‘Selfish Play’: Lutz Doesn’t Pull Any Punches When Discussing OSU’s Recent Turnover Struggles

STILLWATER — The Cowboys are the 16th most experienced team in all of college basketball, according to KenPom, but the past few games have seen the Cowboys turn the ball over at an alarming rate that goes against that experience.

Oklahoma State had a season-high 21 giveaways on Wednesday night against Kansas State. Those 21 turnovers led to 28 K-State points, leading to OSU’s most lopsided loss of the year. This past Saturday, OSU had 20 turnovers against Texas Tech, leading to 20 Red Raider points. So in the past two games, teams have scored a combined 48 points off turnovers alone against OSU. First-year coach Steve Lutz met with the media Thursday, and he didn’t mince words about his team’s struggles with taking care of the ball.

“Selfish play, I’d start there,” Lutz said. “I think that we try to go make plays when there’s no play to be made. What I mean by that is, if I’m one on one, and I have a clear path to the basket and I have a chance to go make a play, it makes a lot of sense to go, to jump into the guy, put your shoulder in his chest and go score the ball or get fouled. But when I’m going one on three or I get a catch and I’m trying to get downhill and I’m driving into the paint and they’ve got 6-10 and 6-11 then my guard, I’ve got three people guarding me. It makes no sense to shoot those shots. You’re either one, gonna miss, two, gonna turn it over, but nothing good is gonna come out of that.

“We’ve gotta get back to being a better team, making more team plays, being less selfish. Maybe when we need a basket, not thinking, ‘OK, man, I’m gonna do it all by myself, and I’m gonna bring us back.’ Work through the offense and when a good shot comes, now go take advantage of it.”

Lutz has been critical of his team’s defense at points this season. Big 12 squads are shooting 49.2% against the Pokes, which is the worst in the conference. But these recent turnover struggles aren’t doing that defense any favors. When a team is giving the ball away, it isn’t always able to set up defensively, leading to open shots on the other end.

“Easily fixable, easily fixable, but we can’t sit here on game No. 20 of a 31-game season that’s guaranteed and keep saying the same things,” Lutz said. “At some point you have to quit turning the ball over.”

Lutz said practices have been good and team morale is still good, but there have been stretches in games that have proven costly. Here lately, those stretches have been right at the start.

OSU started Wednesday’s game in a 13-2 hole. That opening stretch saw OSU turn the ball over three times in less than four minutes. The first half alone saw OSU turn the ball over 16 times and give up 22 points off turnovers. The Cowboys didn’t give themselves a chance.

The Cowboys were down 12-4 less than four minutes into the game in Lubbock, turning the ball over twice in that stretch.

“We’ve had several team meetings,” Lutz said. “We’ve had several what I’d call in the old days ‘come to Jesus meetings.’ But ultimately, you have to be able and willing to accept being a teammate rather than being an individual, and we haven’t done that at a high rate. And we certainly haven’t sustained it, right?

“The good thing is, and I’ve said this once before, I believe in humankind. I believe that we have good people on our team that care. But, it’s one thing to be a great person and have good character off of the floor and do things right off of the floor, but when you get into competition, you have to have that same resiliency and that same good character. What I mean by that is you can’t be a bad teammate, and you can’t take bad shots, and you can’t turn the ball over and points fingers — those sorts of things. And sometimes we’ve had that within our team.”

OSU has shown at times that it can compete in this tough league. The Cowboys clobbered K-State at home on Jan. 7 and beat Colorado a few weeks later. The Cowboys even competed against Houston in the Big 12 opener. OSU struggled to put the ball in the basket against the Cougars, but the Pokes held Houston to 60 points, the fewest it has scored in a Big 12 game this season. Houston is the No. 6 team in the country, so it’s possible for the Cowboys to play much, much better.

It’s the end of January. The Cowboys’ season isn’t over, but in order to have the type of season they want, things are going to have to turn around soon.

“You have a choice,” Lutz said. “You’ve got 11 games left. You have a choice. Your legacy is either gonna be that you’re gonna be the team that sacrificed for one another and came together and became a good team, or you’re gonna end up with a really bad record. I don’t think any of us what that.”