Cowboys set for early exhibition test against Final Four Auburn

Wednesday, October 15

Birmingham, Ala. / Boutwell Auditorium

7:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

Auburn (Exh.)

Tickets

Cowboys set for early exhibition test against Final Four Auburn

October 14, 2025 | Cowboy Basketball

Cowboy Notes (PDF)

Oklahoma State vs. Auburn
Ballin in Boutwell
Birmingham, Ala. | Boutwell Auditorium

Tickets: BallinInBoutwell.com
Watch: youtube.com/@hibbettofficial
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com

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Cowboys to tune up against 2025 Final Four team

OSU will meet defending SEC champion and 2025 Final Four participant Auburn in a preseason exhibition on Wednesday night in Birmingham, Ala.

Fans can watch a live broadcast at YouTube.com/@HibbettOfficial or listen via the Cowboy Radio Network with Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb.

The matchup is part of a weeklong showcase at the city's 4,200-seat downtown venue, Boutwell Auditorium. The Ballin' in Boutwell series will also feature preseason contests between Alabama and Florida State, as well as Samford and Alabama A&M.

Learn more at ballininboutwell.com.

Steve Lutz is in just his fifth season as a head coach but has already guided three different schools to the postseason. He took Western Kentucky dancing in 2024 after consecutive appearances with A&M-Corpus Christi in 2022 and 2023.

Lutz is in the midst of another rapid rebuild at OSU. The Cowboys made the NIT quarterfinals in his first season in Stillwater and now go in search of their first NCAA bid since 2021 with help from the Big 12's top portal class (per On3 and HoopsHQ).

Seven of the 12 OSU newcomers are transfers.

Robert Jennings II is the only one of the three OSU returners who saw significant playing time last season, starting all 35 games.

Auburn (32-6 last year) won the SEC regular season and reached the Final Four in its 11th (and final) season under Bruce Pearl, who retired last month as the program's all-time wins leader. His son, Steven Pearl, is set to make his unofficial head coaching debut on Wednesday night.

The Cowboys and Tigers have split four all-time meetings, most notably in the second round of the 1999 NCAA tournament and most recently in the 2016 Big 12/SEC Challenge when OSU won in Auburn.

OSU has played four times previously in Birmingham, the last in December 2011 against Alabama (assistant coach Keiton Page was a senior on that team), but this will mark its first appearance at the 101-year-old Boutwell.

OSU in Exhibitions:

Excluding closed door scrimmages, Wednesday's exhibition will be the Cowboys' first away from Stillwater since Nov. 16, 2000 when they defeated the California All-Stars at Tulsa's Mabee Center as crews put the finishing touches on newly renovated Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Over the years, OSU has tuned up against an assortment of small colleges, barnstorming all-star teams and national squads, and the results have been mostly predictable. The Cowboys have won 35 straight and 57 of their last 58. The lone blemish came Nov. 9, 2000 to Athletes First in a game played at Enid's Chisholm Trail Expo Center. The last loss prior to that came in 1988 against a Soviet national team led by Arvidas Sabonis.
Recent NCAA rules changes have opened up new opportunities. Last year's SMU exhibition was OSU's first ever against a D-I opponent and the teams helped raise several thousand dollars for charity. Bryce Thompson scored 24 points on 5-of-5 three-point shooting to key an 89-78 Cowboy win.
Notably, the Cowboys went on to eliminate both of their preseason opponents from the 2025 postseason, downing closed-door scrimmage partner Wichita State in the first round of the NIT and then SMU five days later.

Matchup Mashup:

OSU freshman Mekhi Ragland is a cousin of Auburn guard Tahaad Pettiford as well as former Tiger standout (and current Washington Wizard) Sharife Cooper.
Former Cowboy Corey Williams is in his third season as an assistant coach at Auburn. Williams played four seasons for OSU from 1988-92, finishing with 1,320 points and 349 assists. He was selected 33rd overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1992 NBA Draft.
OSU fifth-year Christian Coleman is familiar with Birmingham, having played the last two seasons at UAB. He helped the Blazers to 47 wins in that span and a trip to the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

About Boutwell:

Boutwell Auditorium is a 4,300-seat, multipurpose venue, located in downtown Birmingham.
The 101-year-old building features a unique horseshoe configuration with seating on three sides and a stage on the other.
Last year's Alabama-Wake Forest exhibition game marked the first men's basketball game played in Boutwell in more than 45 years.
The action expands in 2025 with a total of four games over three nights, followed by a Friday night concert headlined by hip hop icon Juvenile.

