Cowboys set to tip off 2026-27 season Monday night - Oklahoma State University Athletics

INCARNATE WORD (0-0) at OKLAHOMA STATE (0-0)
Monday, Nov. 2 | 8 p.m. CT
Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)

Tickets: okstate.com/tickets
Watch: ESPN+ (Adam Hildebrant & Bryndon Manzer)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: First Meeting

Coaches:
Steve Lutz (Texas Lutheran '95) – 3^rd Season at OSU (37-33), 6^th Overall (106-68)
Shane Heirman (Tulsa '11) – 4^th Season at UIW (39-59), Same Overall

Opening Tips:

OSU opens its 118th season Monday against UIW. The 8 p.m. tip follows a 5 p.m. Cowgirl matchup with Southern; one ticket covers both games.
After inheriting a program coming off 20 losses, Steve Lutz has delivered wins in consecutive postseasons, the first OSU coach to do so since Eddie Sutton in 2004 and 2005. His next objective: get the Cowboys back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021. OSU followed a 17-win debut season and NIT quarterfinal run with 20 victories and another NIT berth in 2025-26.
Kanye Clary (10.6 ppg, 4.6 apg) leads a group of five returners, joined by the Big 12's top-rated transfer class, per On3, and a consensus national top-10 freshman class.
OSU has never faced UIW on the hardwood but Lutz is already well acquainted. He began his coaching career with the Cardinals, serving from 1995-99 under Danny Kaspar, and swept four games from them as the head coach at UIW's Southland Conference rival, A&M-Corpus Christi.
UIW is making a fresh start of its own. Fourth-year coach Shane Heirman has 14 newcomers on his 15-man squad which was picked 11th out of 12 in the Southland Conference preseason poll.
Nov. 2 is the earliest regular-season start in program history. The previous mark was Nov. 4, set in both 2024 and 2025.
The Cowboys are 91-26 all-time in openers, with wins in 29 of their last 31. They are 84-4 in GIA home openers.

Ready for the Real Thing:

An extended preseason run-up featured three games on a July tour of Puerto Rico and three October exhibitions against New Mexico, Tulsa and Wisconsin.
The Cowboys dropped two of the three against the latter, averaging 82.3 points but surrendering 88.7
OSU out-rebounded all three opponents and outscored them 114-60 in the paint, but foes combined to sink 43-of-100 threes and 67 free throws. Wisconsin made 18 threes, Tulsa 16 and New Mexico nine.
Health was a storyline throughout the preseason with five Cowboys missing time to injury. Parsa Fallah and Mekhi Ragland did not appear in the October exhibitions, while Clary, Luka Bogavac and Jordan Burks missed multiple games.
Fifth-year guard Kashie Natt paced the team in points (15.3), rebounds (7.7), assists (4.3) and steals (2.3), and his former Sam Houston teammate Jacob Walker handled point guard responsibilities in Clary's absence, averaging 10.0 points and 4.0 assists over the three exhibitions.
Freshman Anthony Felesi reached double figures in all three friendlies (18, 10, 10), averaging 12.7 points on 14-of-22 shooting. Last Tuesday at Wisconsin, he was joined in the starting lineup by Latrell Allmond, OSU's 11th McDonald's All-American.
Julius Halaifonua, a 7-foot junior from Georgetown, scored 16 apiece against New Mexico and Wisconsin.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Preseason Exhibition
Oct. 27 in Madison, Wisc. | Wisconsin 82, OSU 65

Wisconsin sank 18 threes on 44% accuracy to hand OSU an 82-65 loss in its exhibition finale.
Owen Foxwell scored 16 of his game-high 19 points before halftime for UW, which led 40-26 at intermission.
Julius Halaifonua led OSU with 16 points.
The Cowboys shot just 28.1% in the first half but improved to 56.5% after halftime.
Jacob Walker scored all 12 of his points in the second half, including a three that cut UW's lead to 65-57 with 7:19 left.
UW managed just 12 points in the paint but outscored OSU 54-15 from three-point range. Eight Badgers hit at least one triple.
OSU finished 5-of-24 from three and committed 22 turnovers to UW's 15.

Right at Home:

Gallagher-Iba Arena begins its 89th season in 2026-27. The Cowboys are 888-274 (.764) all-time in the building.
OSU is 466-60 in regular-season non-conference games at GIA and has won 19 straight since a Nov. 30, 2023 loss to Creighton.
The Cowboys are 28-10 at home under Lutz, tying the school record with 15 GIA wins last season.

2025-26 in Review:

The Cowboys went 20-15 (6-12 Big 12), won an NIT game and secured the program's 39th 20-win season and 44th postseason appearance.
OSU averaged 83.9 points (23rd nationally, second in team history) and scored a school-record 2,935 total points. Its 13 games of 90+ points set another program record.
The Pokes reached 80 points 23 times and shot at least 50% on 10 occasions, winning nine of those games.
OSU won 10 games against postseason teams, including six against NCAA Tournament participants. Highlights included home wins over No. 16 BYU and No. 25 UCF.
The Cowboys went 15-6 inside GIA, tying a school record for home wins.
Lutz logged his fourth 20-win season in five years, and his fifth consecutive postseason appearance across Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Western Kentucky and OSU.

