Second Round Preview: Cowboys set for NIT rematch with Wichita State

Sunday, March 22

Stillwater

7:30 PM

Oklahoma State University

Wichita State

Buy Tickets

Second Round Preview: Cowboys set for NIT rematch with Wichita State

March 19, 2026 | Cowboy Basketball

Cowboy Notes (PDF)Tournament Central

[3] WICHITA STATE (23-11) at [2] OKLAHOMA STATE (20-14)
National Invitation Tournament | Second Round
Sunday, March 22 | 7:30 p.m. CT
Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena

Tickets: okstate.com/tickets
Watch: ESPN2 w/ Rich Hollenberg & Mark Adams
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network w/ Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb
Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Tournament Central: NIT.org
Series: OSU leads 33-11 (16-5 in Stillwater)

The Basics:

No. 2 Seed Oklahoma State hosts No. 3 seed Wichita State in a second-round NIT matchup inside historic Gallagher-Iba Arena (7:30 p.m. CT, ESPN2).
The winner advances to the quarterfinals next Tuesday or Wednesday for either a home game with UNLV or a road trip to top seed Tulsa.
The tournament's semifinal and final rounds are slated for Thursday, April 2 and Sunday, April 5 in Indianapolis.
This is a rematch of last year's postseason. OSU defeated the Shockers, 89-79, in the first round of the 2025 NIT in Stillwater.

Tickets:

Tickets ($25 for adults, $15 for youth/students) are on sale now at okstate.com/tickets.
Children two-and-under do not require a ticket (but cannot occupy a seat).
Parking around Gallagher-Iba Arena will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, with the exception of Lots 4 and 6B.

Follow the Bouncing Ball:

Fans can watch Sunday's matchup on ESPN2 with Rich Hollenberg and Mark Adams or tune in to Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb's radio broadcast on the Varsity App and affiliates across the Cowboy Radio Network. Visit okstate.com/radio for a complete list of affiliates.
Find the bracket, schedule, scores and more on the tournament central page at NIT.org and follow @NITMBB on Instagram and X.
Track live -statistics from a variety of OSU sports via StatBroadcast. To view the latest games, visit okstate.statbroadcast.com.
Go behind the scenes with Cowboy Basketball on X (@OSUMBB), Instagram (@OSUMBB) and Facebook (CowboyBasketball).
Read all the latest news at okstate.com and watch highlights, interviews and more at YouTube.com/OSUAthletics.

Opening Tips:

This is the eighth meeting between OSU and Wichita State in the last 10 seasons and the second straight year that their postseason paths have crossed. The Cowboys eliminated the Shockers in the first round of the 2025 NIT.
OSU has reached the NIT quarterfinals in each of its last three appearances (2018, 2023 and 2025) but last made the semifinals in 1944.
The Cowboys clinched their 39^th 20-win season with an 84-80 victory over Davidson in Tuesday's opening round. Kanye Clary scored 17 of his team-high 20 points in the second half to help OSU rally from a 10-point halftime deficit -- the largest overcome by an OSU team in a postseason game.
The Pokes improved from 12-20 to 17-18 in Steve Lutz's first season, and the progress continues in year two with a 20-14 record and another 20-spot jump in the NET rankings.
Lutz has reached the postseason in each of his five seasons as a head coach, also earning NCAA Tournament bids at A&M-Corpus Christi (2022, 2023) and Western Kentucky (2024). This is his fourth 20-win season in that span.
Lutz has helped restore home court advantage in Stillwater with a 28-9 record in GIA (15-5 in 2025-26). A win on Sunday would set a new program record for home victories in a season.
The Cowboys rank among the nation's highest-scoring teams, averaging 84.3 points (22^nd), including 88.6 inside GIA. They're also 21^st in free throw makes (18.7) and 26^th in attempts (25.0).
Six Cowboys are averaging at least 9.9 points, led by guards Anthony Roy (17.2 ppg) and Vyctorius Miller (10.9 ppg) who have combined to sink 132 threes on 38.5% accuracy.
Point guards Kanye Clary (4.7 apg, 2.31 A:TO) and Jaylen Curry (3.6 apg, 2.56 A:TO) are the engine for an OSU attack that ranks ninth in adjusted tempo.
The Cowboy front court has been thinned by injuries, most notably honorable mention All-Big 12 forward Parsa Fallah, who tore his ACL in late February. In his absence, the Pokes have gotten a lift from senior forward Christian Coleman (9.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and a group of underclassmen bigs that includes 6-11 freshman Benjamin Ahmed.

OSU in the NIT:

This is OSU's 15^th NIT. The Cowboys were part of the inaugural field in 1938 under hall of fame coach Henry Iba, finishing third.
With the first-round win over Davidson, OSU teams are now 14-15 all-time in the event with three semifinals (1938, 1940 and 1944).
The Cowboys are looking to reach the quarterfinal round for the fourth time in as many appearances (2018, 2023 and 2025).
The Cowboys are 9-4 in NIT games played inside GIA (2-0 in Round of 16 home games).
OSU has won at least one game in each of its last five postseason appearances, including the 2021 NCAA tournament.
The Cowboys have also won at least one game in 11 of their 15 NIT appearances all-time.
Since 2005, when the NIT first began seeding the bracket, OSU teams are 7-3 as the higher seed (6-3 at home).

The 2026 NIT:

This is the 89^th National Invitation Tournament
The first 82 champions were crowned exclusively at New York City's Madison Square Garden (1938-2019), however in recent years the final site has rotated between host cities: Frisco, Texas (2021), MSG (2022), Las Vegas (2023) and Indianapolis (2024-26).
This year, for the first time, the NCAA will stage the Final Four, NIT and Division II and III championships in the same city on the same weekend.

Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:
Tuesday in Stillwater | NIT First Round | OSU 84, Davidson 80

Short-handed OSU rallied to secure its 20^th win and advance to the second round of the NIT.
Kanye Clary scored a team-high 20 for the Pokes, who were down to eight active players due a combination of injuries and suspensions but got a lift from some unlikely heroes.
Freshman Benjamin Ahmed (16 points) and deep reserves Daniel Guetta (11), Kirk Cole (6) and Mekhi Ragland (5) all set new career-highs.
Christian Coleman added 15 points, 13 rebounds.
Roberts Blums tallied 22 points and hit six of Davidson's 15 three-pointers.
The Wildcats squandered an early 23-9 lead but rebuilt it before halftime, hitting six triples over the final 3:55 to go into the break up 50-40.
OSU opened the second half on an 11-2 push and regained the lead on Coleman's basket with 13:08 to play. The teams jockeyed for position over the next 10 minutes before Guetta's corner three gave OSU the lead for good with 3:56 left.
The Cowboys made 9-of-12 free throws over the last 1:42 to seal it. They shot 50% from the field and outscored the visitors 21-5 at the foul line.

First Round Leftovers:

Tuesday night's NIT opener against Davidson marked OSU's 102^nd postseason game all-time (including NCAA, district playoffs and NIT).
A 10-point halftime deficit (50-40) was OSU's largest ever in a postseason victory. The previous mark was seven, set during the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament when the Cowboys dug out from a 46-39 hole to defeat Southern Illinois, 85-77.
Prior to Tuesday, it had been more than four years since the Cowboys had won a game when trailing by double-figures at the intermission. On Jan. 21, 2021 they rallied from a 44-34 halftime deficit to defeat visiting Iowa State, 61-59.
OSU takes pride in having a deep bench, but that depth was put to the test against Davidson. 12 different Cowboys have started a game this season, but only five of those players were available Tuesday, due to a combination of injuries and suspensions.
A trio of deep reserves helped save the day. Freshmen Daniel Guetta and Mekhi Ragland and senior walk-on Kirk Cole all set career scoring highs against the Wildcats, combining for 22 points in just over 41 total minutes of work. For perspective, that same trio combined for just two points in 33-and-a-half minutes during the Big 12 regular season.
Making his first appearance since Feb. 7, Cole (6 pts, 9:52) connected on a pair of first-half threes on his way to a career-high six points. He had hit just two three-pointers in 27 career games coming into the night.
Making just his fourth appearance since Jan. 1, Guetta (11 pts, 21:00) became the 12^th different Cowboy to score in double-figures this season. He was 4-of-5 from the field and made his first collegiate three-pointer to put the Cowboys in front for good with less than 4 minutes to play.
Ragland has clocked 32 minutes, 20 seconds in the six games since Parsa Fallah's season-ending knee injury. Prior to that, he had played a total of 37 minutes in eight appearances. He finished with a career-high five points against the Wildcats.
OSU improved to 8-3 in first-round NIT games, including 7-1 in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The Pokes shot 50% for the tenth time this season. They're 9-1 when making at least half of their shots.
After surrendering 50 points in the first half, the Cowboys limited the visitors to 30 points on 30% shooting over the final 20 minutes. The Wildcats took 40 of their 70 shots from three-point range, sinking 15. They made 10-of-14 from inside the arc in the first half but just 5-of-16 the rest of the way.
The NIT prioritizes regional pairings but often creates some unlikely ones. Davidson was one of just three Atlantic 10 Conference members that OSU had never faced prior to the tournament. The Wildcats also became the first active member of the A10 to visit Gallagher-Iba Arena. The league was founded in 1976.
The Cowboys limited Davidson to just four second-chance points on six offensive boards, snapping up 85% of the Wildcat misses. It was OSU's second best defensive rebounding performance of the season (.875, Nov. 12 vs. PVAMU), coming directly on the heels of its worst (.513 in the Big 12 Tournament loss to TCU).
Kanye Clary logged his second 20-point game of the season and the 12^th of his NCAA career.
Clary battled a nagging shoulder injury early in the season but has played some of his best basketball over the final month, averaging 15.1 points over the last seven games. In that stretch he's hit 17-of-41 threes (.415) to raise his season percentage from .321 to .353.
One game after scoring his 1,000^th point at the Division I level, senior forward Christian Coleman (15 pts, 13 reb) collected his 600^threbound and his 12^th career double-double. The Cowboys are 5-0 when Coleman posts a double-double and 9-2 when he scores at least 15.
Coleman's 13 rebounds tied for the second most by a Cowboy in NIT play, trailing only Byron Houston (14 in 1989 vs. Boise St.).
Coleman faced Wichita State three times during his two seasons with UAB (2023-25). He had 13 points and seven rebounds in a 2024 AAC Tournament victory over the Shockers and finished with 14 in the Blazers' 2025 win in Wichita.
Freshman Benjamin Ahmed set a personal scoring best with 16 points in a season-high 28 minutes. Ahmed missed the first 10 games of the season to a foot injury but has come on strong in the second half. He's scored in double-figures in four of the five games since moving into the starting lineup, averaging 10.8 points and 5.4 rebounds over that stretch.
Jaylen Curry made his first start since Jan. 10 and clocked a season-high 35 minutes. He's scored in double-figures in each of the last seven games going back to Feb. 24.

Also Trending:

Point guards Kanye Clary and Jaylen Curry have combined for double-digit dimes in 10 different games this season, most recently against Colorado in the Big 12 Tournament.
In two seasons under Lutz, OSU is 18-0 at home against teams ranked outside the top-75 in the NCAA NET.
The Cowboys have scored at least 81 points in all 20 victories this year but are 0-12 when falling short.
OSU is a combined 30-2 in the Lutz Era when scoring 81+.
OSU has scored 90+ points a total of 13 times this season, breaking the school record (12), set by Brad Underwood's 2016-17 Cowboy team.
OSU is 16-2 (28-7 Lutz Era) when out-rebounding its opponent and 16-2 (27-6) when finishing with a higher shooting percentage.
OSU is 16-3 this season when tied or leading at halftime (31-5 under Lutz).
OSU is 14-5 in evening games (after 6 p.m.) compared to 6-9 in morning/afternoon tips.

Strength in Numbers:

OSU navigated the nation's 34^th hardest regular season schedule, per KenPom, while facing the 14^th toughest collection of opposing defenses.
The Cowboys played 15 games against NCAA Tournament qualifiers, posting a 6-9 record.
OSU went 1-0 against the 2026 NIT field, defeating Sam Houston on Dec. 2 (93-83).
Throw in five additional games against teams in the 2026 College Basketball Crown and the Cowboys have played 22 of their 34 games against 2026 postseason qualifiers.
The Cowboys posted two non-conference wins over eventual regular season league champions: South Florida (American) and Bethune-Cookman (SWAC).
OSU also swept two games from UCF (No. 10 seed), hung 99 points in a home win over BYU (No. 6) and routed Texas A&M (No. 10 seed) by 24 points.
While not an official result, the Cowboys also opened the preseason with an overtime win over Auburn in Birmingham, Ala.

Milestone Watch:

A pair of Pokes are closing in on 1,000 collegiate points. Senior guard Anthony Roy needs just four points and junior guard Jaylen Curry is 53 shy.
Despite missing the first three games of the season to injury Roy became the 42^nd player in OSU history to score 500+ points in a season, crossing that threshold during the first half of the Cowboys' second-round game against TCU.
Roy is averaging 23.7 points per 40 minutes. If he maintains that pace, it would be one of the 10-best prorated averages in school history (among players appearing in at least 75% of the team's games). 2016-17 teammates Jawun Evans (3rd, 26.3) and Jeffrey Carroll (24.0) were the last Cowboys to average more.
Roy made 4-of-10 threes in the Big 12 Tournament to move into sole possession of seventh place on OSU's single-season list (89). He needs 11 more to became just the seventh Cowboy with 100+.
Kaney Clary needs just three assists to move into the top-10 on OSU's single-season chart.

Depth Charged:

Steve Lutz doesn't put much stock in who's on the floor for the opening tip, but rather who's playing well enough to be there at the buzzer.
OSU used 20 different starting lineups during the regular season with 12 different Cowboys logging at least one start. For comparison, no other Big 12 team used more than eight lineup combos during the regular season.
Seven Pokes have taken a turn as minutes leader, led by Kanye Clary (10x). Jaylen Curry has done it five times from off the bench.
Reserves are averaging 36.8% of the minutes and a Big 12-best 27.8 points per game.
OSU has totaled 2,016 bench points in two seasons under Lutz. The 2024-25 Cowboys set a school record with 1,070 and this year's group ranks second at 946 (and counting).
Fresh legs have helped OSU maintain the Big 12's fastest pace, with nearly one-in-five offensive possessions coming in transition, per Synergy.

Scouting the Shockers:

American Conference regular season and tournament runner-up Wichita State (23-11, No. 78 in the Selection Sunday NET) has won 13 of its last 16 games.
The Shockers are led by first team all-conference guard Kenyon Giles (19.1 ppg), a 5-10 senior who has knocked down a school-record 116 threes on 37.8 accuracy.
6-6 senior Karon Boyd landed third team honors after averaging 10.7 points and 5.8 rebounds.
Six other Shockers average at least 5.0 points and 13.0 minutes, including the conference's sixth man of the year, 7-foot-2 junior Will Berg (8.8 ppg). He's the team's top rebounder (8.2) and shot-blocker (45) and ranks 12^th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage, per KenPom.
Berg and 6-10 senior Emmanuel Okorafor (5.3 rpg) are among the keys to a WSU team that comes in ranked 19^th nationally in rebounding margin (+7.3) and No. 4 in offensive boards per game (14.7).
OSU defeated the Shockers in the first round of last year's NIT to improve to 33-11 all-time against its former MVC rival (16-5 in Stillwater).
The Shockers are making their 15^th NIT appearance all-time. They won it all in 2011 and reached the 2019 semifinals.
Paul Mills is in his third season at the head coach in Wichita, following a six-year run at Oral Roberts. He guided the Golden Eagles to the NCAA Tournament in two of his last three seasons, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2021 as a No. 15 seed. His 2023 squad won 30 games and swept the Summit League's regular season and tournament titles.

The Series with Wichita State:

OSU leads the all-time series, 33-11, including 16-5 in Stillwater. This will be the eighth meeting between the teams in the last 10 seasons and the second consecutive year that they've played in the NIT.
Last year's 89-79 Cowboy victory in Gallagher-Iba Arena ended a bazaar streak of seven consecutive series wins by the visiting team. Over that stretch (which began with a 2002 win at the Kansas Coliseum) OSU went 4-0 against the Shockers in Wichita but 0-3 on its home floor.
The teams first played on Dec. 12, 1934 when they were known as Oklahoma A&M and the Municipal University of Wichita. First-year Aggie head coach Henry Iba notched the first of 653 OSU victories with a 24-7 win over the Shockers.
The majority of the games took place in the 1940s and 50s when the schools were both members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Cowboys took 19 of the 24 conference meetings between 1945 and 1957 before exiting for the Big 12.
This is now the third postseason matchup between the programs. In 1965, the Shockers upset Iba's Cowboys, 54-46, at K-State Ahearn Fieldhouse to claim their first ever Final Four bid.
The teams played six non-conference games between 2016 and 2022.
OSU won a battle of NCAA tournament teams on Dec. 17, 2016 at INTRUST Bank Arena and snapped the Shockers' school-record 42-game non-conference home winning streak with a 93-76 victory.
Sixth-ranked WSU returned the favor a year later behind Landry Shamet's career-high 30 points, notching their first GIA victory in 60 years. They won subsequent visits in 2019 and 2021.
In December, 2021, Cade Cunningham hit a three-pointer with 10 seconds left to give OSU a dramatic 67-64 victory over the eventual AAC champion Shockers at Charles Koch Arena.
OSU also won the most recent regular season meeting on Dec. 17, 2022 at INTRUST Bank Arena by a score of 59-49.
OSU is 5-0 against Paul Mills (1-0 at WSU, 4-0 during his time at ORU). On Dec. 8, 2020, a Golden Eagle squad led by Max Abmas (33 points) went toe-to-toe with OSU's and Cunningham (29), but the Pokes survived, 83-78. OSU overcame another upset bid the following year in Tulsa. Abmas put up another 29 points on seven three-pointers for ORU, but OSU's Bryce Williams hit back-to-back jumpers late in overtime to help the Pokes emerge, 78-77.
Steve Lutz faced Mills' Shockers during the 2023-24 season with Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers were 0-for-21 from three in a 71-61 loss in Wichita.

A Cowboy win would....

Boost their record to 21-14.
Move them into the quarterfinals on Tuesday or Wednesday -- at Tulsa or home against UNLV.
Set a new OSU season record for home wins (16).
Make them 34-11 all-time against WSU (17-5 in Stillwater) with NIT wins in back-to-back years.
Make them 15-15 in 15 all-time NIT appearances.

A Cowboy loss would....