Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 85-78 Win over Southern Illinois

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STILLWATER — For the first time since Cade Cunningham was bouncing a ball in GIA, the Cowboys are 3-0.

Oklahoma State beat Southern Illinois 85-78 on Thursday night. Here are five thoughts on the game.

1. That Was Closer Than It Should’ve Been

The Cowboys had an 18-point lead with 4:23 to play, and it looked like the Pokes were putting the Salukis away. … But the Salukis started storming back.

SIU went on a 16-2 run over the span of 3:49. The 16 points the Salukis scored came from two players. It was 82-78 with 20 seconds to play when the Cowboys hit a few free throws to ice it.

“Probably the most important takeaway from the game is we need to learn how to finish,” Lutz said. “We need to learn how to finish people off when you get up 18 points and play winning basketball. We get away from playing winning basketball, and we put ourselves in a bind a little bit.

“We’re up 18 points and we gave up a 16-2 run. It makes no sense to do that. With that being said, I allowed them to kind of sit in it a little bit because I want them to figure things out. I can’t call timeouts and always right the ship. We’ve gotta figure out a way to get enough internal leadership to right the ship when things go bad.”

The Salukis shot 52% from the field for the game and 39% from 3. There are stretches where it’s tough for teams to get the ball across halfcourt against the Pokes, but there are others where OSU gets caught in rotation, often ending with someone pump-faking under the basket before laying the ball in or shooting an open 3. It’s a tough balance to play with how aggressive the Cowboys are, but …

2. They’re Forcing a Ton of Turnovers

The Cowboys swarm to lose balls. It’s like throwing some fish food in a coy pond.

SIU had 18 turnovers Thursday night which turned into 30 Cowboy points. The Cowboys managed 11 steals — the third time in as many games OSU has hit double digits. That’s already more of such games than OSU had all of last season. OSU has scored 77 points off turnovers this season — that’s 30% of their total points coming off turnovers.

Meanwhile, the OSU offense turned the ball over just seven times Thursday, the fewest they have this season, and OSU recorded assists on 19 of their 31 makes — a season-high in assists.

“I think that our level of aggression is good, but now you’ve gotta have some discipline with that,” Lutz said. “You’ve gotta know that, OK, I’m closing out to this guy who’s maybe not a great 3-point shooter, and I know he’s gonna drive it to his right because we’ve told you over and over in scouting report. And now you’ve gotta apply it. That’s gotta be the next step.”

3. Get It to Ousmane

Back from a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules, Abou Ousmane was too much for the Salukis to handle.

Ousmane put up 18 points Thursday night and didn’t miss a shot until there were about six minutes to play. A 6-foot-10, 245-pound center, Ousmane did more than just score, though. He also had four rebounds, four assists, two blocks and three steals.

He was bigger than anyone else on the floor Thursday, but his athleticism stood out at times more than his size. There was an SIU inbound play in the second half where 6-foot-8 Jarrett Hensley caught the ball open on the wing. Ousmane ran out from the lane, jumped and blocked the 3-point attempt.

Because Ousmane was bigger than just about anyone SIU could throw at him, the Salukis elected to front him in the post for much of the game, but Ousmane had the coordination seal his man, bring in lobbed entry passes and quickly adjust for a few dunks. They were the type of plays that weren’t as easy as they looked.

4. Brandon Newman Has the Smoothest Jumper Since Lindy Waters

Brandon Newman emerged from the Cowboys’ deep pool of guards on Thursday to score 18 points on nine shots.

His jumper is smooth. It’s not totally the same as Lindy Waters, but it has that level of effortlessness to it. He was 3-for-4 from 3 on Thursday, part of the Cowboys’ 40% shooting from 3-point range.

With as fast as the Cowboys are playing, Newman rarely looks sped up and seems to pick his spots well. He has been under Lutz at Purdue and Western Kentucky, so that makes sense. But it just seems that he does a good job of being a part of the system instead of forcing things.

“The point [Lutz is] trying to get across is the same,” Newman said. “Point guards push to the elbows, wings get to the corner, if you’re the first big down, seal to see if the point guard can get a layup, four man trail — it’s all the same stuff. Be in the gap on defense, deny the ball, pressure the ball — it’s all the same stuff.”

5. A Fun After Timeout Set

A timeout was called with 37 seconds left in the first half. The Cowboys had the ball, and Lutz went to work.

Ousmane screened for Bryce Thompson, who got another screen from Robert Jennings off a handoff. Ousmane’s screen put Thompson’s man on the floor, leaving the defender guarding Jennings to switch to Thompson. Then in the midst of all that chaos, Ousmane rolled to the rim for an easy dunk with his man somewhere between guarding Ousmane and Jennings.

Lutz has been in the NCAA Tournament three seasons in a row. He can obviously coach, but it was fun seeing him go into his bag of tricks for this late out of timeout set.

This ball movement >> pic.twitter.com/04puw8KXyT

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) November 15, 2024

Unfortunately, those points were undone a few seconds late when SIU hit a 3 as time expired in the half.

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