Next up - Oklahoma State at the United Center as the Thanksgiving dessert to the Duke-Arkansas main course. OK St. is coached by Steve Lutz, who is on a meteoric rise as a coach. Went into coaching immediately after graduating from D3 Texas Lutheran University, spent his first five years coaching below D1 as an assistant, then spent 6 seasons under Danny Kaspar at Stephen F Austin, 4 seasons at SMU under Matt Doherty, 7 seasons at Creighton under Greg McDermott and 4 seasons at Purdue under Matt Painter before getting the head job at Texas A&M-Corpus Christie for the 2021-22 season. What did he do there? Well, he merely took a team that had finished the year as Kenpom's #344 team and got them to back-to-back NCAA tournaments. The last time they had made the tourney before that was 2006-07. He parlayed that success into the job at Western Kentucky in 2023-24, where he took a team that had floundered since moving from the Sun Belt to Conference USA and brought them to the NCAA tourney for the first time since the 2012-13 season. Oklahoma State then hired him to fix their program that had fallen off a cliff, and here we are in year 2.
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The first thing to know about Lutz-coached teams - they like to play fast. Real fast - they are currently #3 in tempo this season, after being #12 last year and #1 the year he was at W. Kentucky. On defense, they are going to pressure us a lot, but if we can beat the pressure, we should be able to run on them in transition, which benefits us. In the half court, they are going to try and deny us driving to the rim, wanting us to pass the ball out to the perimeter instead. They will double whenever the ball is passed down low to try and force us to pass it back out to the perimeter. They are content to let teams shoot 3s - in the two games they've played against top-100 teams (Texas A&M and South Florida), 58.7%(!) of shots allowed have been 3s. Granted, both those teams love to shoot 3s to begin with, as opposed to us, but expect us to be taking more than usual. As for the pressure/double teams, we should theoretically be used to practicing against it, since we do a lot of that in the half-court as well. Full-court...we'll see, I guess.
On offense, they try to get out in transition (22% of possessions), which again, is something we try to deny. In the halfcourt, they are going to try and drive the ball to the hoop (21% of possessions) as much as they can looking to draw fouls. They have a variety of other offensive sets if neither of those first two options work, and we should expect to see them posting up their 6'10" 250 lb center quite a bit, along with some PnR.
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Their team is almost entirely new this year - 3 freshmen, 2 22-year-old "freshmen" who have played professionally in Greece and Israel respectively, 7 transfers, and 3 returning players from last year - though it's really one starter, one guy who played 9 minutes, and another guy who played 47 minutes. So far they have had a different starting lineup in each game, due to minor injuries and illnesses. Rather than attempt to figure out who's going to play, I'll just run through the lineup.
#1, 6'0" PG Kanye Clary - An old friend from Penn State, Clary played two seasons at PSU before being kicked off the team, then headed to Mississippi State for an aborted season due to an injury suffered a year ago. I thought he dominated us multiple times, but it looks like he only had 1 stellar game out of 4, in a game that we ended up winning. He is capable of brilliance and carelessness in the same game - against South Florida he had 12 points, 11 assists, and 7 rebounds, but also 4 turnovers. He's also averaging over 1 steal per game, but his minutes have varied widely with his backcourt mate depending I guess on the matchup Lutz thinks is best. Funny stat - he has the same shooting percentage on layups as he does from 3-point range - 35.3%. Half the time he will look to drive, and honestly, we should focus more on denying him a passing lane than preventing a shot. We'll also have to be careful to pressure him up top, as he is happy to shoot a 3 off the dribble.
#0, 6'1" PG Jaylen Curry - Spent two seasons at UMass, where he was a starter and the best player last year for a very bad team. Really struggled last year against top teams, though again, that could be due to the team being awful. This year, Curry has dealt with an illness and missed two games, but played 30 minutes in their last matchup against Nicholls State, where he scored 30 points on 8-11 shooting plus 12-12 FTs with 10 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. The previous game against South Florida though, coming off the illness, he had only 7 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds and 4 turnovers. Compared to Clary, Curry looks to drive and score more vs pass, and is more likely to run in transition while being much more efficient than Clary at both, while being much less likely to shoot 3s off the dribble. Curry is also the best defender on the team. Going to need Reid to be ready against these guys.
