to embrace."

Lutz wants that edge. He’ll keep looking for it heading into anouther home game and a chance to get back to .500 when UCF (13-12/4-10) arrives in Stillwater fresh off losing 76-63 to winless Colorado on Saturday.