Recap: Cowboys Hammer Oral Roberts 95-71 in Season Opener

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STILLWATER — The Cowboys were missing some key pieces for their season opener, but after a tight first half, the Pokes put the Golden Eagles away.

Oklahoma State beat ORU 95-71 on Tuesday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Cowboys filled it up in the first half, pouring in 50 points, but Steve Lutz said OSU had a ways to go on the defensive end, as the Cowboys allowed 46 ORU points in the opening 20 minutes.

The Cowboys jumped out to an 8-0 run to start the second half to push the Golden Eagles to arm’s distance. A 7-0 run midway through the half had ORU reeling, and then the Cowboys delivered a 15-3 knockout blow run a few minutes later.

OSU was without Anthony Roy (groin injury), Isaiah Coleman (team rules violation) and Lefteris Mantzoukas (personal reasons) for the season-opener. It’s early and this team is almost entirely new, but those three might be the Cowboys’ three best players by the time time the season is over.

Roy’s and Coleman’s absences in particular meant OSU needed guys to step up in the scoring department. Five Pokes finished in double figures with Vyctorius Miller leading the way with 21, a career-high.

Only a sophomore, Miller wasn’t just putting points on the board, he was doing so efficiently. He was 5-for-11 from the field and 2-for-5 from 3-point range. He started that knockout blow 15-3 run with a 4-point play, getting fouled while hitting a corner 3 and then knocking down his free-throw attempt.

Despite his youth, this wasn’t too surprising an outing for Miller. He was a Top 60 prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, signing with LSU over offers from USC, Auburn, Oklahoma State and others. He averaged 8.9 points a game as a true freshman in Baton Rouge, scoring in double figures 11 times.

Joining Miller in double figures Tuesday night were Parsa Fallah (15), Christian Coleman (15), Jaylen Curry (13) and Andrija Vukovic (11).

Coleman, a 6-foot-8 transfer from UAB, recorded his eighth career double-double, adding 11 rebounds to his 15 points. He becomes the 10th player in program history to tally a double-double in their OSU debut. Coleman hit a pair of 3s and finished with a team-best +24 in plus/minus.

Fallah and Vukovic, OSU’s two primary centers, feasted down low, combining for their 26 points on 56% shooting. When they posted up, they basically put their defender on the baseline with no hope.

Fallah, a transfer from Oregon State, finished a pair of boards shy of a double-double.

As a team, the Cowboys went 8-for-25 (32%) from 3-point range. This team will shoot better than last season’s, but Tuesday was about pounding the paint, where the Pokes scored 44 of their points.

After the Golden Eagles scored on 43% of their field-goal attempts in the first half, the Cowboy defense locked in and allowed just 22% shooting in the second. OSU also forced 11 second-half turnovers after forcing four in the first 20 minutes.

The Cowboys return to GIA on Sunday, where they’ll host Texas A&M at 1 p.m. It’s part of a men’s and women’s doubleheader, with the Cowgirls playing Oral Roberts at 5 p.m.

Steve Lutz’s Postgame News Conference