Why Steve Lutz Expects Kanye Clary to Be One of the Best Point Guards in the Country This Season

STILLWATER — Steve Lutz said he saw Kanye Clary turn a corner midway through last season.

Around January, Lutz said Clary truly started to buy in. The Oklahoma State coach didn’t mean that in a manner that would cast doubt on Clary’s character but rather compared it to being in a new job where you sort of have to feel out the order of things before feeling to comfortable with what you need to do.

Clary’s numbers from last year reflect Lutz’s hypothesis.

In the dozen games the Cowboys played in November and December, Clary averaged 8.0 points and 4.4 assists a game. In the 22 games he played from January on, Clary averaged 12.1 points and 4.7 assists a game. He failed to score in double figures eight times before January and did so just seven times from January on, when the competition got tougher as the Big 12 schedule started rolling.

Clary played some of his best basketball late in the year, scoring a season-high 23 points in an overtime win against UCF before dropping 20 on Davidson in the first round of the NIT.

The close to the season and start to Clary’s offseason have led to Lutz expecting a lot out of his point guard this upcoming school year.

“I think that he kinda had a turning point somewhere around January of last year,” Lutz said. “This is just part of where we’re at in today’s basketball world. I think that’s kinda when he turned the corner and started trusting the staff and buying into what we’re doing. … After January, February last year, I really thought he bought in. He’s continued to do that. He’s continued to try and help the young guys. He’s continued to try and help the new guys, especially those that need it and be a leader.

“I expect him to be one of the better point guards across the United States this year. I’m gonna be really disappointed if he’s not.”

Clary, or any college basketball player, returning to a school isn’t a given. He’s one of just four returners on Oklahoma State’s roster from last season’s squad.

Lutz shared earlier in the summer that Clary made it known to him he wanted to stay so long as the money offered could be fair compared to what others might offer him to lure him away.

Clary gave his side of that story this week.

“(Stillwater has) been treating me real well,” Clary said. “This is a place I feel like is kinda my second home. I’m from Virginia originally, but when I’m here it feels like when I’m back at home. There’s a lot of good people here who want to see me be a good person on and off the floor.”

What also ought to help Clary’s final season are the pieces Lutz and his staff assembled around the point guard.

The Cowboys had a Top 25 portal class, per 247Sports and paired that with a Top 10 traditional recruiting class. This is, on paper, Lutz’s best team to date, and he’s been bullish about the group even in the summer.

“We’ve got a better sense about the game of basketball,” Lutz said. “Things that maybe you had to coach and teach in previous years, this group picks up on very well. There’s certain things you don’t even have to teach, they just understand that hey, here’s the play to be made, let’s go make the play — rather than help somebody learn to make that play. So, the basketball feel is a lot better.

“I like our size. Let’s just say that you started either Jacob (Walker) or Kanye. Jacob’s probably 6-(foot)-1, and Kanye, he tells me he’s 6-feet all the time. After that, though, you literally could start 6-5, 6-8, 6-10, 7-foot. Your size is so much different.”