NIT Preview: Cowboys look to continue home success Tuesday against Wichita State

WICHITA STATE (19-14) at [4] OKLAHOMA STATE (15-17)
National Invitation Tournament | First Round
Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2025 | 8 p.m. CT
Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)

Tickets: okstate.com/tickets
Watch: ESPN2 (Mark Neely & Jess Settles)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Tourney Central: ncaa.com/NIT
Series: OSU leads 32-11 (15-5 in Stillwater)

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Tickets:

Tickets are on sale at okstate.com/tickets with seats priced at $15 (GA) and $25 (Reserved).
Parking around the arena will be available on a first-come, first-served basis with the exception of Lots 4 and 6B.
Suite holders and 100 level season ticket holders can fill out an application in their online accounts to purchase their regular seat locations.
As a token of appreciation for their efforts during the recent wildfires, first responders will receive free admission by presenting their badge at the will call window on game day.

#StillwaterStrong:

OSU is working with United Way and the City of Stillwater to support those affected by the fires, and fans are encouraged to give generously. Bins will be placed around the arena to collect essential items, including:
- Bottled water
- Gatorade
- Liquid IV
- Packaged food and snacks
- Pet food
- Paper products
- Personal care items
- Feminine products
- Trash bags.

Follow the Bouncing Ball:

Fans can watch Tuesday's first round matchup on ESPN2 or tune in to Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb on the Varsity App and across the Cowboy Radio Network. Visit okstate.com/radio for a complete list of affiliates.
Find the bracket, schedules, scores, stats, recaps and other fan information on the championship central page at NCAA.com/NIT.

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Opening Tips:

Postseason basketball returns to Gallagher-Iba Arena Tuesday night when the No. 4 seed Oklahoma State Cowboys welcome the Wichita State Shockers for first round NIT action.
This is OSU's 43^rd postseason tournament and 14^th NIT bid. The Cowboys reached the quarterfinals in their two most recent NIT appearances (2018 and 2023) and have made three trips to the semifinals (1938, 1940, 1944).
The OSU-WSU winner advances to the second round to face either top seed SMU or Northern Iowa (Saturday or Sunday).
The Cowboys are 7-3 all-time in home NIT games, including 5-1 in the first round.
Steve Lutz has reached the postseason in each of his first four seasons as a head coach with this year's NIT preceded by NCAA tournament bids at Corpus Christi (2022 & 2023) and Western Kentucky (2024).
Lutz brings a fast and physical brand of basketball to Stillwater with a team that relentlessly attacks the rim and feasts on transition opportunities created by a smothering half-court defense.
OSU has made impressive strides in year one of the Lutz era, improving 31 spots in the NET (95 from 126) and by (at least) three wins over last year's overall and Big 12 totals (12-20, 4-14).
The group played some of its best basketball down the stretch, highlighted by a Feb. 25 victory over No. 9 Iowa State.
The Pokes have reestablished have home court advantage under Lutz, posting a 12-3 (.800) record inside GIA. The only losses have come to teams ranked 12^th or higher in the NCAA NET.
One of 12 newcomers who have logged time this season, 6-foot-10 Xavier transfer Abou Ousmane is OSU's leading scorer (12.5), rebounder (5.4) and shot-blocker (29).
Junior guard Arturo Dean leads the Big 12 in steals (2.48) and is among the keys to an OSU defense that ranked second in the league in takeaways (14.8).
Graduate guard Bryce Thompson earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors last week after averaging a career-best 12.2 points during the regular season.
Marchelus "Chi Chi" Avery (11.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 55 threes) has been the most impactful weapon on an OSU bench unit that ranks 10^thnationally in points (31.2) and ninth in minutes (42.2%).
That depth has helped sustain a breakneck pace. OSU is 15^th in adjusted tempo, per KenPom, with nearly one-in-five points coming in transition.
OSU has also made a living at the line with nearly a quarter of its offense coming on free throws (23.8% is 10^th nationally). The Cowboys also lead the Big 12 in free throw rate (18^th, 41.6) and rank among the national leaders in makes (17^th, 17.3) and attempts (16^th, 23.9).