Lutz Era, By the Numbers:

32-3 when scoring 80+ points; all 20 victories in 2025-26 came with at least 80.
28-7 when outrebounding opponents; 27-6 when shooting a higher field-goal percentage.
31-5 when leading or tied at halftime.

Full Speed Ahead:

OSU ranked ninth nationally in KenPom adjusted tempo last year, up from 12th in 2024-25; The Cowboys' 74.0 raw possessions per game were roughly five above the national average.
Per Synergy, approximately one in five Cowboy possessions came in transition, tops in the Big 12.
Despite their prodigious pace, the 2025-26 Cowboys committed only 11.8 turnovers per game, the second-lowest average in program history, and posted a 1.23 assist-to-turnover ratio, fifth-best in school history.

Depth Charged:

OSU used 20 different starting lineups in 2025-26, with 12 players drawing at least one start.
Seven different Cowboys led the team in minutes, paced by Kanye Clary (10 times).
Reserves averaged a Big 12-best 27.6 points per game and scored 966 total points, second in OSU history. The 2024-25 team set the record with 1,070.

The Series with Incarnate Word:

Monday marks the first men's basketball meeting between OSU and Incarnate Word.
Steve Lutz is 4-0 against UIW as a head coach, all at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. His first Southland Conference game was an 80-64 win over the Cardinals on Jan. 15, 2022.
OSU is 2-0 against Southland opponents under Lutz, defeating A&M-Corpus Christi (85-69) and Nicholls (95-81) six days apart last November.
The Cowboys close non-conference play Dec. 29 against Houston Christian, picked seventh in the Southland preseason poll.

Scouting the Cardinals:

UIW enters its fourth season under Shane Heirman after finishing 12-19 (7-15 Southland) in 2025-26.
The Cardinals are picked 11th in the 12-team Southland preseason poll.
UIW has 14 newcomers on a 15-man roster (10 transfers, four freshmen). Lone returner Drew Barbee averaged 2.2 points over five games last season.
Sacred Heart transfer Mekhi Connor ranked among the nation's top 30 in assists in each of the past two seasons (217 in 2024-25; 194 in 2025-26).
Ismail Habib averaged 14.7 points and 2.8 assists at Southern Indiana last year; DeSales transfer Jayden Thomas averaged 25.6 points and 5.5 assists and was a Division III first-team All-American.
Bucknell transfer Brandon McCreesh scored 20 points with four threes in UIW's exhibition at Michigan State.
The Cardinals also visit Big 12 programs Texas Tech (Dec. 15) and Arizona (Dec. 28), with a stop at Gonzaga (Dec. 9) on the non-conference slate.

Matchup Mashup:

A San Antonio native, Lutz began his coaching career at UIW (1995-99) under Danny Kaspar, first as a graduate assistant. The Cardinals reached three NAIA national tournaments, including the 1998 quarterfinals.
OSU assistant Lou Gudino served at UIW from 2000-03, contributing to a 62-21 mark and share of the 2002 Lone Star Conference title.
OSU football coach Eric Morris led UIW from 2018-21, capturing two Southland titles and two conference Coach of the Year awards.
UIW junior guard DJ Cason is the son of former OSU basketball assistant David Cason (2021-24).
UIW coach Shane Heirman played at Tulsa under Doug Wojcik and graduated in 2011. He met his wife Claire, a Golden Hurricane soccer player, while attending Tulsa.

A Cowboy Win Would...

Make them 92-26 all-time in season openers with wins in 30 of the last 32.
Make them 3-0 under Steve Lutz in openers.
Make them 1-0 all-time against UIW.
Boost their home record under Lutz to 29-10.
Make them 85-4 all-time in home openers on GIA's white maple.
Raise their all-time GIA record to 889-274 (.764), including 467-60 in non-conference regular season action.
Be their 20th consecutive home non-conference win dating back to December 2023.
Lift Lutz's career record to 107-68 in parts of six seasons as a head coach, including 38-33 with OSU and 21-4 in non-conference regular season action.

Up Next:
Queens (NC) | Friday, 8 p.m. | ESPN+

The Cowboys are back in Gallagher-Iba Arena on Friday night to face ASUN favorite Queens University of Charlotte.
The game is part of another men's and women's doubleheader with the Cowgirls facing Morgan State at 5 p.m.
The Royals are coming off a 21-14 season that included their first ASUN Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance.
Head coach Grant Leonard returns three preseason All-ASUN selections, led by Nasir Mann (13.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and preseason Defensive Player of the Year Avantae Parker. Queens received five of eight first-place votes and was picked to win the ASUN.
This will be the first ever meeting between OSU and Queens.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Latrell Allmond

Luka Bogavac

Kanye Clary

Parsa Fallah

Anthony Felesi

Julius Halaifonua

Kashie Natt

Mekhi Ragland

Jacob Walker

Oklahoma State University Athletics