Interior Play Improved Throughout the Game as Oklahoma State Overwhelmed Oral Roberts

International experience made a world of difference in the paint for Oklahoma State Tuesday night as the Cowboys Oral Roberts 95-71 in Gallagher-Iba Arena to open the season. The Cowboys were without both Isaiah Coleman and Anthony Roy, both of whom were expected to be major contributors offensively.

Forwards Parsa Fallah and Andrija Vukovic combined for 26 points. They were the biggest contributors to the 44 cowboy points in the paint.

Vukovic is one of two returners to the team from the 2024-25 season where he saw sporadic playing time.

“It’s still new to him,” said head coach Steve Lutz. “He’s gonna be put into some positions during the game that he’s not going to be familiar with, and he’s just got to continue to grow.” 

Fallah, who transferred from Oregon State, started in the post for the Cowboys. In addition to 15 points he also had eight rebounds. His dunk with seven minutes left in the second half gave Oklahoma State its largest lead of the game to that point at 81-61.

“Parsa is a big presence down in the paint,” guard Christian Coleman said. “We definitely look for him every time he’s posting up. As long as he’s in the right place we’re gonna find him.”

The combination of Fallah and Vukovic down low provided a unique opportunity to continue interior pressure on both sides of the court.

“With (Andrija’s) size and physicality, if he’ll go out and put his body on people he can be a good rebounder,” Lutz said. “Tonight he rebounded and had himself on balance so he was able to finish and put things back in.”

The Cowboys struggled defensively throughout the first half. Oral Roberts shot 43 percent from the field and had a 41-39 lead with two minutes left before halftime. Fallah and Vukovic were a big part of the renewed effort defensively in the second half.

“They weren’t physical enough in the first half,” Lutz said. “I always look at production by position and not person, so I’ll take their stat line with how they finished at the center position every night.”

Fallah and Vukovic are a reason for optimism moving forward for Cowboy basketball.

“I’m excited for the future of this team,” Lutz said. “We got the ship righted in the second half and gave everyone a glimpse of what this team can be.”