Five Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 87-63 Victory against Texas A&M

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STILLWATER — After a lot of anticipation for a Nov. 9 game, the Cowboys throttled the Aggies.

Oklahoma State beat Texas A&M 87-63 on Sunday afternoon in Gallagher-Iba Arena to advance to 2-0. Here are five thoughts on the game.

1. Welcome to Stillwater, Isaiah Coleman

Isaiah Coleman missed the season opener because of a violation of team rules, but he quickly made up for the lost time.

The Seton Hall transfer scored OSU’s first four points Sunday and six of the Cowboys’ first nine. Isaiah finished with 13 points in his OSU debut, netting 11 of those in the first half.

“It meant everything,” Isaiah said. “I couldn’t wait to get out there on the floor. It hurt me to not be out there with my team the last game, but it is what it is, on to the next one.”

He showed capable of scoring from all three levels. Some of his early buckets came off pump fakes before getting to the midrange, rising and hitting. He built off that about midway through the first half when he pump-faked, took a step in then another back out before drilling a tough 3.

He also nearly pulled off the dunk of the season in that first half when to took to the skies on a fastbreak. He cocked the ball back but was narrowly unable to flush it over the Aggie defender.

“Holy smokes, that dunk he almost made,” Lutz said. “I’ve seen him do some things in practice, but that one in the game, I was really, really impressed by that.”

2. Have a Start, Christian Coleman

Christian Coleman has played 49 minutes in an OSU uniform, and in that time, the Cowboys have outscored their opponents by 47 points.

Christian led OSU in plus/minus in the season opener at +24, and he tied Vyctorius Miller in that stat Sunday at +23.

The UAB transfer scored a game-high 16 points against the Aggies to go with three rebounds, two blocks and two steals. He scored efficiently, too, going 6-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range.

That came after an opening-night performance where Christian had a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double.

Christian is tall and long at 6-foot-8, 210 pounds, but he hasn’t always been that way. He grew seven inches after graduating high school. That meant he spent his time as a high schooler at point guard, developing those skills before blossoming up to his current height.

“He’s just nice, bro,” OSU point guard Jaylen Curry said. “We would say he’s a big, but he’s lowkey a guard at the same time because he can dribble, he can shoot, he can run the floor. Like, he can do everything that coach needs him to do.”

3. Defense Answers Lutz’s Challenge

Texas A&M traveled to Stillwater averaging 101 points a game on 52% shooting.

The opponents weren’t world-beaters by any means, but Lutz had been critical of his defense in the preseason, saying they had a long way to go on that end of the floor. Well, the Cowboys answered the challenge Sunday, holding A&M to 63 points on 32% shooting to go with 15 turnovers.

“I thought that that was really the key for us,” Lutz said. “I mean, obviously taking care of the basketball was big (OSU had just nine turnovers). We stopped them early on. We just couldn’t get a dang rebound. If there was anything disappointing, I would say early on in the game, that was disappointing. But from, oh, I don’t know, about the 15-minute mark of the first half on, I think we outrebounded them the entire rest of the game. That was obviously a big turning point for us.

“Our defense was good enough. Just our boxing our and our rebounding was not.”

4. This Team Is Deep/Injury Update

Antony Roy missed his second consecutive game with a groin injury, Daniel Guetta missed Sunday’s game with an injury and starting guard Kanye Clary suffered some sort of arm injury after just seven minutes on the floor. … And the Pokes still blasted an SEC team.

This team is deep both in its scoring and in its facilitating.

OSU has three true point guards on the roster: Curry, Clary and Guetta. With two of those guys injured Sunday and the fact that A&M’s Bucky Ball involves full-court pressure, the Cowboys needed someone to step up to help get the ball up the floor.

That guy was Tuesday hero Vyctorius Miller. Miller scored another 15 points against the Aggies, and he also had five assists — a career-high for the sophomore.

Isaiah helped bring the ball up some, and so did the 6-foot-9 Lefteris Mantzoukas. When Mantzoukas signed with the Cowboys, I expected him to maybe get some run at center given his size, but that’s not the case.

“That’s the disadvantage of me not allowing you guys into practice — Lefty’s a guard more than he’s a center by any means,” Lutz said. “He’s always played like the three or the four professionally. Especially overseas, those guys handle the ball quite a bit. So, no, he’s a good ballhandler. We’re glad to have him back and thought he played well tonight.”

Lutz maintained that Roy is day to day. Lutz said Roy wants to play, but that it’s more important for him to be available for the meat of the Big 12 rather than these opening noncon contest. Lutz didn’t have an update on Clary after the game.

So, the 25-point-per-game scorer Roy is out? Well, how’s five guys in double figures sound? The Pokes are down to one true point guard against a pressing team? Cool, here’s a guy who dropped 21 points the other night dishing out assists and a 6-foot-9 man from Greece bringing the ball up the floor.

5. OSU Fans Just Need a Little Bit of Hope

The Gallagher-Iba Arena crowd wasn’t at capacity Sunday, but relative to how things have been in recent seasons, the barn was buzzing.

The official number was 7,501 for the second game of the season for a team that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2021. OSU fans just need that little bit of buzz to get bought in. Hopefully the fact that the Cowboys played the way they did can get the snowball rolling downhill.

I got so exhausted talking about basketball attendance over the years. I always likened it to a chicken-and-egg scenario. The team would play better with a lively crowd, but playing better would help liven the crowd. Well, the Cowboys had a lively crowd and played well. It’s only Game 2 — I’m trying to not be a prisoner of the moment — but this feels the most back OSU Basketball has been in some time.

Steve Lutz Postgame News Conference