Tempo Meets Tempo: Cowboys Bring Their Own Pace to Bucky Ball Aggies

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STILLWATER — Tempo will meet tempo on Thursday.

Oklahoma State plays at Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Thursday in College Station in a game that will feature the Aggies’ Bucky Ball and Steve Lutz’s always brisk pace.

Per KenPom, A&M ranks third nationally in adjusted tempo at this early point in the season, while OSU ranks 12th.

“You have two teams that play an exciting brand of basketball,” Lutz said. “There’s no reason to slow it down. We’ve always taken what the defense has given us, and if they’re gonna put two on the basketball or three on the basketball — or whatever number they put on the basketball — then we’ve gotta be able to be strong enough to withstand that and get the ball moving. Then we’ve gotta make them pay for that. That’s normal no matter any team that plays the way they do, you’ve gotta flip it on them and make them pay.”

Both of these teams enter Thursday’s contest averaging north of 100 points a game, with the Cowboys averaging 104.5 through their first two games to the Aggies’ 103-point average in three games.

Many of the faces on the teams are different this season (modern college basketball), but the Cowboys stormed past the Bucky Ball Aggies in Stillwater last season. OSU won that game 87-63, but A&M would go on to make the NCAA Tournament while the Pokes stayed home.

Texas A&M’s defensive style calls for a ton of pressure. That’s led the Aggies to leading the country in turnovers forced per game in the early portions of the season. Teams have turned the ball over on average 23 times a game against A&M thus far.

That makes the point guard position rather important for the Cowboys. With Kanye Clary recovering from a groin injury, Sam Houston transfer Jacob Walker has gotten a lot of run early in the season and has played fantastically.

Walker is averaging 8.5 assists a game, which leads the Big 12, while turning the ball over three times a game.

Having Clary would also be a big boon for the Cowboys. After missing the season opener, Clary played six minutes against Queens this past Friday. As the Cowboys’ primary point guard last season, Clary averaged 4.6 points and two turnovers a game last season. Lutz said Clary is practicing and expects Clary to play against the Aggies — how much he plays will be the question.

“When you have fast guards like Kanye and Jacob and those guys, a lot of times they should be able to beat the press just on their own because they’re so fast,” Lutz said. “That certainly gives us another little feather in our cap if we do have him out on the floor.”

Should Clary not be able to go that much, some of the press-breaking responsibilities could fall on freshman Parker Robinson’s shoulders.

Listed at 6-foot-4, Robinson was more of a combo guard coming into college but has played some point guard throughout OSU’s offseason trip to Puerto Rico and the early portions of this season. He has averaged 17 minutes a game in his first two official outings and has averaged 2.5 assists and one turnover a contest.

The Cowboys have generally been good at taking care of the ball thus far, but it was something they struggled mightily with in their one road trip this school year. When OSU went to Wisconsin for an exhibition game, the Cowboys had 22 turnovers in an 82-65 loss. Do that in College Station, and it’d be hard to expect an OSU win.

“At the end of the day, don’t turn the ball over,” Lutz said. “There’s nothing worse than turning the ball over and giving them an opportunity to get their crowd going and get their students behind them and get that place rocking. That’s the last thing we need. We need to go in there and play well and try to take the air out of Reed Arena so that it stays that way the entire night.”