‘He Knows We’re Playing’: Lutz Set To Play Against His Former Star Player As OSU Heads to Utah

STILLWATER — The star player from Steve Lutz’s last NCAA Tournament team will be on the opposite sideline on Saturday.

Oklahoma State plays Utah at 5 p.m. (Central) Saturday in Salt Lake City.

Lutz and Utah guard Don McHenry made the NCAA Tournament in 2024 while at Western Kentucky together. McHenry was that Hilltopper squad’s leading scorer that season, averaging 15.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists a game. He was an All-CUSA First Team selection and was the league’s tournament MVP.

“Last time we text, he knows we’re playing,” Lutz said Thursday. “You never know, I may get one across my messages here saying, ‘Hey, I’m about to bust y’all’s butts.’ He’s a competitor, and he’s a great, great guy. I doubt he will (send that), but if he does, I’m gonna say, ‘We’re gonna run two at you.’ I’m gonna go back at him, too. That’s the kind of relationship that we have. We shared a special year together and went to the NCAA Tournament together, so you never forget those things.”

That season with Lutz was McHenry’s first at the Division-I level. Before that, he was a junior college All-American at Indian Hills Community College and played at Division-II Hawaii-Hilo before that.

After Lutz left WKU for Stillwater, McHenry stayed on to play under Hank Plona, who was an assistant under Lutz and also McHenry’s coach at Indian Hills.

After averaging 17 points a game at WKU last season, McHenry hit the portal. OSU was involved in his recruitment, but it didn’t come to be that McHenry would reunite with Lutz.

“Don McHenry’s a fantastic person, and he’s a good basketball player, and I love him,” Lutz said. “It just didn’t work out that he was here. You have to take it for what it is. We had already signed some guys by the time he entered the portal, and then, you know, there’s also financial considerations and all of these things. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. We certainly talked. And we still talk. When he plays well or we play well, he’ll shoot me a text, I’ll shoot him a text. I’m still in touch with his family and his mom.”

Like in his jump to the Division-I level, McHenry has played well in the jump up to high-major basketball.

McHenry is the Utes’ second-leading scorer, averaging 18 points a game while shooting a career-best 40% from 3 on 6.2 attempts a game.

Utah is the worst team in the Big 12, per the NET, but the Utes have a guard tandem that knows how to put the ball in the hoop, as McHenry and Terrence Brown have combined to average 40.2 of Utah’s 80.1 points a game.

The Cowboys have had their fair share of defensive struggles this season, so stopping those two will be important if the Pokes want to leave the Beehive State with a win.

“Those guys score, shoot, 50% of their points, and obviously I coached one of them at Western Kentucky,” Lutz said. “He was a big reason we went to the NCAA Tournament. They’re both good players. They can score the ball at several levels. They put a lot of pressure on the defense just because they’re so active, and they’re constantly on the prowl to score. They’re both wired to score, and their both really good players. And like I say, man, can shoot 3s, can get to the rim, can shoot floaters. They’re good players.

“We’ll have to be locked in defensively as  a unit. Can’t just be (Jaylen) Curry, or Kanye (Clary), or VJ (Miller) — like you can’t put it on one or two guys. It’s gotta be five guys locked in together the entire possession defensively.”