8-0 Cowboys meet GCU on Saturday in Phoenix

Saturday, December 6

Phoenix, Ariz. / Mortgage Matchup Center

6:30 PM

Oklahoma State University

Grand Canyon

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Image Taken at OSU mbb vs Sam Houston, Tuesday, December 2, 2025, Gallagher Iba Arena, Stillwater, Oklahoma. Kate Hodges/OSU Athletics.

Photo by: Oklahoma State University Athletics Oklahoma State University Athletics Oklahoma State University Athletics

December 04, 2025 | Cowboy Basketball

Cowboy Notes (PDF)GCU Notes (PDF)

rv/rv OKLAHOMA STATE (8-0) vs. GRAND CANYON (5-3)
Saturday, Dec. 4, 2025 | 6:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. MT)
Phoenix, Ariz. | Mortgage Matchup Center

Tickets: HOFSeries.com
Watch: CBSSN (Jordan Kent, Michael O'Donnell Brandon Baylor)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb)
Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: First Meeting

Coaches:
Steve Lutz (Texas Lutheran '95); 2nd Season at OSU (25-18); 5th Overall (94-53)
Bryce Drew (Valparaiso '98); 6th Season at GCU (125-43), 14th Overall (289-151)

Opening Tips:

The Oklahoma State Cowboys look to continue their best start in nearly two decades when they face the Grand Canyon Lopes in neutral site showdown at the Mortgage Matchup Center -- home of the NBA's Phoenix Suns.
The first-ever men's basketball meeting between the Cowboys and Lopes is also the first half of a doubleheader that includes Arizona State and Oklahoma.
Balanced offense and a blistering tempo have helped OSU emerge as one of college basketball's biggest early-season surprises. The Cowboys (8-0) enter Saturday as one of just 15 remaining unbeatens in the Division I ranks.
The Pokes survived a scare on Tuesday night, when they trailed visiting Sam Houston, 43-36, at halftime before rallying for a 93-83 win. Parsa Fallah scored 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting, Anthony Roy added 20, and Lefteris Mantzoukas grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
OSU's eight-game winning streak is its longest at any point since an 11-0 start to the 2006-07 season.
The hot start has garnered national attention, with the Cowboys now receiving top-25 votes in both major polls.
OSU owns four wins against NET top-100 opponents: Northwestern (60), Texas A&M (71), Sam Houston (76) and USF (78).
The Cowboys are averaging 92.3 points on 49.1% shooting and have out-rebounded every opponent, posting a +9.4 margin on the glass.
Seven Cowboys average seven-or-more points per game, led by sophomore guard Vyctorius Miller (15.9 ppg), and the point guard duo of Jaylen Curry (5.3 apg) and Kanye Clary (5.1 apg) have combined for a 2.70 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Fallah, an Oregon State transfer, is shooting a Big 12-best 65.6% clip. He led the West Coast Conference in that category last season (.598) and did the same in the WAC during his sophomore year at Southern Utah (.570).
According to KenPom, OSU ranks fourth nationally in adjusted tempo.
The Cowboys are the first team in school history to score 85+ points in eight straight games. The previous mark (7) was set by the 1980-81 team.
The Pokes will have seven days off before next Saturday's Bedlam doubleheader at the Paycom Center. The men's teams tip off at Noon CT followed by the women at 3 p.m.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Dec. 2, 2025 (Stillwater) | OSU 93, Sam Houston 83

OSU overcame an early injury to its leading scorer, Vyctorius Miller, and Sam Houston's 11 first-half threes to win by double-figures.
Parsa Fallah (24 points) and Anthony Roy (20) led the way for the Cowboys, who improved to 8-0 for the first time in 19 years.
Sam Houston made 11-of-22 threes in the first half to go into the break up 44-37 but hit just 3-of-15 thereafter.
OSU shot 65.5% in the second half and outscored the visitors 56-39 the rest of the way.
Fallah contributed seven points during a 15-2 Cowboy run that turned a 51-45 deficit into a 60-53 advantage with just under 13:00 to play.
The 6-foot-10 senior added eight more points over the final 5:42 to keep the Bearkats at bay.
The Cowboys used size to their advantage, outscoring Sam Houston, 52-24, in the paint. They won the rebounding battle, 43-34, grabbing 40% of their own misses (14 of 35) en route to a 19-4 edge in second chance points.

Sam Houston Leftovers:

The Cowboys shot 51.5% against a Bearkat defense that had limited opponents to a paltry 39.0% coming into the day.
It was the fourth time in eight games that the Pokes have made at least half of their shots.
OSU has reached the 90-point mark five times already this season, matching its total from the last three seasons combined.
OSU improved to 20-4 at home under Steve Lutz (7-0 this season).
Lefteris Mantzoukas notched his second double-figure rebounding game of the season, finishing with a season-best 11.
Kanye Clary's 14 points were also a season-high.
For the first time this season, Lutz repeated a starting five with Clary, Mantzoukas, Vyctorius Miller, Anthony Roy and Parsa Fallah reprising their role from the Northwestern win.
Miller left the game with an injury near the 8:00-mark of the first half.