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The Basics:

The 2025 NIT bracket consists of 32 teams with seeds assigned to the top 16 and the remaining schools placed by geographic fit.
OSU is the No. 4 seed in the Dallas region and, with a victory over the Shockers, would face either top seed SMU or Northern Iowa in the second round (March 22-23). No. 2 seed North Texas meets Furman and No 3 Arkansas State hosts Saint Louis on the other half of the regional.
The winner of the eight team bracket advances to Indianapolis for the semifinals and championship (Apr. 1 and 3) at Butler University's Hinkle Fieldhouse.
This is the 88^th edition of the NIT. Its first 82 champions were crowned exclusively at New York City's Madison Square Garden (1938-2019), however, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the final site has rotated between host cities: Frisco, Texas (2021), MSG (2022), Las Vegas (2023) and Indianapolis (2024, 2025).
Indianapolis has the honor again in 2026 as part of a massive weekend that will also include championship games from all three NCAA men's divisions.

OSU in the NIT:

This is Oklahoma State's 14^th NIT bid dating back to 1938. Cowboy teams are 11-14 all-time with three semifinals.
OSU has reached the quarterfinals in each of its last two NIT appearances (2018 and 2023).
The Cowboys are 7-3 in Stillwater, including 5-1 in first-round home games.
OSU has won at least one game in each of its last three NITs and in nine of the 13 overall.
The 2011 team was a No. 3 seed and opened with a home win over Harvard before falling on the road to Klay Thompson's Washington State Cougars.
The 2018 squad drew a No. 2 seed and knocked off Florida Gulf Coast and Stanford in the first two rounds before bowing to Western Kentucky.
In the Stanford game, Jeffrey Carroll matched an OSU record for points in an NIT game (26).
The 2023 Pokes were the last team out on Selection Sunday and opened on the road at Youngstown State, due to OSU's involvement as host of the NCAA Wrestling Championship. The Cowboys won that game and returned home to defeat Eastern Washington in the second round, with help from Bryce Thompson's 22 points on 6-of-11 three-point shooting. The run ended with an overtime loss to eventual champion North Texas in the quarterfinals.
OSU (then known as Oklahoma A&M) was a part of the inaugural six-team NIT in 1938 alongside Bradley, Colorado, Long Island, NYU and Temple. Henry Iba's squad earned a bye into the semifinals but fell 56-55 to eventual champion Temple. The following day, the Aggies defeated NYU, 37-24, to secure third-place.
OSU returned three other times to New York City (1940, 1944 and 1956) and made two more semifinal appearances.
In the early years, schools were often forced to choose: NIT or NCAA tournament. The 1940 Aggies opted for both, despite a tight window between the two events. Iba's team fell to Duquesne in the NIT semifinals on Mar. 13, defeated DePaul for third place on Mar. 14 then hopped an airplane from New York to Kansas City for a playoff against the Kansas Jayhawks, which would determine District 5's representative in the NCAA tournament. The road weary Aggies performed admirably in a 45-43 overtime setback.
OSU finished fourth-place in the 1944 NIT, but the experience served as a springboard into back-to-back NCAA championships in 1945 and 1946. Sophomore 7-footer Bob Kurland averaged 13.7 points over the three games for the Aggies, who defeated Canisius in the quarterfinals before falling to DePaul and Kentucky.

The Series with Wichita State:

