As Oklahoma State basketball enters Big 12 play, what have we learned about the Cowboys?

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STILLWATER — Back before the season, new Oklahoma State coach Steve Lutz joked about the day the preliminary Big 12 men’s basketball schedule arrived in his email.

“Hey, I have a top-five team at home, then I go on the road for two, and I come back and there’s a top-10 team coming here,” Lutz said with an exasperated look. “But everybody in the league is saying that. That’s why we do this, right? Play in the best league in the country.”

Well, maybe the schedule doesn’t look quite as tough as it did in the preseason. Only five Big 12 teams are ranked in the top 25 — as opposed to November when five were ranked in the top 10.

But that doesn’t mean the conference is suddenly a pushover. It’s still in the conversation for the toughest conference in the country, though the Southeastern Conference may have the edge now.

Coming off an 8-3 non-conference schedule, the Cowboys enter Big 12 play with 15th-ranked Houston at 7 p.m. Monday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

That’s followed by a Saturday trip to West Virginia, which is receiving votes in the latest poll.

Just how the Cowboys will fare in Lutz’s first trip through the league is hard to predict. But here’s a look at three things we learned about the Pokes during non-conference play:

More: What will 2025 bring for Oklahoma State athletics? We make 25 bold predictions for Pokes

Oklahoma State guard Bryce Thompson (1) celebrates after making a basket against Green Bay in the Cowboys’ season opener. Thompson is thriving under new coach Steve Lutz’s system.

Bryce Thompson found a new gear

As a fifth-year senior, OSU guard Bryce Thompson seemed to be well-established as a player who fit the offensive styles of the coaches he had played for — Mike Boynton at OSU and Bill Self for a year at Kansas.

It was unclear if Thompson would excel in the up-tempo pace of Lutz.

But through 11 games, Thompson not only has shown he can do it, he has thrived in it.

He’s shooting the best field goal percentage of his career, 42.0%,…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oklahoma-state-basketball-enters-big-114539244.html

Author : The Oklahoman

Publish date : 2024-12-30 11:45:00

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