Also Trending:

Bench minutes and productivity remain a Steve Lutz hallmark. Cowboy reserves have clocked 44.6% of the minutes (13^th nationally, per KenPom) and rank 12^th on the NCAA bench points leaderboard (38.8).
OSU is 20-0 under Lutz when scoring at least 80.
Against Northwestern, Parsa Fallah (13 pts, 11 reb) became the fifth different Cowboy to notch a double-double – a feat that (as of Thursday) has matched by just four other schools: Miami FL (6), SMU (5), Kennesaw (5) and Lindenwood (5).
On a per-40-minute basis, 12 Cowboys are averaging double-figure points — and five are averaging 20 or more. For context, last year only 15 Big 12 regulars averaged 20-plus per game on a prorated basis.
The Cowboys have thrived in second halves, averaging 49.4 points on 53.3% shooting while limiting opponents to 38.4 and 39.1%.
OSU is 20-2 under Lutz when leading at halftime.
The Cowboys are 3-0 this season when trailing at the half after going 2-16 last year.
In their six games together, OSU's two-headed point guard monster of Kanye Clary and Jaylen Curry have combined to average 10.7 assists with a better-than 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Starting Strong:

The Cowboys are 8-0 for the 13^th time in the program's 117 seasons.
Hall of Fame coaches Eddie Sutton (5 from 1990-06) and Henry Iba (4 from 1934-70) combined to produce nine of those starts.
Steve Lutz (2025-26) joins Sean Sutton (2006-07), John Maulbetsch (1924-25) and Paul Davis (1914-15) with one each.

On This Date: Dec. 6

1944 – Behind 14 points from All-American Bob Kurland, Coach Henry Iba's Oklahoma A&M Aggies won their home opener, 57-34, over Glennan Army Hospital. The team would go on to win the first of back-to-back national championships. Both Kurland and Iba are now enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Series with Grand Canyon:

GCU is one of three first-time foes on OSU's 2025-26 schedule. The Cowboys defeated Northwestern on Thanksgiving night and will close out the non-conference slate against Bethune Cookman on Dec. 29 in Stillwater.

Scouting Lopes:

Grand Canyon has a rich hoops history with NAIA titles in 1975 and 1988 and nine NCAA Division II tournament appearances in the 1990s and 2000s. The last two were led by former OSU assistant Russ Pennell, who served as head coach from 2009-13.
The Lopes jumped to Division I the following year and are now entering their ninth season of full membership.
Under sixth-year head coach, Bryce Drew, GCU represented the WAC in four of the last five NCAA tournaments, highlighted by the program's first March Madness victory in 2024 over No. 5 seed Saint Mary's.
GCU is once again on to new challenges, this time as a first-year member of the Mountain West Conference.
The Lopes enter the weekend at 5-3, but two of the losses fall into early Quadrant 1 territory (at Saint Louis and on a neutral court vs. Iowa). They're less than two weeks removed from a win over Utah.
GCU ranks among the top-50 nationally in defensive efficiency, per KenPom, and leads the Mountain West in point prevention, limiting foes to a league-low 66.5 points.
The Lopes have been elite on the defensive glass, grabbing more than three-quarters of enemy misses (77.0% is top-10 nationally).
The lone returning starter from last year's 26-win team, junior guard Makaih Williams comes in averaging 10.3 points per game.
GCU has gotten strong production from a highly-touted transfer class, which includes former UNLV guard Jaden Henley. He leads the Lopes in both points (18.0) and steals (1.9) and has converted over 85% of his 6.0 free throw attempts per game.
A former Ivy League standout at Brown, 6-foot-8 Nana Owusu-Anana is averaging a double-double this season at 10.1 points and 10.6 rebounds. The latter ranks among the top 10 nationally.

Matchup Mashup:

Saturday's game takes place exactly 32 years and one day since the last OSU visit to the Mortgage Matchup Center. On Dec. 5, 1993, the eighth-ranked Cowboys faced No. 19 Arizona in a top-25 showdown. The arena was a little over a year old at the time.
Three former Pokes have suited up for the Suns in this building: Jawun Evans (2018-19 season), Brooks Thompson (1997-98) and Richard Dumas (1992-93, 94-95).
Cowboy senior Parsa Fallah faced GCU four times during his two seasons at WAC rival Southern Utah (2022-24), highlighted by a 24-point, 10-of-13 performance on Jan. 4, 2024.
OSU will return to the desert in two months time for a two-game road swing that includes stops at Arizona (Feb. 7) and Arizona State (Feb. 10).

A Cowboy win would...

Make them 9-0, extending the best start and longest winning streak by a Cowboy team in nearly two decades. OSU opened the 2006-07 season with 11 consecutive victories.
Be the eleventh 9-0 start in program history.
Be their first at the Mortgage Matchup Center (1-1).
Make them 26-18 in parts of two seasons under head coach Steve Lutz.
Boost Lutz's five-year career record to 95-53.

A Cowboy loss would...

Be their first of the season after a 8-0 start.
Keep them winless all-time at the Mortgage Matchup Center (0-2).

Up Next: vs. Oklahoma (OKC/Paycom Center)
Saturday, Dec. 13 | Noon CT (FOX)

The Cowboys will line up against Oklahoma next Saturday in Oklahoma City as part of a Bedlam Basketball doubleheader at the Paycom Center. The men's teams tip at Noon CT, followed by the women at 3 p.m.
One ticket is good for both games. To secure seats in the OSU section, visit okstate.com/BedlamOKC.
The 251st men's basketball installment of the Bedlam rivalry marks the 99^th consecutive season that the schools have met on the hardwood. The Cowboys and Sooners were conference mates 1958 to 2024 (Big Eight then Big 12).