Three Things to Know Before Oklahoma States Hosts Utah

The Cowboys didn’t have their best showing in Salt Lake City three weeks ago. Now they’ll get a chance to make up for it.

Oklahoma State hosts Utah this weekend. The last time these teams met, OSU fell behind early but stayed within striking distance for most of the first half until Utah blew the game open in the second. It was a wire-to-wire win for the Utes that accounted for one of the Cowboys’ worst shooting performances of the year. Since then, Utah has won four of six, and OSU has lost four of five. Can the Cowboys keep from dipping below .500 and exact a little payback on the Utes while they’re at it?

Let’s look at three things to know about the matchup that could factor in.

1. It’s Tough Shooting against the Utes

The Cowboys’ missed a lot of bunnies in Utah, but their 33% shooting performance wasn’t exactly a fluke.

Utah ranks third in the Big 12 in opponent field-goal percentage, only allowing just 40.1% on the year. That number has gone up to 41.8% in league play, but only one team (Texas Tech) has shot better than 44% against Utah and four have shot below 40%. To that point, Tech is the only team to shoot over 37% from 3 against Utah. OSU shot managed a paltry 26.1% in the meeting in Salt Lake.

Again, the Cowboys haven’t collectively been on fire very often in conference play. They shot well in their wins against K-State and Colorado and some streaky shooting helped them keep it relatively close against Arizona and Texas Tech, but they’re coming off a 39.6% shooting night (31.6% from 3) in their worst loss of the year at Kansas State.

So, if the shots fall, great. But when they don’t you need more …

2. Opportunities

Although you can’t always control when the shots fall, the amount of shots you take often comes down to effort, a preaching point for Steve Lutz all year.

The Cowboys rank 14th out of 16 Big 12 teams in field-goals attempted per game, despite leading the Big 12 in adjusted tempo. That comes down to two main factors: rebounding and turnovers.

During their current three-game losing streak, the Cowboys took less shots in each game and averaged five fewer attempts per game than their opponents. In fact, in Big 12 play, the Cowboys have only put up more shots than the other team four times, and two of those were in the Pokes’ two conference wins. It’s not the whole picture, but it’s a big factor when your team is more of a streaky slugger than a polished offensive machine.

On the glass, the Cowboys land in the middle of the pack in most raw rebounding numbers among the league while the Utes are the Big 12’s top rebounders.

The Cowboys actually outrebounded the Utes in the SLC (by one), and they held the edge in offensive boards 18-6. That, of course, didn’t keep them from getting lapped, but it at least shows that the Cowboys can bang with them on the boards.

When it comes to extra possessions, turnovers impact a team both ways. Unfortunately, the Cowboys have set a new season-high in turnovers in consecutive games, something Steve Lutz didn’t mince words about earlier this week. Both of these teams rank toward the bottom of the league (and nationally) in turnover percentage and giveaways per game, though they were actually pretty tidy in that category in their previous meeting, committing 11 each.

The one edge the Pokes might have is their ability to force TOs, a skill they’ve demonstrated throughout the year. That’s not exactly the Utes’ bag. OSU is second in the league forcing nearly 15 per game while Utah is last at a hair over 11.

Utah head coach Craig Smith cosigns on this point.

“We have got to take care of the ball, and we have to rebound and handle their pressure,” said Smith, “because they get after you, one through five, depending on the lineup, but one through four at all times. So we got to be really good.”

If the Cowboys can be disruptive and turn those missed Utah opportunities into paid-off transition points — and hang with the Utes on the boards again — it would go a long way in tipping the scales toward an OSU win.

3. Utah’s First Trip to GIA

The Cowboys do play better in Stillwater.

OSU boasts a 7-2 home record with those two losses coming at the hands of a then-ranked Houston team, which is now No. 6, and an Arizona team that is ranked No. 15 by KenPom’s metrics. All that posturing to say, there’s a chance things don’t play out just like they did in Salt Lake City.

“We played really well that night,” said Smith of Utah’s home win over OSU. “We had a lot of synergy. We had a lot of spunk to us. We were at home. Oklahoma State, clearly, like most teams in the country, but specifically Oklahoma State, they’re a way better team at home than they have been on the road, and so we have to have a great mentality going into this game.”

Pink Out: The Utes haven’t played in Stillwater since 1953 when the venue was still called Gallagher Hall. That was two years before Eddie Sutton, the court’s namesake, played for the school.

For this trip, the Big 12 newcomer will get to witness a Pink Out as the Eddie Sutton Foundation raises dollars and awareness for breast cancer.

Who do you scowl at cancer in honor of?

Be sure to grab a sign tomorrow in GIA! pic.twitter.com/CHciEOyvbw

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) January 31, 2025

The Cowboys and the Utes till top off at 2 p.m. Saturday inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.