OSU leads the all-time series with Wichita State, 32-11, including 15-5 in Stillwater, however the Shockers have won their last three visits.
The schools have met regularly over the last decade, with six non-conference games and three more preseason closed-door scrimmages (including one in early October, 2024).
The teams first played on Dec. 12, 1934 when they were known as Oklahoma A&M and the Municipal University of Wichita. First-year Aggie head coach Henry Iba notched the first of 653 OSU victories with a 24-7 win over the Shockers.
The majority of the games took place in the 1940s and 50s when the schools were both members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Cowboys took 19 of the 24 conference meetings between 1945 and 1957 before exiting for the Big 12.
This is the second postseason matchup between the programs. The other took place in 1965 when the Shockers upset Iba's Cowboys, 54-46, at K-State Ahearn Fieldhouse to claim the program's first Final Four bid.
The visiting team has won each of the last seven regular season meetings in this series, going back to 2002 when the Cowboys defeated the Shockers at the Kansas Coliseum.
OSU won a battle of NCAA tournament teams on Dec. 17, 2016 at INTRUST Bank Arena and snapped the Shockers' school-record 42-game non-conference home winning streak with a 93-76 victory.
Sixth-ranked WSU returned the favor a year later behind Landry Shamet's career-high 30 points, notching their first GIA victory in 60 years. They won subsequent visits in 2019 and 2021.
In December, 2021, Cade Cunningham hit a three-pointer with 10 seconds left to give OSU a dramatic 67-64 victory over the eventual AAC champions at Charles Koch Arena.
OSU also won the most recent regular season meeting on Dec. 17, 2022 at INTRUST Bank Arena by a score of 59-49. Bryce Thompson – the lone OSU holdover from that game – scored a game-high 19 points. Likewise, Xavier Bell and Quincy Ballard are the only remaining players from the WSU half of that box score.
OSU is 4-0 against Paul Mills from his time at ORU, although each of the last three games were decided by five points or less. Mills' last appearance at GIA (Dec. 8, 2020) featured a scoring dual between ORU's Max Abmas (33 points) and OSU's Cunningham (29), but the Cowboys survived, 83-78. OSU overcame another upset bid the following year in Tulsa. Abmas put up another 29 points on seven three-pointers for ORU, but OSU's Bryce Williams hit back-to-back jumpers late in overtime to help the Pokes emerge, 78-77.

Scouting the Shockers:

The Shockers (19-15, 8-10) finished eighth in the American Athletic Conference regular season race and No. 134 in the NCAA NET rankings. They reached the semifinals in their most recent NIT appearance (2019) and won it all in 2011.
WSU's 19 victories include a neutral court win over Minnesota at the ESPN Events Invitational, home wins over Kansas State and Memphis, and a road win at Florida Atlantic. The Shockers started AAC play 1-7 but finished as one of the league's hottest teams, taking seven of their last 10 regular season games.
Second-year head coach Paul Mills has the Shockers on the cusp of its first 20-win season since 2020. Prior to WSU, he led a successful rebuild at Oral Roberts (2017-23), culminating in a pair of NCAA tournament appearances. The Golden Eagles advanced to the 2021 Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed and won 30 games during the 2022-23 season along with the Summit League's regular season and tournament titles.
The Shockers are led by a pair of all-conference performers. Senior guard Xavier Bell (14.9 ppg, 145 FTM on 89.0% accuracy) was one of 10 players named to the first team, and junior forward Corey Washington (13.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg) earned second team honors.
The Shockers have one of the nation's best rim protectors in Quincy Ballard, a 6-11 senior who averages 9.7 points on 75.3% shooting and ranks among the AAC leaders in rebounds (2nd, 9.0) and blocks (1st, 1.9). Per KenPom, Ballard's .751 effective field goal percentage leads the nation.
Only six schools average fewer three-point field goals than WSU (5.2). 58.3% of Shocker scoring has come from 2-point field goals (eighth nationally) with another 20.8% at the foul line (82^nd).

A Cowboy Win Would...

Move them into the NIT second round against the winner of Wednesday's game between SMU and Northern Iowa, to be played Saturday or Sunday in either Stillwater (with a UNI win) or Dallas (if SMU prevails).
Improve their record to 16-17 -- four wins ahead of the last season's pace.
Make them 13-3 at home this season with four straight victories.
Match the highest home winning percentage since the 2013-14 season (also 13-3, .813).
Make them 12-14 all-time in NIT action.
Make them 8-3 all-time in home NIT games, including 6-1 in the first round.

A Cowboy Loss Would...

End their season with a 15-18 record.
Best just their fourth at home this season (12-4).
Snap a nine-game non-conference home winning streak.
Be their fourth straight to WSU in GIA and narrow their all-time series lead to 32-12 (14-6 in Stillwater)
Be less good than a win.

NIT Preview: Cowboys look to continue home success Tuesday against Wichita State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Arturo Dean

Abou Ousmane

Bryce Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics

NIT Preview: Cowboys look to continue home success Tuesday against Wichita State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Arturo Dean

Abou Ousmane

Bryce Thompson

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