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Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 81-72 Victory against Utah

On a better start, Thompson’s consistent scoring and more.

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1 year ago

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[Devin Wilber/PFB]

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STILLWATER — Fresh off a pair of ugly road losses, the Cowboys returned to the comfort of Gallagher-Iba Arena on Saturday and got a W.

Oklahoma State beat Utah 81-72 in a game the Pokes led for more than 39 minutes. Here are five thoughts from the game.

1. A Much Better Start

Saturday’s game featured a much better start in a few different ways for the Cowboys.

Oklahoma State jumped out to a 12-3 lead four minutes into the game, as the Cowboys hit their first three shots and hit four of their fist six. That allowed them to weather the ebbs and flows of a game much better than the way things had been going.

OSU didn’t give itself much of a chance in its past two games, as Texas Tech got out to a 12-4 lead four minutes into last Saturday’s game before Kansas State opened up with a 10-0 lead three minutes into Wednesday’s game.

It was also a much better start for the Cowboys compared to their last game against the Utes. In Salt Lake City, Utah opened the game on a 12-0 run.

2. Defense, Protecting the Ball the Difference

The Cowboys haven’t played all that well defensively as of late, and they also haven’t done a great job of taking care of the ball. They did both on Saturday.

Not taking care of the ball oftentimes leads to bad defense, as when a team turns it over, that team isn’t always able to set up defensively.

After back-to-back games of 20 turnovers, OSU had only 10 giveaways Saturday. The ball protection allowed OSU’s defense to get set and hold the Utes to 40% shooting from the field and a 25% night from 3-point range. Just a few short weeks ago, Utah shot 56% from the field and 40% from 3 against the Pokes.

3. Thompson Scoring as Consistently as Ever

A pair of free throws gave Bryce Thompson 11 points in the first half of Saturday’s game, marking the eighth game in a row the former Booker T. Hornet has scored in double figures. That’s a career record for Thompson with his previous best being six games in a row.

Finishing with 20 against the Utes, Thompson has averaged 14.3 points a game across this eight-game stretch. Now he’s hasn’t been perfect in this stretch. He played a key role in OSU’s turnover woes from the past two games (had zero Saturday), but Thompson is a scorer. And he’s scoring.

“I’d say just playing through my teammates,” Thompson said. “Noticing when I’m open, when I need to pass the ball, when I need to cut, when I need to screen — just kind of playing and not really trying to press and letting the game come to me.”

He hit all three of his 3-point attempts in the first half against Utah. Two of those came in the opening four minutes, as Thompson played his part in OSU getting out to that 12-3 early lead.

Thompson had a few key plays in the second half, like hitting a 3 and a layup on back-to-back possessions to keep Utah at bay. But his prettiest play of the day was actually a pass. With Avery streaking down the middle of the court, Thompson ripped a ball through traffic to Avery for a dunk. Thompson put some make believe binoculars on after the dime.

4. Fun Lineup Provides Some Juice

After the Cowboys strong start, they went on a bit of a field-goal drought but were able to sustain thanks to seven straight points coming via the foul line.

OSU went 7:46 between made field goals during that seven free throw stretch, and that drought ended thanks to an out-of-the-ordinary lineup.

With Khalil Brantley, Thompson, Connor Dow, Chi Chi Avery and Patrick Suemnick on the floor, OSU went on a 14-7 run over five minutes at the end of the first half. And everyone scored.

Avery got that stretch started with this dunk.

Then Thompson hit a pair of free throws before Dow hit a 3, his fifth of the season in only eight attempts. Suemnick then got a a bucket before Avery hit from deep.

Then Brantley got to the line to close the stretch out.

To Lutz, the group’s defense stood out.

“I thought they rebounded the ball very well,” Lutz said. “They allowed them to get only one shot opportunity, and then I thought that we were aggressive defensively. Sometimes with those lineups like that, it gets a little funky, but they did a good job.

“I thought Connor, actually, did a really good job of covering up some mistakes of others because he is an intelligent player. He’ll help, and then he’ll get back to his man to contest. I thought that really helped us.”

5. OSU Defending Home Court, Lingering in the Big 12 Standings

Big 12 coaches oftentimes say you have to win you games at home and steal some on the road. The Cowboys are honestly not doing too shabby of a job at that first part.

OSU is now 8-2 on Eddie Sutton Court this season and 3-2 in home conference games, with the losses being a 13-point defeat to Houston (now the No. 6 team in the country) and a 14-point loss to Arizona (a team that hasn’t lost since). The Pokes are 0-5 in Big 12 road games with an average margin of defeat of 18 points.

So, they’ve played much, much better in the comfort of GIA, and though Saturday’s crowd was impactful, the barn was only about half full at 7,040 in attendance.

“It’s just a weird deal,” Lutz said. “Sleeping in your own bed, it’s different. When you go on the road, we’ve been on the road, what, two of the last three? We’re about to be at Houston on Tuesday. It just kinda throws your body off.

“And lets just be honest, these guys have made thousands of shots on these rims in GIA. They’re familiar with it, they’re comfortable with it, and obviously it helps you.”

Those ugly road losses have also made OSU’s spot in the Big 12 standings seem worse than it is. I mean, it’s still not great, but OSU now has three Big 12 wins. That’s more Big 12 wins than Colorado and Cincinnati and as many as Arizona State and TCU.

It’s still a steep uphill trek to the NCAA Tournament, but the Cowboys are lingering around more than some of the recent lopsided scores would suggest.

Postgame News Conference

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