Defense, Team-First Mindset Important for Lutz’s Depth at Guard

STILLWATER — Steve Lutz has six guards on his roster who scored at least 15 points in a Division-I game last season.

Oklahoma State had its first official practice on Monday. It was the first season practice for Lutz, OSU’s new coach, and his revamped roster that includes 10 new scholarship players. The roster is deep at guard, with Bryce Thompson, Arturo Dean, Davonte Davis, Khalil Brantley, Brandon Newman and Jamyron Keller all having hit the 15-point total in a game last season at their respective schools. Davis is the only of that group who didn’t score at least 20 points in a game last season, but throughout his decorated career at Arkansas, Davis scored in the 20s on four occasions while winning a lot of basketball games.

With all the new faces, it’s tough to say here in September what the group will look like come the Cowboys’ season opener against Green Bay on Nov. 4, but Lutz said he liked what he saw in Day 1.

“Practice is competitive now,” Lutz said. “Those guys are not afraid to get after one another, and they compete. It’s been fun to watch. Today was a good day in terms of competing and getting after one another. I think we’re gonna have multiple bodies that we can play. We never want to have anybody get injured, but if so, I think we have depth at the guard and the wing position.”

Here is a look at what each of those six guys did at their respective schools last season:

That also doesn’t include Canadian transfer Mike Kelvin II. Kelvin might not have D-I experience after joining the program from Queens University in Canada, but he did averaged 10.1 points a game while shooting an impressive 38% from 3 last season. Lutz also said Connor Dow has taken steps forward physically this offseason.

Despite having all of those experienced guards, there is only one basketball. Lutz spoke at length Monday about the standard that must be upheld to get on the floor. Lutz said that standard starts with defense, playing hard and having a team-first mindset. That standard was drilled throughout the team this summer, and if players don’t adhere to it, they won’t play, Lutz said. Now that the Cowboys have been able to start practice, Lutz said it’s about finding who fits within the system, who can limit turnovers, who can rebound and, of course, who can make shots.

“Back to the original point of what we spent our entire summer on, and that’s the standards,” Lutz said. “But I think when you recruit good people, and you explain how we’re gonna play and you explain the standards, which we’ve done, I think that you’ve got guys that will accept that. They all have the same goal to go to the NCAA Tournament, so instead of averaging 11 points, if you average nine and we go to the NCAA Tournament, they all have the same mindset that that’s worth it.”