Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 103-95 Victory against USF

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STILLWATER — What a basketball game.

The Cowboys played an underrated matchup against USF on Wednesday night that turned into the track meet it was marketed as. Oklahoma State beat the Bulls 103-95 to advance to 5-0 on the season. Here are five thoughts from the game.

1. It Was A Lot of Fun

This game featured nine players score in double figures and four of those guys scored at least 20 points.

It’s a different brand of basketball than what’s been played in Gallagher-Iba Arena of late. Players were essentially running suicides in this matchup of teams that are in the top 10 in KenPom’s adjusted tempo.

From 1:09 left in the first half to 5:48 left in the game, OSU went 22-for-27 from the field. That, my friends, is nuts. That stretch included six 3-point makes.

Both teams showed some elite level shot making. There were many occasions where a guy would pull up with a hand in his face and you’d think, “Well, that’s not a good look,” and then it’d go in.

Anthony Roy’s first 3 was shot from Perry just about, and it came like six seconds into the shot clock. Step-backs galore, defenders wondering what more they could’ve done — it rocked.

.@tnblefty from WAY downtown 👌 pic.twitter.com/BVOto6BsAm

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) November 20, 2025

“Sometimes better offense just beats good defense,” OSU coach Steve Lutz said. “When you look at a game like this, in my mind what you’ve gotta say is No. 1, your guys played hard enough to win, which I thought that we did that for the majority of the game.

“But then you also have to look into the mirror and say, you know what, we did a good job recruiting. We’ve got good players. We’ve got good offensive talent, and I think we’ve got good defensive talent. We just gotta get better in that area.”

2. The Cowboys Survived a Rough First-Half Stretch

The Cowboys got punched in the mouth as hard as they have all season, but they responded.

After building a 10-point lead early, the Cowboys found themselves down 13 at one point in the first half.

OSU went into the locker room being outrebounded 26-18. The Cowboys had 10 turnovers and shot 50% from the foul line. There was a stretch in that first half where the Cowboys allowed USF to make seven of eight shots and nine of 11 shots. … And somehow after all of that, OSU went into the locker room down a single point.

The Cowboys closed the half strongly. USF hit a 3 to go up 44-31 with 4:12 to play in the half before the Cowboys closed the opening 20 minutes on a 13-1 run — a run that was spurred by Christian Coleman and Anthony Roy. Roy went on a 7-0 run by himself with about two minutes to play, hitting a jumper, a 3 and then a layup.

OSU looked to be on the ropes a little bit at points in that half, but for a team that’s been somewhat dominant for the early portions of the season, there was some impressive resolve to fight back into that game.

“You go back and forth as a coach in your mind — call timeout, not call timeout,” Lutz said. “I felt like for us to continue to grow, we needed to fight our way out of it. I thought that those guys did that from 3:33 on. I think we held them to two or three points the rest of the half (USF scored one point in the final four minutes of the half), which obviously gave us an opportunity to get back into the basketball game.”

3. 3-point Shooting Showed

I’ve been writing after a lot of these games that it’s obvious OSU is a better 3-point shooting team than it has showed. Well, that finally showed on Wednesday.

OSU went 11-for-22 from 3-point range. That marks their most makes and their highest percentage in a game this season. It was coming from everywhere.

Vyctorius Miller was 4-for-4 from deep (we’ll discuss him further shortly). Kanye Clary was 2-for-3 (him, too), and both felt massive. Anthony Roy was firing at will, going 3-for-7. Then Lefteris Mantzoukas went 2-for-3 before fouling out, including a gnarly step-back from the 6-foot-9 European.

“I think when one guy is feeling good, his energy rubs off onto his teammates,” Lutz said. “And I think, though, that where we’ve gotta create our energy is on the defensive end of the basketball, and then that allows us to get going offensively. I think that’s what’s gonna be the separating factor between how high that our ceiling is.

“But yeah, absolutely, when you see your teammate make a shot and you see your teammate smiling and being engaged, it makes you feel better. You’re either an energy sucker or an energy giver. Tonight, I thought that we had guys that were providing energy for one another for the most part.”

4. Vyctorius Miller Again

On a team with a lot of scoring talent (evident by the 103 points), Vyctorius Miller keeps standing out.

He scored the game’s first seven points and did so at all three levels. Miller hit a corner 3 on the Cowboys’ opening possession. Then an OSU steal led to a Miller dunk shortly thereafter. Next, he pump-faked and stepped into the perimeter before knocking down a midrange shot.

“That pretty much goes to visual reps,” Miller said. “I like to do a lot of visual reps, and I knew when I came out there, I was on straight timing, trying to set the tone.”

He finished with a team-high 24, going 7-for-11 (64%) from the field and 4-for-4 from 3. He hit three of those 3s in the second half to help put the Bulls away.

Miller had one 20-point game as a freshman at LSU last season — coming against Mississippi Valley State. In five games as a Cowboy, he’s surpassed that threshold three times. He’s now averaging 20.6 points a game this season.

5. And Give Kanye Clary His Flowers, as Well

Kanye Clary has played fine this season, but he had his breakout game as a Cowboy on Wednesday night.

Clary finished with a 12-point, 11-assist double-double — the first double-double of his career. He wasn’t sweating it, either. Clary picked up his 10th assist with 15:20 to play and got to 10 points with 12:33 to go.

His passing was probably the most impactful thing he did, but his 3s felt big. He stepped into one with 13:58 to go to give OSU a 64-60 lead then less than a minute later, he stepped into his second to make it 69-63.

That second one was part of a 10-0 run that also included an assist on a Christian Coleman dunk that Clary put his whole body into, falling to the floor as he threw the pass.

get out the way when the train is on the tracks https://t.co/yNl3PYjhhf pic.twitter.com/Mqfy3KvVTR

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) November 20, 2025

Steve Lutz’s Postgame News Conference

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Opponent: Nicholls
Time: 1 p.m. Saturday
Location: Gallagher-Iba Arena
Watch: ESPN+