‘Bragging Rights’: OSU Plays Every State School This Month, Starting with Tulsa

STILLWATER — Over the next month, Steve Lutz’s Cowboys have a chance to become state champions, of sorts.

Oklahoma State plays the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Reynolds Center in Tulsa. That game tips off a month of December where the Pokes will play every other Division-I basketball program in the state. The Cowboys play Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 in Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, and at 2 p.m. Dec. 22, Oral Roberts will make the trip to Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Lutz hasn’t been quiet about his expectations early in his tenure. Before the Cowboys left for the Charleston Classic, he said he wanted to return 3-0 with a championship. It didn’t turn out that way, as OSU went 1-2, but it doesn’t seem as if Lutz’s high expectations have gone anywhere.

“I expect us to have a great crowd,” Lutz said. “I mean, Tulsa is arguably one of our biggest fanbases. We’ve had a good season thus far. We play hard. We play the right way. I would like to think that most people are pleased with our product, other than the two losses.

“So, yeah I would expect us to have a great crowd. I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t outnumber Tulsa fans in their own gym.”

If the football game in H.A. Chapman Stadium on Sept. 14 was anything to base it off, Reynolds Center will be much more orange than blue on Wednesday night.

The Cowboys have had more than a week between games, as they closed the Charleston Classic on Nov. 24 and won’t play again until Wednesday. Lutz said Monday he wasn’t a fan of the elongated break, but that his team has worked a lot on defense in the time off.

OSU is 4-2. The first NET Rankings of the season released on Sunday, which have the Cowboys as the No. 112 team in the country. That’s 15th among Big 12 teams, ahead of only TCU. The Big 12 is so stacked, though, with eight teams in the top 40. Any semblance of success in conference play will shoot OSU up those rankings. Tulsa is way down at 285 in the NET. The Golden Hurricane is 4-4 (3-4 against D-I opponents) this season. In terms of state bragging rights, TU has beaten Oral Roberts already this season. The Golden Eagles are 2-6 with neither win being against a D-I foe. Here is a look at the state schools:

“You’re playing every Division-I school in the state,” Lutz said. “And if you have any pride about yourself, you should want to dominate all of those schools, and you should want to win all of those games so that you have bragging rights within your state. It starts on Wednesday. That’s the first of the three games.

“I’d be really disappointed if we don’t play well, if we don’t play hard and our fans aren’t there to support us.”