Oklahoma State's Loss at Colorado the Latest Disaster in Cowboys' Season

OSU's season has only gone downhill since a hot nonconference start.

Feb 21, 2026; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys center Parsa Fallah (22) huddles his teammates in the second half against the Colorado Buffaloes at the CU Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Oklahoma State’s rough stretch isn’t getting any better. 

On Saturday, OSU lost to Colorado 83-69 in Boulder to mark the Cowboys’ fifth straight loss. Now sitting at 4-10 in conference play and continuing to slide down the Big 12 standings, the Cowboys’ season has gone from a fun surprise to the same old disappointment in Stillwater.

Of course, the matchup at Colorado was just one of many subpar performances for OSU since the beginning of conference play, so it can’t be seen as the true nail in the coffin. Still, this was likely OSU’s final chance to turn things around and get back into the NCAA Tournament discussion, at least for an at-large bid.

Although OSU’s defense has been a clear issue all season and wasn’t a problem solver in Boulder, the offense was much more concerning. In scoring just 69 points, the Cowboys saw only one player shoot better than 50% from the field, with Kanye Clary’s 2-of-2 performance marking the most efficient shooting output in OSU’s 37.7% afternoon from the field.

Along with an overall rough shooting performance from the Cowboys, they also managed to nail just five of their 23 attempts from beyond the arc. With the 3-point shot making up nearly 40% of the Pokes’ shot diet and under a quarter of their makes, the outside shot was far from a solution for the offense’s struggles.

Fittingly, OSU also failed to make a field goal for the final six minutes of the game after Clary’s layup cut the margin to single digits with exactly six minutes to go. With the season essentially on the line, and OSU’s roster being built around its ability to get buckets, not a single player on the floor managed to put the ball through the rim for Steve Lutz.

Maybe a worse nonconference performance would’ve made performances like Saturday’s feel less dreadful. However, it’s hard for OSU fans to suddenly temper their expectations again after getting some quality wins in nonconference play and consistently finding ways to pull out close games in that stretch of the season.

The Pokes still have another four games left in the regular season and could build a little momentum for a potential Big 12 Tournament run. However, that’s only the case on paper. After seeing how this team has performed since upsetting BYU, these final few games likely won’t mean much as OSU is on a collision course for a fifth straight NCAA Tournament it won’t be a part of.