Cowboy Basketball set for Sunday matinee at Texas Tech

OKLAHOMA STATE (10-8, 2-5) at rv/24 TEXAS TECH (14-4, 5-2)
Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025 | 2 p.m. CT
Lubbock, Texas | United Supermarkets Arena

Watch: ESPN+ (Ted Emrich & Bryndon Manzer)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: OSU leads 50-26 (12-17 in Lubbock)
Last: Mar. 5, 2025 in Stillwater (TTU, 75-58)

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Opening Tips:

OSU travels to Lubbock on Sunday for an early-afternoon tipoff against Texas Tech.
This is the 29^th consecutive season of two-plays between the schools, replacing Bedlam as OSU's longest active home-and-home series.
Tech swept last years games, but OSU has taken six of the last nine and 50 of 76 overall.
The Cowboys won non-conference trips to Tulsa and Seton Hall but are still searching for their first Big 12 road victory after double-digit losses at West Virginia, Utah and BYU.
OSU split its two-game homestand, defeating Colorado last Saturday (83-73) before falling to red-hot Arizona on Tuesday night (92-78).
In the latter, Bryce Thompson and Marchelus "Chi Chi" Avery scored 21 points apiece and combined for eight of the Cowboys' 10 three-pointers, but OSU struggled to contain the Wildcats on the defensive end. UA hit 10 threes of its own plus more than two-thirds of its shots from inside the arc (68.8%).
Thompson made his 50^th Big 12 start and the 100^th of his collegiate career (4 at Kansas, 96 for OSU) on Tuesday. Likewise, former Arkansas guard Devo Davis appeared in his 150^th collegiate game (tied for 13^th on the active list).
The 2023-24 Pokes were the Big 12's youngest team, but this year's version is loaded with experience. Ten Cowboys average 10+ minutes. Eight of them are DI transfers and seven are listed seniors, fifth-years or grad students.
Junior forward Robert Jennings II played the last two seasons for Texas Tech. He's one of two Cowboys (along with Thompson) who have started all 18 contests.
First year head coach Steve 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.
Fifth-year forward Abou Ousmane is the Cowboys' top scorer (12.7 ppg), rebounder (5.8 rpg) and shot-blocker (15).
Arturo Dean, the NCAA's active career leader in steals per game (2.74), is among the keys to an OSU defense that averages 8.7 steals, 14.9 forced turnovers and 13.7 fastbreak points.
OSU leads the Big 12 and ranks 11^th nationally in both free throw makes (18.4) and attempts (25.3). The Cowboys have the NCAA's seventh-highest free throw rate (24.8) with nearly one attempt for every four field goal tries.
In conference play, OSU has a league-best .750 defensive rebounding percentage.
OSU averages a league-best 33.8 bench points (12^th nationally), helped by Avery's 12.7 per game.

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On This Date: Jan. 26
2003 – Eddie Sutton's 13^th-ranked Cowboys downed Bobby Knight's Texas Tech Red Raiders, 79-70, at United Supermarkets Arena. OSU's trio of Victor Williams (24 points), Tony Allen (21) and Melvin Sanders (17) bested Tech's tandem of Kasib Powell (26) and Andrew Emmett (23). Those five players accounted for nearly 80% of the points scored on either side. The win was the Cowboys' 14^th straight and gave them sole possession of first place in the Big 12 race (16-1, 5-0). The loss temporarily slowed Knight's pursuit of 800 wins. He had 798 coming in.

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Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Tuesday, Jan. 26 in Stillwater | Arizona 92, OSU 78

OSU kept pace for a half, but Arizona's high-octane offense eventually found another gear in the first Big 12 era meeting between the programs.
Chi Chi Avery and Bryce Thompson scored 21 points each and combined for eight of the Cowboys' 10 three-point field goals.
The Wildcats (56.1%) made 10 triples of their own plus more than two-thirds of their shots from inside the arc.
The Wildcats took a 43-39 lead into halftime after Jaden Bradley beat the buzzer with a three.
Arizona scored on 10 of its first 11 second-half possessions to stretch its lead to 13.
Caleb Love supplied 12 of the 25 Arizona points in that 7:00-span on three triples and a three-point play. He finished with a game-high 27.
UA handled OSU's pressure well, committing just eight turnovers while banking 16 assists.

