‘That’s On Us’: Lutz Doesn’t Mince Words after Oklahoma State’s Uninspiring Loss in Tempe

Just about all of Steve Lutz’s answers during his postgame news conference on Tuesday night ended with the phrase “that’s on us.”

Lutz seemed understandably frustrated following the Cowboys’ 85-76 loss to Arizona State in Tempe. The Sun Devils shot just 40% in the basketball game but won because they outrebounded the Cowboys 45-34 and forced the Pokes into 17 turnovers. ASU had 24 second-chance points and 26 points off turnovers.

“In this league, you can’t give people 50 points,” Lutz said. “You can’t spot people 50 points and expect to win, so that’s on us.”

It was a bit of an extended stay in the state of Arizona for the Cowboys. They played the Wildcats on Saturday in Tucson, falling 84-47 to the No. 1 team in the nation before heading up to Tempe for Tuesday’s game.

Lutz did not for a moment use the long trip as an excuse, instead shining a spotlight on the Big 12’s physicality as a reason teams have to be ready to go every night.

“There’s no nights off in this league, and it’s an unforgiving league,” Lutz said. “This is not a touch football league. This is a tackle football league, and if you’re not gonna fight, and you’re not gonna scrap, and you’re not gonna rebound, you got no shot. It doesn’t have anything to do with us losing to Arizona in Saturday afternoon. We had plenty of time to recover, and for whatever reason, we didn’t take it to heart to have to rebound the basketball tonight and we got our butts kicked because of it. This is on us.”

Tuesday’s loss pushed the Pokes down to 4-7 in Big 12 play with seven games to go. OSU was firmly on the bubble entering that ASU game, but now the Cowboys are almost assuredly on the outside looking in, needing to pick up another signature win or two to hear their names called come Selection Sunday.

“If you don’t want to play at the highest level against the best players in the best league in the country, why did you sign up for this?” Lutz said. “It’s tough, but this is what competitors want. This is what people want. This will prepare you for the next level. This will prepare you for the NBA.

“It’ll also weed you out, too. That’s what this league does — it weeds the weak out. And we’ve proven that we can fight, and we’ve proven that we can be tough. But on this trip, man, we did not do it, and, again, that’s on us.”