Cowboy Basketball ready to run with USF Bulls

Wednesday, November 19

Stillwater

7:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

South Florida

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November 17, 2025 | Cowboy Basketball

Cowboy Notes (PDF)

SOUTH FLORIDA (3-1) at OKLAHOMA STATE (4-0)
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 | 7:01 p.m. CT
Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena

Tickets: okstate.com/tickets
Watch: ESPN+ (Adam Hildebrandt & Bryndon Manzer)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network / The Varsity Sports Network App
(Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb, Kendall Mae Stark)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: OSU leads 2-0 (1-0 in Stillwater); Last: Nov. 25, 2013 in Tampa (OSU, 93-67)

Coaches:

Steve Lutz (Texas Lutheran '95) -- 2nd Season at OSU (21-18); 5th Overall (90-53)
Bryan Hodgson (Fredonia '11) -- 1st Season at USF (3-1), 3rd Overall (48-29)

Opening Tips:

It's a clash of up-tempo attacks on Wednesday evening when the Oklahoma State Cowboys welcome in the South Florida Bulls to Gallagher-Iba Arena (7 p.m., ESPN+).
This is just the third meeting all-time between OSU and USF. Marcus Smart-led Cowboy teams swept a home-and-home in 2012 and 2013.
Picked second in the American Conference preseason poll, USF (3-1) comes in averaging 101.3 points, helped by a nation-best 29.3 free throw makes per game. The Bulls (No. 78 in Kenpom, No. 17 in adjusted tempo) have scored at least 95 points in all four games and have hit the century mark on three occasions.
OSU (55^th in Kenpom, fifth in adjusted tempo), has put up 90.3 points on 46.8% shooting en route to its first 4-0 start since 2020-21 when Cade Cunningham and company opened 6-0.
In his season debut on Sunday, Anthony Roy scored a game-high 15 points to lead OSU past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 85-69. Lefteris Mantzoukas (10 pts, 10 reb) added his first double-double, and the Cowboys shot 50% from the field.
Including Roy, six Cowboys are now averaging double-figure points, led by sophomore Vyctorius Miller (19.8 ppg). Miller had 21 points in the season opener against ORU and a career-high 30 last Wednesday against Prairie View.
The Cowboys have also shown flashes of defensive excellence this season, holding all four foes under 40% from the field. They enter the week ranked among the NCAA's top 25 in field goal percentage defense (23^rd, .355).
The Pokes have also been strong on the glass. Their rebounding margin is the highest ever by an OSU team through the first four games of a season (+13.75), topping the 1999-00 team (12.50), as well as the 1988-89 squad (+12.25)
OSU has been particularly strong in the second half, producing 46.3 points on 49.2% shooting while limiting foes to 32.0 on 30.8%.
OSU has a 17-4 home record under second year head coach Steve Lutz (4-0 this season).
The Cowboys have won 13 consecutive non-conference regular season contests inside GIA, dating back to December 2023.
OSU wraps up a six-game homestand this Saturday against Nicholls (2 p.m., ESPN+) before traveling to Chicago next week for a Thanksgiving Night clash with Northwestern inside the United Center.

Last time on Cowboy Basketball:
Nov. 16 in Stillwater | OSU 85, A&M-Corpus Christi 69

Anthony Roy scored a game-high 15 points in his Cowboy debut, freshman forward Lefteris Mantzoukas notched his first career double-double, and OSU pulled away in the second half to defeat Steve Lutz's former employer, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Roy, who missed the first three games due to injury, made five baskets in 15 minutes of work.
Mantzoukas added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
A&M-Corpus Christi tied the game at 37 with 19:38 to play, but the Cowboys scored the next eight points in an eventual 36-12 push, capped by Isaiah Coleman's steal and dunk that gave them their largest lead of the day (73-49) with 7:25 remaining.
Five Cowboys scored in double-figures. Four of them were reserves. The OSU bench accounted for 47 of the team's 85 total points.
OSU held the visitors to 28.1% shooting in the second half and 36.1% for the game and won the rebounding battle, 44-30.

Trending:

Cowboy reserves have clocked 48.5% of the total minutes for OSU (3^rd nationally, per KenPom) and accounted for 44.3% of the points (40.0 bench points per game ranks 22^nd).
The Cowboys shot an early season-best 50% against Corpus Christi and improved to 3-1 under Lutz when making at least half of their shots.
Lutz has used a different starting five in every game. Seven Cowboys have logged at least one start.
The Cowboys made just 5-of-24 threes against Corpus Christi but converted more than 70 percent of their shots from inside the arc (24-of-34, .706).
OSU has forced double-digit steals in each of the last three games.
The Cowboys have reached the 80-point plateau in each of their first four games this season and are a combined 16-0 under Lutz when doing so.

The Series with USF:

OSU and South Florida meet for the third time.
The Cowboys swept a home-and-home series in 2012 and 2013.
2012 – Super freshman Marcus Smart scored 15 points and Philip Jurick grabbed 14 rebounds to help No. 23 OSU to a 61-49 win over the visiting Bulls. The Cowboy defense limited USF to just two baskets over the final 12 minutes of the first half, which ended with OSU up 24-19. Smart helped fuel a 16-5 second half run with a pair of threes.
2013 – Smart and Markel Brown scored 25 each in a 93-67 Cowboy win in Tampa – their fifth consecutive 20+ point win to start the season. Brown made 5-of-6 threes to go with eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and a pair of steals. Smart had 23 points before halftime to send OSU into the break up 51-35.

