Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 68-65 Loss to TCU

BOX SCORE
RECAP

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Cowboys looked on their way to beating TCU in Fort Worth for the first time in nearly a decade … and then didn’t score for four minutes.

Oklahoma State lost to TCU 68-65 on Tuesday in Schollmaier Arena. Here are five thoughts on the game.

1. A Collapse of Epic Proportions

Andrija Vukovic had one of the more impressive drives and scores of his college career with 4:13 to play, putting the Pokes up 65-58. That would be the last time they scored.

TCU rattled off a 10-0 run in the game’s final three minutes to steal one from the Pokes.

OSU missed its final seven shots. The Cowboys last proper attempt came out of a timeout, when Vyctorius Miller got off 3-point attempt that rattled out. Isaiah Coleman was there to provide a tip, but the ball didn’t quite get over the front of the rim. For all intents and purposes, the game ended there.

“I’d have to go back and look — we probably got three, four shots at the rim, and we missed them,” Lutz said. “That’s a good place to start. We had the one shot-clock violation. We had the one where Anthony Roy kinda went rogue on us and went one-on-one, and then obviously at the end, VJ Miller had a shot and Isaiah got a rebound and missed the tip in, which obviously would’ve been a big one for us.

“The offense is disappointing, and I’ve gotta be better about helping them figure out ways to score, but the biggest problem is the defense. You can’t let them go on a 10-0 run to finish the game.”

2. Schollmaier Arena Remains Cursed

The last OSU coach to lead the Cowboys to a win in Schollmaier Arena was Brad Underwood, and put this collapse up there in a string of peculiar results.

The last OSU win against TCU in Fort Worth came on Feb. 15, 2017.

Last year, OSU lost to a three-quarter-court pass and a wild turnaround 3 at the buzzer.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!@TCUBasketball with a MIRACLE! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/jSeFVzwS0i

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 13, 2025

In 2021, OSU lost 81-78 after having a lead with 24 seconds to play.

It’s cursed!

And it’s not like Schollmaier is some fortified castle. There were 4,842 people in attendance Tuesday and maybe 30% of that crowd was wearing orange.

“It’s two years in a row that we’re gonna leave Fort Worth with just an unbelievably sick feeling in our stomach,” Lutz said.

3. Oddly One of OSU’s Better Defensive Performances

This is the first time since November that the Cowboys have held a team under 70 points. If you would’ve heard that stat going in, you probably would’ve thought the Cowboys got a big win.

The defense fell off a cliff late, with TCU hitting its final four shots — also known as every shot the Horned Frogs took in the final three minutes.

But aside from those final three minutes, this was a solid defensive performance.

OSU held the Frogs to 45.9% shooting, the second-lowest percentage any team has shot against OSU in Big 12 play. TCU was also 30% from 3, also the second-lowest a team has shot against the Cowboys in league play.

The Cowboys forced 14 TCU turnovers, 13 of which were OSU steals. The Pokes turned those turnovers into 16 points.

“I thought that defensively we did good enough things to win the basketball game until the last three minutes or so,” Lutz said. “That’s what good teams do, and that’s why the Big 12 is so hard. Jamie (Dixon’s) team plays extremely hard, and they’re physical.”

4. Outmatched Down Low

This was a rare rough night for OSU big man Parsa Fallah. Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs’ frontcourt feasted.

Fallah had two points and four boards. He had scored at least a dozen in his past six games. But Tuesday just wasn’t his day, as he went 1-for-5 from the field, 0-for-1 from 3 and 0-for-2 from the line.

TCU’s starting bigs David Punch and Xavier Edmonds combined to put up 40 points and 20 rebounds. That tandem scored 10 of TCU’s final 13 points.

5. Tourney Chances Took a Hit

There’s still a ton of basketball to be played, but dropping a game to a team that was 1-4 in the league entering Tuesday night wasn’t exactly a part of the Pokes’ plan to get back to the Big Dance.

The good news is that the Big 12 will provide plenty of opportunities for the Pokes to climb into tournament contention. The bad news is that takes beating some of the best teams in the country.

It starts Saturday, a day where winter weather is expected to be prominent in Stillwater, when an Iowa State team that beat OSU 83-71 less than two weeks ago travels to Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“We all are competitors, and you have the No. 7 team in the country coming to your home floor on Saturday,” Lutz said. “We should have a great crowd there, I would think, barring any crazy weather. We were fortunate to beat them there last year. I think that we played them tough in Ames whenever it was — a week ago. So, I expect nothing less than the best out of our team. They’ve done a good job of staying with it and fighting. I expect nothing different on Saturday.”

Up Next

Opponent: Iowa State
When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena
Watch: Peacock