Scoring an Evident Priority in Steve Lutz’s Portal Attack

PORTAL TRACKER

This past weekend, Steve Lutz added 66.9 points per game to his roster, when adding up the highest-scoring seasons of the four transfers the Cowboys picked up.

After perhaps a slow start in terms of portal news being made public, the proverbial dam broke this weekend. Oklahoma State added Kanye Clary (Mississippi State), Isaiah Coleman (Seton Hall), Anthony Roy (Green Bay) and Vyctorius Miller (LSU) through the transfer portal — four guards who all excel at putting the ball in the basket.

Two players on OSU’s 2024-25 roster have scored at least 20 points in 10 different games throughout their careers — Bryce Thompson and Khalil Brantley. In Lutz’s initial portal haul alone, Roy, Coleman and Clary have all accomplished that feat. Meanwhile, Miller was only a freshman in Baton Rouge last season, but he scored 20 in one game. And Miller averaged 8.9 points a game in an SEC conference that was viewed as the best in the country this past season.

Looking at the numbers, it doesn’t take Lutz saying that he was after scoring to know that was near the top of his list, but he also did say it.

“Certainly we all can look back on the year and say we didn’t shoot the ball well enough,” Lutz said last month. “We’ve got to be able to get some guys that can shoot and can score. We can play all the defense we want, if we can’t make it make it in the basket, obviously it’s not gonna work out.”

OSU’s committed quartet combined to hit 116 3-pointers this past season. Despite playing in only 11 games, Roy had 48 made 3s. Chi Chi Avery was the only Cowboy to hit more than that this season, as he hit 56 (in 32 games). Roy’s 4.4 made 3s per game last season were 2.6 more than anyone else on OSU’s roster. Cade Cunningham was the last Cowboy to hit more than 2.0 3s in a game.

A promising aspect to adding these scorers is that most of them have done it at the high-major level. Clary spent two seasons in the Big Ten at Penn State before playing seven games in the SEC this past season. Coleman scored 15.6 points per game in the Big East, which, according to KenPom, is the No. 4 conference in the country behind the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12.

Roy is the only guy who hasn’t played high-major ball, but he scores so many points that it doesn’t feel like it matters. He played in three games against high-major foes this past season at Green Bay: 27 points against Oklahoma State, 17 points against Providence and 30 points against Ohio State. That’ll play.

With as chaotic as it has been, the portal doesn’t close until April 22.

With the four transfer the Cowboys have added thus far being guards, it’s not crazy to think that the next area Lutz would target would be the frontcourt. As part of the same interview where Lutz mentioned wanting to add some guys who could fill it up, he also mentioned the idea of adding rim protection.

Abou Ousmane and Patrick Suemnick are gone. Robert Jennings II and Andrija Vukovic could return next season, and the Cowboys are adding centers Mekhi Ragland and Ben Ahmed through the high school ranks. Jennings is more of a power forward than a center, while Vukovic, Ragland and Ahmed have a combined 47 minutes played of Division-I basketball. So, an experienced big or two probably wouldn’t hurt.