Lutz Talks 2025 Oklahoma State Signees Mekhi Ragland, Ryan Crotty

STILLWATER — Steve Lutz’s Cowboys are 3-0 (the first time an Oklahoma State team has hit that mark since having a No. 1 pick on the roster), and there’s more positivity flowing around the program because of a pair of signees.

High schoolers Ryan Crotty and Mekhi Ragland put pen to paper this week, becoming the first high school signees of the Lutz era. Lutz fielded a few questions about his prospects after the Cowboys’ win against Southern Illinois on Thursday night.

“Both of those guys are good players,” Lutz said. “I’m excited to sign a couple high school kids. Hopefully we can get those guys to stick around for a while and can continue to build our program and build our culture and have them in the system for a while.”

A Comp for Mekhi Ragland

Ragland might have not had the offer list or rankings love that Crotty did, but he’s an incredibly fun prospect to project.

The recruiting services list him at 6-foot-10, 250 pounds, which would point to him being a bruising big man, but he has a level of finesse to his game that you don’t see with a lot of players his size. In 15 games with his AAU team this summer, he went 8-for-18 (44%) from 3 while also averaging 1.5 assists a game. He has solid footwork and a nice touch.

“Mekhi Ragland, he’s gonna be a good player in time,” Lutz said. “It’s gonna take him a little bit of time, and he’s gotta work at it, he’s gotta get in better shape, he’s gotta get healthy and all those sorts of things. He reminds me of a young man that we had at Purdue name Trevion Williams. Trevion came in, and he really, really worked and got himself into shape. By then end of his career, he was an All-Big Ten player. He’s still playing overseas making a lot of money.”

So, let’s look into Trevion Williams and see if we can find the connections to Ragland. Part of the 2018 recruiting class, Williams was the No. 150 player in the 247Sports Composite rankings. Ragland is at No. 149 in the 2025 rankings.

Listed at 6-10, 265 pounds, Williams played in 34 games as a freshman with the Boilermakers, playing a little more than 10 minutes a contest where he averaged 5.2 points and four rebounds a game, but from then on, he really started blossoming. From his sophomore through senior seasons, Williams averaged 12.9 points, eight rebounds and 2.3 assists a game while shooting 53% from the field. He was a two-time All-Big Ten selection and won the league’s Sixth Man of the Year for the 2021-22 season.

He also played on Team USA’s FIBA U19 World Cup 2019 squad that won gold — the same team that featured Cowboys Cade Cunningham and Isaac Likekele.

Nowadays, Williams is playing high-level basketball in Europe with ALBA Berlin. He averages 13.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists a game in the EuroLeague this season. He was named to the All-EuroCup First Team in 2023-24 while leading the EuroCup in rebounding with Ratiopharm Ulm.

All that is to say is if Ragland could become such a player, you definitely, definitely take that.

“[Ragland has] got great, soft hands, and then he’s big and wide and he seals really, really well,” Lutz said. “Somebody asked me yesterday maybe what his best skill is, and it might be his passing. I think he can really pass the basketball. He’s gonna be able to stretch the floor because he can shoot. He’s just gonna have to be able to get to the pace of the game. Obviously we play a certain style, but I think that he’s got a great future ahead of him — both of those guys. I’m excited about both.”

‘You Have to Guard Him at 26, 27 Feet’

Ryan Crotty set a Virginia state record for made 3-pointers last season, hitting 142 on a 46% clip. That’s tough to do on air.

His recruitment really didn’t start taking off until this summer thanks in no small part to what he was able to do on the Nike EYBL circuit. Playing with Boo Williams, Crotty averaged 14.2 points a game in 15 games played in April and May, shooting 35% from 3. In back-to-back days, Crotty had a 24-point game and a 27-point game, hitting five 3s in each.

Then at Peach Jam in July, Crotty averaged 12.8 points over five games, shooting 32% from 3. That 3-point percentage was brought down by a pair of tough shooting days at the end, but in the first three games at Peach Jam, he was 11-for-25 (44%) from deep. But Lutz said Crotty is more than just a shooter.

“Ryan Crotty is a prolific shooter, but he’s not just a one-trick pony,” Lutz said. “He can put the ball down on the floor. He can rebound the basketball. He’s gonna be a nice fit here because when he catches the basketball, you have to guard him at 26, 27 feet. He’s that good of a shooter.”