OSU in Birmingham:

OSU has played four games over three separate trips to Birmingham, Ala. but Wednesday's game marks their ever appearance at Boutwell Auditorium.
In December 1978, OSU split two games in two nights inside Civic Center Coliseum to secure a third-place finish in Samford University's Birmingham Classic. The Cowboys lost the first in heartbreaking fashion when Texas Tech's Ben Hill knocked down a short jumper with just over three seconds remaining in overtime to give the Red Raiders an 85-83 victory. The loss spoiled a 26-point, 22-rebound masterpiece from OSU's Don Youman, but the junior forward bounced back the following night with 20 and 17 in the Cowboys' 104-76 thumping of host Samford. Youman went on to average 16.0 points and 10.1 rebounds that season and was voted newcomer of the year in the Big Eight Conference.
The Cowboys have returned two other times since – as part of a home-and-home series with UAB (Dec. 28, 2005) and for a neutral court clash with Alabama inside BJCC Arena (Dec. 21, 2011).

The Series with Auburn:

Wednesday's game won't count toward the series records but may unofficially tip the scales. The teams have split four meetings all-time.
The last matchup came Jan. 30, 2016 in Auburn as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Freshman Jawun Evans hit a three-pointer just 14 seconds in and the Cowboys led wire-to-wire in a 74-63 victory. He finished the night with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Each of the other three matchups between the teams have taken place on neutral courts.
The Cowboys also edged Auburn 66-65 in the semifinals of the 2006 South Padre Island Invitational with help from 25 points by Mario Boggan.
More than 30,000 fans packed the RCA Dome to see Auburn defeat OSU, 81-74, in the second round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament.
The teams first met in the final round of the 1977 Marshall Memorial Invitational. Auburn shot 59% from the field in a 112-94 victory. It was the most points ever scored by an OSU opponent (only twice surpassed in the nearly 50 years since).

2025-26 Season Outlook:

Steve Lutz spent his first year in Stillwater setting a foundation. Now he's ready to build on it.
The 2024-25 Cowboys played hard, rebounded and fought defensively – ultimately scratching their way to the NIT quarterfinals -- but often struggled for points. Lutz worked to rectify that over the offseason, targeting proven scorers and playmakers, more tailored to his aggressive, up-tempo style.
OSU reeled in the Big 12's top transfer portal class, per both On3 and HoopsHQ.
The 12 newcomers (seven DI transfers and five freshmen) join a core of three returners, headlined by senior forward Robert Jennings II, who started all 35 games last season.
Sophomore forward Andrija Vukovic looks to take on a larger role in year two, while senior guard Kirk Cole provides veteran leadership and stability.
Kanye Clary, a 6-foot guard who was included on HoopsHQ's preseason top-100 list, averaged nearly 17 points as a Penn State sophomore before an injury-shortened 2024-25 season at Mississippi State.
Likewise, Green Bay transfer Anthony Roy is playing his way back from a foot injury, suffered in early December of last year. Prior to it, he was the nation's leading scorer, averaging 25.7 points and 4.5 threes over the first 11 games.
Roy's presence, coupled with freshman sharp-shooter Ryan Crotty (247 threes in two seasons at the Miller School) should give opposing defenses something to think about on the perimeter.
Junior Jaylen Curry is another experienced playmaker who averaged 13.3 points and ranked among the top-25 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.67) last season at UMass.
The two are not related, but 6-5 Isaiah Coleman (team-highs 15.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.5 spg at Seton Hall) and 6-8 Christian Coleman (11.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg at UAB) are both long, versatile athletes who can contribute in a variety of ways.
OSU added an experienced post presence in 6-10 senior Parsa Fallah (second team All-Pac 12 at Oregon State) to lead a youthful front court that includes Vukovic and high upside freshmen Benjamin Ahmed (Putnam Science Academy) and Mekhi Ragland (Sunrise Christian Academy).
Greek forward Lefteris Mantzoukas and Israeli guard Daniel Guetta aren't your typical freshmen. Both are 22 years old and have extensive international experience.
The 6-9 Mantzoukas is a career 40% three-point shooter who has played parts of eight seasons in the Greek Basketball League, including four with 2024 EuroLeague champion Pananthinaikos.

2024-25 in Review:

Oklahoma State ended year one of the Steve Lutz era on a high note while laying a foundation for the future.
The Cowboys added five wins to their 2023-24 victory total, improved 34 spots in the NCAA NET rankings and reestablished home court advantage in Gallagher-Iba Arena, posting their highest winning percentage on Eddie Sutton Court in more than a decade (13-4, .765).
A roster featuring 10 newcomers played some of its best basketball down the stretch, upsetting ninth-ranked Iowa State in late February before making a push to the NIT quarterfinals.
Along the way, the Pokes treated fans to a fast and exciting brand of basketball, ranking 12^th nationally in adjusted tempo while breaking a 36-year old school record for steals (9.1 per game).

By the Numbers:
1,070 -- Total points scored by the OSU bench last season (a school record).
21.2% -- Percentage of OSU offensive possessions in transition, per Synergy.
12-0 -- OSU's record last season when scoring at least 80 points

Up Next:
The Cowboys will play an additional tune-up on Saturday, Oct. 25 at SMU (2 p.m. CT) before opening the regular season on Nov. 4 against Oral Roberts (7 p.m. CT, ESPN+).