#9, 6'5" Wing G Anthony Roy - Boy, this guy is something else. He spent his freshman year at San Francisco during the Covid season in 2020-21, barely playing, then transferred to the College of Southern Idaho, where some time before that season began, he was arrested for felony possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and was convicted, getting probation. He eventually played that season at Wenatchee Valley, a JUCO. The following year he went to New Mexico State, where he was involved in a fatal shooting that ultimately resulted in NMSU's season being canceled in February. After that, he went to Langston University, an NAIA school, where he led them to a Sweet 16 berth in 2023-24. The next year he transferred to Doug Gottlieb's Green Bay program, where he was leading the entire country in scoring before suffering a season-ending injury in December. Now he's at Oklahoma St, his 7th school in 6 years. He's averaging 16 minutes per game, scoring 13 points per game on more than 10 shots. He has the potential to be a deadeye shooter from deep, making 5-11 in the last two games, and is a 43% shooter for his (D1) career. If he gets the ball, he might drive, or he might shoot a 3, but you can be assured it is not leaving his hands. Looking at the OK State boards, they have complained extensively about his body language on the court, and he seems to be pretty disinterested in playing defense.
#21, 6'5" Wing G Isaiah Coleman - Spent the past two seasons at Seton Hall and was a starter last year. Not known for his offense, especially not from deep, though he has scored just under 9 points per game, and he turns the ball over quite a bit, averaging 2.4 in just 23 minutes per game. He is much more of a defensive threat, as he averages 2.2 steals and 4 defensive rebounds per game. Had 13 points on 13 shots and 9 rebounds against Texas A&M, along with 8 points on 7 shots, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals and 2 turnovers against South Florida.
#5, 6'5" CG Vyctorius Miller - A former 4-star recruit with a 5-star name! Last year Miller was at LSU as a rotation piece, before suffering a season-ending injury in March. This year, the man is filling up the bucket, having averaged 20.6 points per game in their first five games before inexplicably only scoring 2 in their last game against Nicholls St (apparently he was a game-time decision, so maybe not fully healthy). 29% of Miller's possessions have been in transition this season, so we'll need to keep an eye on him leaking out ahead of the play, but he can do it all - drive to the rim, shoot 3s (50% on the season!), hit the midrange shot, draw fouls, or hit the cutter going to the rim. His weaknesses are ball security, as he's had 2+ turnovers in 5 of the 6 games, with 4 against Oral Roberts and South Florida, along with bring a bit foul-prone. He's also averaging 1 steal/game.
#4, 6'8" Wing F Christian Coleman - Not related to Isaiah, Christian spent his first two seasons at UAB, where he shot 1 3-pointer combined. This year, he's already shot 13 and made 5 of them, which gives him a new dimension to his game. He has the handle to drive to the rim, will occasionally look to kick it out for a 3, and will often try to get behind the D for a backdoor cut. A solid defender, blocks shots and grabs a steal or so per game. Was also apparently a game-time decision in their last game, though he played and had his worst game of the season, shooting just 3-10 for 6 points with 7 rebounds.
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The first thing to know about Lutz-coached teams - they like to play fast. Real fast - they are currently #3 in tempo this season, after being #12 last year and #1 the year he was at W. Kentucky. On defense, they are going to pressure us a lot, but if we can beat the pressure, we should be able to run on them in transition, which benefits us. In the half court, they are going to try and deny us driving to the rim, wanting us to pass the ball out to the perimeter instead. They will double whenever the ball is passed down low to try and force us to pass it back out to the perimeter. They are content to let teams shoot 3s - in the two games they've played against top-100 teams (Texas A&M and South Florida), 58.7%(!) of shots allowed have been 3s. Granted, both those teams love to shoot 3s to begin with, as opposed to us, but expect us to be taking more than usual. As for the pressure/double teams, we should theoretically be used to practicing against it, since we do a lot of that in the half-court as well. Full-court...we'll see, I guess.
