Four Things to Know Before Oklahoma State Hosts Colorado

The Cowboys will Remember the Ten on Saturday in an annual memorial that brings family, friends, teammates and fans of the those fallen Cowboys to Gallagher-Iba. This year, they’ll do so against Colorado, whose arena OSU was travelling back from on that fateful night in 2001. Marshall wrote a nice piece on Steve Lutz and the way he and his team has soaked in the history around this day.

But as far as this matchup on hardwood goes, here are four things to be know before Saturday.

1. The Only Winless Team

After getting over their conference hump, defeating Kansas State last Tuesday, the Cowboys have faced Utah and BYU, two teams coming in on a losing streak. Both losing streaks were broken against the Cowboys. Now the Big 12’s final winless team is coming to town to try and get right. Can the Cowboys avoid being relegated to Chicken Soup for the skidding soul?

OSU is past the halfway point of its schedule, at 9-7, and the wins are only going to be tougher to come by from here on out. In fact, if we go by KenPom’s win projections, Saturday’s game against the Buffaloes is the only one on the Cowboys’ docket they’re currently projected to win. Those projections aren’t certain, but the difficulty of the Big 12 slate is.

2. How Early Missed Shots Affect Effort

The Cowboys have missed a head-scratching number of what would be considered easy baskets this season. It’s something that Lutz discussed on Thursday, attributing it to a lack of execution to get the shots they want combined with, just, missing those when they get them. Regardless of the cause, a pattern has developed with this team. Those early misses have led to a lack of effort, Lutz said, then a snowball effect and the Cowboys find themselves in a hole they’re not equipped to dig out of.

We saw that play out against BYU after the Cowboys fell behind big before Lutz inserted Connor Dow and walk-on Tyler Caron from the end of his bench at the end of the first half. The two provided a spark which seemed to carry over into an impressive second half comeback attempt. OSU was able to pull with three, but it was too little, too late. It takes a lot of energy to make up a 20-point difference in seven or so minutes. Imagine what they could have done if they were down, say, only 10 or 12 points at the break.

“If we miss shots, we don’t compete nearly hard enough on the defense end,” said Lutz. “And obviously we have talked about different guys on this team playing through their offense and letting a missed layup or missed jump shot affect their defensive play.

“We’ve addressed plenty, so we need to get over it and get it fixed because, to be very honest with you, if we’re not going to get it fixed, we’re going to play somebody else.”

3. How Effort Affects Minutes

Even halfway through the season, Lutz is still trying to figure out the best way to configure his lineup to find success. As his warning indicates, that rotation could be due for a shakeup.

“At times, we’re willing learners, and listeners and competitors,” Lutz said. “But it’s ‘at times.’ It’s not all of the time. I mean, they’re good guys. I mean, you guys all saw we’ve got the highest GPA in our program’s history, but if we can be that good of academic students, then we need to be that good of a basketball student.

“When we try, we’re pretty good. When we don’t, we’re not very good. We’ve gotta be better. We’ve gotta be better.”

4. Buffs Turnover-Prone

A key flaw for Colorado so far this year could play to the Cowboys’ strengths and provide a little much-needed momentum.

OSU’s identity, defensively, is to get into passing lanes and create transition opportunities the other way. That’s how the Cowboys are composed as a roster, and that’s when they are at their best. Of course, that goes back to the effort Lutz harped on.

“If we don’t embrace being gritty, being tough, being disciplined, fighting, every single ball that’s on the floor, if we’re not the first to get it, we’re not good,” said Lutz. “And that’s gotta be our MO.”

The Cowboys are second in the league at forcing turnovers, and the Buffaloes are first in the league at committing them. If those two things coalesce, it might result in the type of momentum the Cowboys need to get right.

The Cowboys and Buffs tip off at 2 p.m. Saturday inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.