STILLWATER – Oklahoma State beat Texas A&M 87-63 on Sunday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena. The win moved the Cowboys to 2-0 this season.
7,501 Cowboy fans were in attendance. The closer proximity with limited third-level seating made the arena feel much louder than it had in past seasons.
“This was another fantastic environment,” coach Steve Lutz said. “The fans were fantastic and the students were great and that really gave us an opportunity to be successful today.”
The Cowboys defense held Texas A&M to 32 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers.
“Defense was really the key for us,” Lutz said. “Obviously taking care of the ball was big for us, but our defense was good today.”
The strong defensive performance started early. The Aggies started 2-10 from the floor and struggled to find a rhythm against the defensive pressure.
“Early on in the first half really set the entire tone,” Lutz said. “We have enough offensive talent that we don’t have to create as much offense out of our defense and we can trust it a little more.”
The turnovers led to 27 Cowboy points, something Lutz has emphasized to his team.
“We obviously try to turn people over quite a bit,” Lutz said. “We aren’t as extended up the floor as we were last year, but we have guys now that can plug gaps a little bit more.”
The Cowboys led by as many as 25 points in the second half.
“Texas A&M is a team that wants chaos and we want to stop chaos,” Lutz said. “We both play an exciting brand of basketball, and we’re similar in that regard.”
Isaiah Coleman made his regular-season debut, scoring 15 points in 33 minutes.
“It means everything for me to be out there with my teammates,” Coleman said. “I give all the credit to my guys getting me into the right spots to put the ball in the basket.”
Lefteris Mantzoukas also made his season debut against the Aggies. His ability both an and off the ball allowed the Cowboy offense to flow more freely.
“Lefteris is more a guard than he’s ever been a center,” “He always was a ball handler in Europe so that’s really what his strength is.”
Oklahoma State had one turnover offensively in the first half to go with seven assists.
“These guys are good basketball players,” Lutz said. “Good basketball players can usually handle the ball and do good things with it, and that’s what they did today.”
The team is still without guard Anothony Roy, who is expected to be another perimeter threat.
“It’s frustrating for him,” Lutz said. “He wants to be out there, but for us it’s more important that he’s there for Big 12 games, so we aren’t rushing it.”
