Cowboy Basketball Can't Afford More Collapses Like TCU
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Oklahoma State’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament might be slipping away.
Winning in the Big 12 is tough against any opponent in any venue, but playing against a solid squad on the road presents an incredibly tough task in conference play. Yet, OSU was in a golden position to secure its first Big 12 road win since Steve Lutz took over.
On Tuesday night in Fort Worth, the Pokes held a seven-point lead with under three minutes to go and were in prime position to avoid another heartbreaker against the Horned Frogs. Last season, a last-second shot by TCU sunk the Cowboys and ensured a winless record in conference road games.
This time around, the Pokes were unable to avoid an incredibly similar fate. While this wasn’t a buzzer-beating loss, the Cowboys’ defeat on Tuesday might have been more crushing.
After leading 65-58, the Pokes couldn’t convert on a couple of chances on offense, resulting in a shot clock violation and the beginning of the collapse at TCU. Over the next few possessions, TCU’s Xavier Edmonds put in a couple of close shots to cut the deficit to three, with OSU following each of those buckets with misses at the rim of its own.
After Kanye Clary’s miss following an OSU timeout, TCU wasted no time, with Liutauras Lelevicius nailing a three in the left corner to knot the game at 65. OSU’s scoring drought continued on the next possession with another miss from Clary before David Punch, who found success against OSU all night, drove in for a layup to take the lead.
After being the hero last game, Vyctorius Miller couldn’t find another miracle for the Pokes, missing a potential go-ahead three and effectively sealing OSU’s fate. TCU finished the night on a 10-0 run to take a clutch game from the Pokes, who spent all of their nonconference slate finding ways to win in close games.
Over these next few weeks, OSU will need to find ways to win against teams like TCU and secure much more convincing wins when it’s able to take down teams like Kansas State. Of course, some of these early issues could be solved to an extent if the Pokes can get some signature wins.
OSU should have no shortage of opportunities to get some high-profile wins, beginning with Saturday’s matchup in Stillwater against No. 8 Iowa State. While the second season of Lutz’s tenure began promising, it’s started Big 12 play following the same script most OSU teams have over the past decade.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.