More Arizona Leftovers:

Bryce Thompson has topped the 15-point plateau in each of his last four games. He's averaging 16.7 points in that stretch, which is the longest of his career. Notably, Cade Cunningham (2020-21) was the last Cowboy to string together five-straight games of 15+ points.
Thompson has done much of his damage at the foul line, particularly over the last three games when he's knocked down 18-of-21 attempts. Those 21 free throw attempts represent one-third of his season total (49-of-63).
Thompson reached the 20-point mark for the second time this season and for the ninth time in his OSU career. He had 22 in the season opener against Green Bay.
Avery topped 20 for the eighth time in his collegiate career and for the second time as a Cowboy. He put up 23 in the Nov. 10 win over St. Thomas.
Avery's five three-pointers were a new career-high and the most by a Cowboy this season.
Five of Avery's team-best 13 double-figure scoring games have come during Big 12 play.
Likewise, five of Abou Ousmane's 11 double-figure games have come against conference foes. He's averaging a team-best 13.6 points and 6.4 rebounds in Big 12 play.
Arturo Dean is averaging 4.0 assists with a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in the four games since joining the starting lineup.
Dean's six assists against Arizona were a new season-best.
All seven of OSU's Big 12 games have been decided by 10+ points in either direction.
As of Thursday, OSU is one of only 16 Division I teams that have been not been involved in a one-possession game this season. The Cowboys' closest call was a five-point win over Tarleton.
OSU matched its most efficient offensive performance of the Big 12 season, averaging 1.15 points per possession, but surrendered 1.35 (most by an opponent in 18 games this season).
The Wildcats shot 68.8% from inside the arc (another season-high), with 16 of their 22 two-point baskets coming on layups.
Four steals matched an OSU season low.
OSU is 8-0 this season when scoring 40+ combined points off of free throws and turnovers (2-8 otherwise). The Cowboys had 30 against Arizona (12 Pts of TO + 18 FTM), compared to 47 in the Colorado win (16 +31).

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Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork:

Steve Lutz wants players who are willing to put team goals ahead of their own. You won't see many Cowboys on individual Big 12 leaderboards, but the group is putting up some strong numbers collectively.
Nine Cowboys average between 15 and 25 minutes per game. Seven of them have taken at least one turn atop the scoring chart.
OSU leads the Big 12 and ranks 12^th nationally in bench scoring (33.8 points). Reserves have clocked 41.8% of the overall minutes (13^th).
The bench has topped 40 points on five different occasions, with a season-high 57 in their 85-78 win over Southern Illinois on Nov. 14.
Avery's 12.7 points per game is the nation's second-highest scoring average among players who qualify for NCAA leaderboards but have not yet logged a start this year.
The top scoring average by an OSU player who appeared in at least 75% of games without making a start belongs to Brian Montonati. The 6-foot-9 forward appeared in all 34 games for the 1998-99 Cowboys and averaged 6.8 points in 18.0 minutes. He started every game the following year and averaged 12.1 points for a team that made the NCAA Elite Eight.

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Trending:

OSU is 10-2 when holding its opponent to less than 80 points (0-6 otherwise).
OSU is 7-0 when scoring at least 80 (3-8).
OSU is 9-1 with a halftime lead (1-7 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 opponents (5-8).
OSU is 7-0 when forcing 16+ turnovers (3-8).
OSU is 6-0 with 20+ points off turnovers (4-8).
The Cowboys have lost their last seven overtime games going back to the 2021-22 season. Their last OT victory came Feb. 19, 2022 against K-State.

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Life in the Fast Lane:

OSU is the Big 12's second fastest team (just behind UCF), according to KenPom's adjusted tempo rankings.
Roughly one in every five Cowboy points come from fastbreaks, per Genius NCAA LiveStats (13.7 out of 74.0 ppg).
Using different methodology, Synergy Sports estimates that the Cowboys score 19.0 points per game off transition opportunities (29^th), which account for 21.9% of their offensive possessions (tops in the Big 12 and No. 18 nationally).
Notably, Lutz's two former schools (both now led by his former assistant coaches) also rank among the nation's fastest. Western Kentucky (Hank Plona) plays a nation-best 24.6% of its possessions in transition, according to Synergy, while Jim Shaw's A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders lead the NCAA in transition points (21.9).
Being a fastbreak threat also has its advantages on the glass, with opponents often forced to choose between pursuing offensive rebounds or getting back on defense. The Cowboys have grabbed nearly three-quarters of their opponent misses this year (.745, 20^th nationally).

