Cowboys open road swing Saturday at Big 12 newcomer Utah

Saturday, January 11

Salt Lake City, Utah / Huntsman Center

6:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

Utah

January 09, 2025 | Cowboy Basketball

Cowboy Notes (PDF)Utah Notes (PDF)Watch Listen Live Stats Series History

OKLAHOMA STATE (9-5, 1-2) at UTAH (8-6, 0-3)
Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 | 6 p.m. CT (5 p.m. MT)
Salt Lake City, Utah | Huntsman Center (15,000)

Watch: ESPN+ (Lowell Galindo & Bryndon Manzer)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: OSU leads 4-1
Last: 11/28/2009 in Las Vegas (OSU, 77-55)

Opening Tips:

The Oklahoma State Cowboys are in Salt Lake City on Saturday to take on the Utah Utes in the first of a two-game Beehive State road swing that will continue Tuesday night at BYU.
The Cowboys have a 4-1 lead in the all-time series, which began in 1945 when the teams met in the NCAA West Regional final. OSU (then Oklahoma A&M) eliminated the defending champion Utes, 62-37, and went on to win the first of back-to-back national titles.
The schools last met in the 2009 Las Vegas Invitational title game and last played at the Hunstman Center in 1980.
OSU has already doubled last season's road win total (1-9) after December victories at Tulsa and Seton Hall. The latter clinched the Big 12-Big East Battle, 6-5, in favor of the good guys.
OSU is coming off a 79-66 home win over Kansas State on Tuesday, led by Abou Ousmane's season-high 27 points. The Cowboys scored the last 15 points during a 20-2 run to close out the first half and upped a 19-point halftime lead to as many as 21 down the stretch.
New head coach Steve Lutz brings a fast and physical brand of basketball to OSU after successful rebuilds at A&M-Corpus Christi (2021-23) and Western Kentucky (2023-24). He's made the NCAA tournament in each of his first three seasons as head coach.
Brandon Newman scored his 1,000^th collegiate point in Tuesday's win, making OSU one of five schools now with six-or-more 1,000-point scorers on the roster, joining Minnesota (7), Ole Miss (7), Alabama (6) and Kentucky (6).
One of 12 OSU newcomers who have seen action, Newman played last season for Lutz on a Western Kentucky squad that led the nation in adjusted tempo, per KenPom. The Cowboys are 38^th in that category this year.
Ten regulars average from 10-24 minutes. OSU lead the Big 12 and ranks 10^th nationally in bench scoring (35.3 points), and reserves clock 41.9% of the minutes (15^th).
Ousmane is the team's leading scorer (12.9 ppg), rebounder (5.8) and shot-blocker (13) and one of five Cowboys who averaging at least a steal-per-game.
Sixth-man Marchelus "Chi Chi" Avery is second in points (12.6) and boards (5.3).
Junior point guard Arturo Dean -- the NCAA's career leader in steals per game -- is one of the keys to an OSU defense that ranks among the national leaders in steals (34^th, 9.4), takeaways (31^st, 15.7) and fastbreak points (40^th, 14.6).
OSU attempts a Big 12 best 24.6 free throws per game and is No. 19 nationally in makes (18.2).

On this Date: Jan. 11, 1997
OSU's first-ever Big 12 conference win came in dramatic fashion when Chad Alexander drove the ball up the court and nailed a shot over Mizzou's Jeff Hafer with 5.4 seconds left to put the Cowboys in front, 68-67.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Jan. 7, 2025 in Stillwater | OSU 79, K-State 66

Abou Ousmane supplied 27 points and Brandon Newman notched the 1,000^th of his collegiate career to help head coach Steve Lutz secure his first Big 12 victory.
OSU finished the first half on a 20-2 run to take a 43-24 lead into the locker room and kept it in double-figures the rest of the way.
During their big run, the Cowboys forced stops on 11 of 12 KSU possessions. They scored the last 15 points of the half, including four in the final second when Newman made two free throws and Khalil Brantley swooped in to steal the inbound pass (one of 11 for OSU on the night) and beat the buzzer with a 15-foot jumper.
The Cowboys shook loose from a two-game shooting slump by knocking down 9-of-21 threes and 47.5% overall. They scored 31 points off of 19 turnovers while committing only 12.
Coleman Hawkins had 18 points and David N'Guessan added 12 points and 12 boards for KSU, which shot 51.1% but just 3-of-14 on threes.
Newman tallied the last of his nine points on a free throw with 6:42 remaining in the second half to finish the evening at 1,000 on the nose.

More K-State Leftovers:

Head coach Steve Lutz notched his first career Big 12 victory.
OSU snapped a seven-game Big 12 conference slide with its first win since Feb. 21, 2024 at Cincinnati.
The Cowboys scored 31 points off 19 K-State turnovers. It was the third time this season that they've finished with 30+ in that column (30 on 18 TO vs. SIU and 32 on 22 TO at Tulsa).
OSU recorded 11 steals (its sixth games this season with double-digit thefts).
A 19-point halftime lead matched OSU's largest of the season (45-26 at Tulsa).
The 19-point halftime lead was also OSU's largest in a Big 12 game since Mar. 7, 2020 at Texas when the Cowboys took a 43-21 lead into the break and maintained it for another 20 minutes in an 81-59 win.
Abou Ousmane's followed up his first double-double of the year (14 pts, 11 reb, 4 stl at West Virginia) with his first 20-point performance, finishing with 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting. It was his seventh career game with 20+ points.
Ousmane is averaging team-bests 15.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals in Big 12 play while shooting 61.3% from the field.
A career 57.6% free throw shooter on nearly 300 attempts prior to this year, Ousmane is shooting 77.3% as a Cowboy (34-of-44). He's made 19 of his last 20 going back to the Dec. 14 game against Oklahoma.
Ousmane has also added range to his game. With a three-pointer against K-State he's now 6-for-10 (60.0%) on the year from beyond the arc (compared to 1-for-6 in the last four seasons combined).
Chi Chi Avery (14 points) logged his team-best tenth double-figure scoring game.
Avery has made at least one three-pointer in all 14 contests. His streak is one of the 22 longest in OSU history
Arturo Dean made his first start of the season in place of Khalil Brantley (who went on to post a team-high five assists and three steals in 23:29). It was OSU's fifth different starting five this season.

Trending:

Like most teams, OSU is successful when it makes shots from outside. In their nine victories, the Cowboys have hit a combined 37.6% from three, compared to 22.9% in losses. Two bellweathers are guards Bryce Thompson (13-of-27, .481 in wins vs. 0-for-12 in losses) and Brandon Newman (14-of-28, .500 in wins vs. 2-for-16, .125 in losses).
OSU is 9-2 when holding its opponent to less than 80 points (0-3 otherwise).
OSU is 6-0 when scoring at least 80 (3-5).
OSU is 8-1 with a halftime lead (1-4 when trailing). The Cowboys overcame a six-point deficit to defeat Tarleton State (Dec. 18) but let a 39-34 advantage slip against FAU (Nov. 21).
OSU is 5-0 when outshooting its opponent from the field (4-5).
OSU is 6-0 when forcing 16+ turnovers (3-5).
OSU is 6-0 with 20+ points off turnovers (3-5).

The Series with Utah:

OSU leads 4-1 in a series that began with a 1945 NCAA quarterfinal matchup in Kansas City. The Cowboys defeated Utah -- the defending champion -- 62-37 on the way to their first national title. All-American Bob Kurland led the way with 28 points.
This will be the first meeting between the schools since Nov. 28, 2009 when OSU clinched the Las Vegas Invitational title with a 77-55 victory, helped by 26 points from tournament MVP James Anderson.
When hall of fame coach Jack Gardner moved from Kansas State to Utah in 1953, among the first games he scheduled was against Henry Iba's Aggies in Stillwater. The seventh-ranked Pokes won 71-44 behind 33 points from second team All-American Bob Mattick.
Gardner quickly built the Utes into a power, winning conference titles in 1955 and 1956 with an Elite Eight run in the latter, but Iba's Aggies were up to the challenge, winning a December, 1956 rematch in Salt Lake City (73-59).
OSU is 1-1 against Utah in SLC (0-1 at the Huntsman Center), losing a subsequent visit on Dec. 12, 1980 to a Utah team that would go on to reach the Sweet 16. OSU regrouped one day later for an 87-81 win over Loyola Marymount in the Hilton Classic third-place game.
The Cowboys' only other visit to Salt Lake City came early in the 2003-04 season when they lost a neutral court game to BYU inside EnergySolutions Arena. That OSU team would go on to finish 31-4 and hang a Final Four banner.

Scouting the Wildcats:
Big 12 newcomer Utah has made steady progress under fourth-year head coach Craig Smith, posting records of 11-20, 17-15 and 22-15 over his first three seasons. He returns two starters from the latter team, which reached the NIT semifinals and finished 48^th in the final KenPom rankings.
The 2024-25 Utes averaged as many three-point field goals (10.9) as turnovers (10.9) during an 8-3 non-conference run, which included six victories by 30-or-more points and an 86.7 point scoring average. They shot the ball at a .379-clip from beyond arc and led the nation in assists (21.3).
The Utes, however, have struggled to replicate those numbers in league play, averaging just 60.0 points on 36.3% shooting (6.7 threes on 24.4% accuracy) in 20+ point losses at Baylor (81-56), at home against Texas Tech (93-65) and on the road at Iowa State (82-59).
The Utes (8-6, 0-3) are still searching for their first Big 12 win but will now play four of the next games on their home court where they're 8-2 this season and 25-4 over the last two.
Despite the three-game slide, Utah still sports the nation's highest assist rate with assists credited on 70.3% of its baskets. The Utes rank second nationally in assists per game (20.3), 12^th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.73) and are one of 31 teams averaging double-digit threes (10.0).
Though they last played together as true freshmen at Cincinnati during the 2020-21 season, twin brothers Gabe and Mason Madsen have quickly fallen into step. They're Utah's top two scorers and have combined to hit 84 of the team's 140 threes.
Gabe Madsen, a 6-foot-6 graduate guard who is in his fourth season with the Utes, is the Big 12's second-leading scorer, averaging 16.7 points per game along with a league-best 3.2 threes (45/125, .360).
Mason Madsen, listed at 6-foot-4, has played the last two seasons at Boston College. He's averaging 10.9 points and 2.8 threes on 42.4% accuracy.
Lawson Lovering, a 7-foot-1 senior and the team's leading rebounder (5.4), is also also averaging double-figure points (10.6) while shooting 68.3% from the field.
Miro Little, a 6-3 sophomore point guard who played for Baylor last year, is handing out 4.7 assists per game with a 2.44 A:TO ratio.
6-foot-8 East Carolina transfer Ezra Asaur (9.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg) ranks fifth nationally in fouls drawn per 40 and is averaging a Big 12-best 11.7 free throw attempts per 40.
Dayton transfer Mike Sharavjamts (7.4 ppg, 3.4 apg) – a guard who is listed at 6-foot-9 – is among the other regular starters on a Utah team that ranks 10^th nationally in average roster height (6-5 ¾), per KenPom, and 17^th in effective height (weighted by minutes played).
The Utes have a deep bench with 11 players averaging at least 11 minutes per game. Reserves account for 30.9 points per game (32^nd nationally) and 41.4% of the minutes (18^th).

Matchup Mashup:

As previously mentioned, Utah (1944) and OSU (1945, 1946) were two of the earliest champions of the NCAA tournament, which launched in 1938. Though OSU denied Utah a Final Four appearance in '44, the Utes have since been back three other times, including in 1966 when they fell to a Texas Western team led by OSU graduate Don Haskins.
Utah is the only one of the four Big 12 newcomers that OSU will face on the road this year.
The Cowboys will, however, play each of their next four home games against that group of teams, beginning with Colorado on Jan. 18 and continuing with Arizona (Jan. 21), Utah (Feb. 1) and Arizona State (Feb. 9).

A Cowboy win would...

Even their Big 12 record at 2-2 after an 0-2 start.
Make them 3-1 in true road games, tripling last years win total (1-9).
Give them 5-1 lead in the all-time series with Utah (2-1 in SLC and 1-1 at the Huntsman Center).

Up Next: at BYU
Tuesday, 8 p.m. CT / 7 p.m. MT (ESPN+)

OSU will make the short, 50-mile trek from Salt Lake City to Provo for a Tuesday night matchup with BYU inside the Marriott Center.
The teams split last year's series with each protecting home court. The Cowboys upset the 19^th-ranked Cougars last February in Stillwater (93-83) behind Jamyron Keller's 22 points (8/8 FG, 4/4 3pt, 2/2 FT) but fell 85-71 at the Marriott Center in the Mar. 9 regular season finale.
This will be the only regular season meeting between the schools this year.
BYU (10-4, 1-2 BIg 12) is on the road this weekend at TCU.
The Cougars are No. 48 in the NET rankings and No. 28 in offensive efficiency, per KenPom.
BYU ranks among the top-10 nationally in rebounding margin (+10.1) and are averaging a Big 12 best 10.5 threes per game.