Scouting the Bulls:

First-year head coach Bryan Hodgson is coming off a successful two-year run at Arkansas State, where he compiled a 45-28 record and won the 2025 Sun Belt Conference regular season title.
Hodgson replaces the late Amir Abdur-Rahim, who passed away last October, months after leading the Bulls to the 2024 American Athletic Conference title in his lone season in Tampa.
USF (13-19, 6-12 in 2024-25) was picked second in this year's American preseason poll and is out to a 3-1 start. KenPom rates the Bulls 78^th nationally coming into the week.
USF has put up video game numbers through the first four games, averaging 101.3 points, helped by a nation-best 29.3 free throw makes per game and an opportunistic defense.
The Bulls force an average of 10.3 steals and 18.5 turnovers leading to an impressive +7.3 turnover margin. All three marks rank among the top 25.
Per Synergy, more than a quarter (25.1%) of USF possessions have come in transition.
Five Bulls have produced double-figure scoring averages, led by 6-foot-5 senior Josh Omojafo's team-high 19.8 points. The Robert Morris transfer has knocked down 27-of-30 free throws (.900) and 6-of-11 threes (.545).
Two of Hodgson's former Arkansas State players have made an immediate impact, with 6-5 guard Joseph Pinion (16.0 ppg) knocking down team-high 11 threes and 6-10 forward Izaiyah Nelson averaging a double-double (15.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 2.0 bpg, 1.5 spg).

Matchup Mashup:

Per KenPom, the Cowboys have gobbled up more than three-quarters of opponent misses (77.7%) -- the nation's 25^th best defensive rebound percentage. On the flip side, USF's 44.4% success rate on the offensive glass is 9^th best nationally.
OSU head coach Steve Lutz was an assistant at Garden City Community College under Jeremy Cox during the 1999-00 season. During that time, he helped Cox recruit a promising young guard named Amir Abdur-Rahim to western Kansas.
OSU sophomore guard Vyctorius Miller and USF senior center Daimion Collins were teammates last season at LSU.
Christian Coleman matched up against USF four times during his two seasons at UAB in the American Conference, highlighted by a 21-point, nine-rebound performance in the Blazers' Jan. 15, 2025 victory in Tampa. He also played a key role in UAB's 2024 AAC Tournament semifinal win over USF, contributing 15 points.
Jaylen Curry has also suited up against USF. Early in his freshmen year (Dec. 2, 2023) he tallied five points and a pair of steals in 18 minutes to help UMass secure a 66-56 victory.

On This Date: Nov. 19

OSU is 8-0 all-time on Nov. 19.
2013 – A much-anticipated showdown in GIA between No. 7 OSU and No. 11 Memphis turned into a 101-80 laugher, helped by a career-high 39 points from sophomore All-American Marcus Smart. He scored 24 of the first 29 points for the Cowboys, who led 50-32 at halftime and by as many as 34 in the second half.

A Cowboy win would...

Extend their all-time series lead over USF to 3-0 (2-0 in Stillwater).
Improve their home record under Steve Lutz to 18-4 (.818), including 10-0 in non-conference regular season contests.
Boost Lutz's career record to 91-53 in parts of five seasons as a head coach (22-18 at OSU).
Make them 877-268 all-time in GIA (now in its 88^th season), including 309-94 since its 2000 expansion.
Give them 14 straight non-conference regular season wins inside GIA, dating back to December 2023, and make them 461-60 (.885) all-time.
Be their second win over a Southland Conference opponent this season, following Sunday's 85-69 victory over A&M-Corpus Christi.

A Cowboy loss would...

Be their first in three all-time meetings with USF.
Be their first non-conference regular season home loss since Nov. 30, 2023 against Creighton, snapping a 13-game winning streak.

Up Next: Nicholls Colonels
Saturday, Nov. 22 | 2 p.m. CT | ESPN+

The Cowboys wind down their six-game, season opening homestand on Saturday afternoon against the Nicholls Colonels.
Nicholls has won 20 games in each of its first two seasons under Tevon Saddler and returns three starters from a year ago.
Picked fourth of 12 teams in Blue Ribbon's preseason Southland Conference projections, the Colonels (0-4) are starting the year with a run of seven straight true road games.
OSU head coach Steve Lutz is familiar with Nicholls from his days at Southland Conference rival A&M-Corpus Christi. His Islanders lost three times to Nicholls during the 2021-22 regular season (once in the preseason conference tournament and twice more in the regular season) but came back to upset the top-seeded Colonels in the semifinals of the Southland tournament on their way to an eventual title. The following year, Lutz's crew swept a home-and-home from Nicholls to even the count at 3-3.
OSU assistant coach Keiton Page was a junior the only other time that OSU and Nicholls have met on the basketball court. Southland scoring champ Anatoly Bose accounted for 37 of Nicholls' 56 points, but OSU shot 62.3% to the Colonels' 31.4% and won the rebounding battle, 37-23. Page finished with a team-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting.