3 Takeaways From Oklahoma State's Season-Opening Win vs. ORU

Oklahoma State tipped off the second season of the Steve Lutz era with a win.

On Tuesday night, OSU beat Oral Roberts 95-71 in Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater. Lutz’s squad played his fast-paced style throughout, leading to five Cowboys finishing with at least points, with Vyctorius Miller leading the way with a 21-point night. Meanwhile, Christian Coleman’s 15-point, 11-rebound performance made him just the 10th player to record a double-double in his OSU debut.

After the Cowboys struggled throughout the first half in a back-and-forth 20 minutes, they picked up the pressure after halftime. After forcing just four turnovers in the first half, the Golden Eagles tallied 11 second-half turnovers, leading to a plethora of easy points for an OSU offense that already had no issues putting up points.

Three takeaways from the Cowboys’ matchup against Oral Roberts:

Jaylen Curry could be a triple-double threat

By the under-12 timeout in the first half, Curry had already begun to make a clear impact for the Cowboys, racking up five points, five rebounds and a couple of assists. While the 6-foot guard isn’t exactly the usual suspect for a triple-double, his ability to track down long rebounds, which OSU will surely have plenty of this season, could give him a real shot at putting up a triple-double at some point.

Although Curry’s career-highs at Massachusetts were nine boards and 12 assists, the extra possessions OSU will have throughout the season by playing fast could quickly turn him into a stat-sheet stuffer in Stillwater, especially after putting up a 13-8-6 line in his debut.

OSU’s returners could be instrumental

The story of the offseason was Lutz’s ability to recruit through the transfer portal. With almost the entire roster being newcomers, the Pokes have plenty of new faces for fans to watch this season.

While the Cowboys’ stars are likely all going to be transfers, OSU’s two returners, Robert Jennings II and Andrija Vukovic could be significant pieces of the team this season. In the opener, Jennings had a solid outing, putting up six points and two rebounds in 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Vukovic shined after getting limited playing time last season, scoring 11 points.

The Cowboys need to be stronger inside

This season, the Cowboys will be looking to compete in the Big 12, and they will need to perform consistently inside. Against the Golden Eagles, OSU shot only 13-of-22 on layups, with ORU getting 12 blocks.

With former Cowboy Connor Dow swatting seven OSU shots, he easily had more rejections than the Cowboys did as a team. As concerning as OSU’s paint offense was at times, its inability to protect the rim was also rather eye-opening.