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Better with Age:

OSU's roster is loaded with experience. Eight Cowboys are in their fifth season of college basketball. That's believed to be the nation's highest total ahead of the seven apiece from Louisville, Charlotte and Wichita State.
OSU ranks 15^th nationally in DI experience, per KenPom, with a weighted average of 2.92 years per player on the floor.
Arkansas transfer Davonte "Devo" Davis ranks among the NCAA's active career leaders in games played. Saturday's Colorado contest was his 150^th (tied for 13^th).
Bryce Thompson ranks second among active players in career Big 12 games (60) and starts (50) behind KU's Dajaun Harris.
Seven Cowboys have previously been part of an NCAA tournament team and an eighth (Mikey Kelvin II) played in Canada's national championship game last spring.

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The Series with Texas Tech:

OSU has won just under two-thirds of the matchups in this series (50-26), which began in 1937 and became an annual affair some six decades later when the two schools helped form the Big 12 Conference.
Texas Tech swept last year's home-and-home, but the Cowboys have won six of the last nine matchups.
2024-25 marks the 29th consecutive season that the schools have played each other on both campuses, replacing Oklahoma as OSU's longest running home-and-home series.
OSU is 27-6 all-time against Texas Tech in Stillwater (23-5 in the Big 12 era) with victories in 18 of the last 21.
OSU is 12-17 in Lubbock (10-15 at United Supermarkets Arena).
The Cowboys are 6-1 in Big 12 tourney matchups with five straight wins, highlighted by a 72-68 victory in the 2005 championship game.
OSU is 9-7 against nationally-ranked Texas Tech teams. Five of those wins have come in the past eight seasons.

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Matchup Mashup:

OSU junior forward Robert Jennings II played the last two years for Texas Tech, appearing in 61 games with 14 starts. He started nine of the last 10 games during the 2023-24 season and had six points in the Red Raiders' NCAA tournament matchup with NC State.

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Scouting the Red Raiders:

Texas Tech broke into the Coaches Poll this week at No. 25 but missed the AP cutoff by just a handful of votes.
The computers have a far more favorable view of the Red Raiders. They're No. 10 in the NCAA NET and No. 11 in KenPom with an offense that ranks seventh in efficiency.
In short, the Red Raiders are an excellent shooting team that thrives on the offensive glass and rarely turns the ball over.
Tech leads the Big 12 and ranks 16^th nationally in effective field goal percentage (.570). The Red Raiders also rank among the nation's top-25 in scoring offense (24^th, 82.9), scoring margin (10^th, +17.3), field goal percentage (13^th, .494), three-point percentage (16th, .389), free throw percentage (20^th, .782), assists (19^th, 17.3), assist-to-turnover ratio (16^th, 1.63) and rebounding margin (21^st, +7.4).
6-foot-9 J.T. Toppin – the 2024 Mountain West Freshman of the Year at New Mexico -- tops the scoring and rebounding charts at 16.9 points and 9.1 rebounds. Both marks rank third in the Big 12. He's also among the national leaders in offensive rebounding percentage (9^th, 17.3) and usage rate (26^th, 31.4), per KenPom.
6-6 junior Darrion Williams – the 2023 Mountain West Freshman of the Year at Nevada – is averaging 15.0 points and 4.6 assists in his second go-around at Texas Tech. He was a third team All-Big 12 pick last season.
6-3 super senior Chance McMillian has never won the Mountain West Freshman of the Year Award but is averaging 15.0 points and 2.3 threes per game.
5-11 Minnesota transfer Elijah Hawkins is the Big 12 leader in assists (6.2) and A:TO ratio (3.41).
The Red Raiders are 9-2 at home this year with the only losses coming in overtime to current AP No. 3 Iowa State and in the Big 12 opener to UCF.

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A Cowboy win would...

Up their record to 11-8 (3-5 Big 12).
Make them 3-3 over their last six games.
Be their third true road win of the season (3-3), tripling last year's total (1-9).
Make them 1-3 in Big 12 road games.
Extend their all-time series lead to 51-26 with victories in seven of the last 10.
Make them 13-17 all-time against TTU in Lubbock (11-15 at USA) with wins in three of their last five visits.

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Up Next: at Kansas State
Wednesday, 7 p.m. CT (CBSSN)

The Cowboys are on the road again Wednesday night, looking to sweep a season series from Kansas State for the third time in six years. They did it back-to-back in 2020 and 2021.
OSU took the Jan. 7 meeting in Stillwater, 79-66, behind a season-high 27 points from Abou Ousmane.
The Cowboys are looking for their first win at Bramlage Coliseum since the 2020-21 season. They've lost their last three visits.
K-State was 7-11, 1-6 heading into Saturday's home date with West Virginia.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Arturo Dean

Robert Jennings II

Mikey Kelvin II

Abou Ousmane

Bryce Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics