Practice Officially Begins Today, Offense Looks Better for Oklahoma State Entering Season

STILLWATER – The 2025-26 college basketball season is officially underway today, September 23, with Oklahoma State getting a jump on things as they practiced early this morning.

Nothing like getting going as soon as you can, right?

As some of you know, I also work for Triple Play Sport Radio here in Stillwater, an Oklahoma State-focused radio station, and I host our main pregame shows for football and basketball with Tom Dirato. With that, we interviewed head coach Steve Lutz on our pregame show ahead of the Tennessee Martin game, for nearly 30 minutes. We went through all the ins and outs of the upcoming season, and he told us how excited he is for this season because he feels this team is going to be better offensively. 

Despite the great history of defense a few times in the program’s history, and coach Lutz’ defensive-minded game plan, the game has evolved into high-powered offenses being the main focus. 

Offense has struggled for a while here in Stillwater. But as Lutz told Tom and I a few weeks back, and the media yesterday afternoon ahead of the start of the season, Lutz feels his offense is going to be better simply based on having more time to put together a roster.

“Going into year two, you’re a lot more comfortable, you’re not as rushed and I think we’ve had the opportunity to build a team that probably fits the way I’d like to play a little bit better,” said Lutz. “What I mean by that is I think at times we were really strapped last year in terms of being able to score. If we didn’t score in transition, if we didn’t get to the free throw line, we had a hard time scoring baskets. This team, thus far, we had them eight weeks in the summer and I guess we’ve had probably three weeks thus far here this fall, this team has shown the ability to put the ball in basket. So, I feel comfortable with the fact that I think we’ll be able to still play with the same pace, but hopefully when we pass the ball and somebody’s wide open in the corner, we’ll have an opportunity to make it.

“I think we’ve got a good group of guys, I like them all, and I think our biggest area of growth thus far is probably going to be our defense. But that’s what practice is for, so I’m excited about what this year could be for us.”

After looking at the stats from last year’s team, it’s easy to think this year’s team is going to be better offensively. Obviously, the proof will be in the product come November. But offense was a need the coaching staff had to address in the offseason. 

Last year’s team averaged just over 73 points per game on 43% shooting from the floor, going 17-18 overall, 7-13 in Big 12 play. As for the opponents, they averaged just over 76 points per game on nearly 46% shooting from the floor.

Just going off the Big 12 stats last season, the Cowboys average nearly 11 less points per game than Arizona, who averaged exactly 80 points per conference game. On the other end, the Cowboys were 14th in the conference allowing 77 points per game, while Houston held teams to just under 60 points per game.

“We went into the recruiting process knowing that we needed to be better offensively,” said Lutz. “We knew that. So, we tried to remain cognizant of that, and we passed on some good players that maybe, offensively, just weren’t what I wanted. I’ve always said that I’d like to have four players on the floor at all times, one through four, that can pass, handle and shoot, and we didn’t always have that. I mean there was times [last year] when certain players on the floor would have the ball at the 3-point line, and they’d guard him at the elbow. I don’t think that’s going to be the case nearly as much this year. We even have the chance to put five players on the floor [this season] that can spread the floor and shoot the three. We’d be a little bit smaller, but it’s a fun way to play.

“There was no lightbulb moment but watching practices you just know that the ball goes in the hole a lot more. With that being said, you also know I’m pretty analytical and we track all the stats, our percentage points for 3-point shooting last year at the end of all the workouts versus this year, our numbers are much higher [this year.] Our numbers are higher there and our numbers are better in terms of assists to turnovers. So, you take care of the basketball, and you shoot a better percentage, you should have better offensive numbers.”

Lutz was asked right after his answer if he expects any particular player, or players to carry the shooting workload, to which he said no, he expects a lot of guys to shoot well in order for the team to be good. He said he expects multiple guys to average between 10 and 15 points, not just one guy scoring 25 points a game, though he did say someone could surprise him. 

I believe, and have been told by Lutz on several occasions, his teams will always be defensive minded. And I love a good shutdown defensive effort. With that being said, everything I’ve been told by people who are privy to practice tape and talks to the coaching staff, I believe you’ll see a better offense in Stillwater this season.