On offense, they try to get out in transition (22% of possessions), which again, is something we try to deny. In the halfcourt, they are going to try and drive the ball to the hoop (21% of possessions) as much as they can looking to draw fouls. They have a variety of other offensive sets if neither of those first two options work, and we should expect to see them posting up their 6'10" 250 lb center quite a bit, along with some PnR.
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Their team is almost entirely new this year - 3 freshmen, 2 22-year-old "freshmen" who have played professionally in Greece and Israel respectively, 7 transfers, and 3 returning players from last year - though it's really one starter, one guy who played 9 minutes, and another guy who played 47 minutes. So far they have had a different starting lineup in each game, due to minor injuries and illnesses. Rather than attempt to figure out who's going to play, I'll just run through the lineup.
#1, 6'0" PG Kanye Clary - An old friend from Penn State, Clary played two seasons at PSU before being kicked off the team, then headed to Mississippi State for an aborted season due to an injury suffered a year ago. I thought he dominated us multiple times, but it looks like he only had 1 stellar game out of 4, in a game that we ended up winning. He is capable of brilliance and carelessness in the same game - against South Florida he had 12 points, 11 assists, and 7 rebounds, but also 4 turnovers. He's also averaging over 1 steal per game, but his minutes have varied widely with his backcourt mate depending I guess on the matchup Lutz thinks is best. Funny stat - he has the same shooting percentage on layups as he does from 3-point range - 35.3%. Half the time he will look to drive, and honestly, we should focus more on denying him a passing lane than preventing a shot. We'll also have to be careful to pressure him up top, as he is happy to shoot a 3 off the dribble.
#0, 6'1" PG Jaylen Curry - Spent two seasons at UMass, where he was a starter and the best player last year for a very bad team. Really struggled last year against top teams, though again, that could be due to the team being awful. This year, Curry has dealt with an illness and missed two games, but played 30 minutes in their last matchup against Nicholls State, where he scored 30 points on 8-11 shooting plus 12-12 FTs with 10 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. The previous game against South Florida though, coming off the illness, he had only 7 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds and 4 turnovers. Compared to Clary, Curry looks to drive and score more vs pass, and is more likely to run in transition while being much more efficient than Clary at both, while being much less likely to shoot 3s off the dribble. Curry is also the best defender on the team. Going to need Reid to be ready against these guys.
#9, 6'5" Wing G Anthony Roy - Boy, this guy is something else. He spent his freshman year at San Francisco during the Covid season in 2020-21, barely playing, then transferred to the College of Southern Idaho, where some time before that season began, he was arrested for felony possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and was convicted, getting probation. He eventually played that season at Wenatchee Valley, a JUCO. The following year he went to New Mexico State, where he was involved in a fatal shooting that ultimately resulted in NMSU's season being canceled in February. After that, he went to Langston University, an NAIA school, where he led them to a Sweet 16 berth in 2023-24. The next year he transferred to Doug Gottlieb's Green Bay program, where he was leading the entire country in scoring before suffering a season-ending injury in December. Now he's at Oklahoma St, his 7th school in 6 years. He's averaging 16 minutes per game, scoring 13 points per game on more than 10 shots. He has the potential to be a deadeye shooter from deep, making 5-11 in the last two games, and is a 43% shooter for his (D1) career. If he gets the ball, he might drive, or he might shoot a 3, but you can be assured it is not leaving his hands. Looking at the OK State boards, they have complained extensively about his body language on the court, and he seems to be pretty disinterested in playing defense.
#21, 6'5" Wing G Isaiah Coleman - Spent the past two seasons at Seton Hall and was a starter last year. Not known for his offense, especially not from deep, though he has scored just under 9 points per game, and he turns the ball over quite a bit, averaging 2.4 in just 23 minutes per game. He is much more of a defensive threat, as he averages 2.2 steals and 4 defensive rebounds per game. Had 13 points on 13 shots and 9 rebounds against Texas A&M, along with 8 points on 7 shots, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals and 2 turnovers against South Florida.
#5, 6'5" CG Vyctorius Miller - A former 4-star recruit with a 5-star name! Last year Miller was at LSU as a rotation piece, before suffering a season-ending injury in March. This year, the man is filling up the bucket, having averaged 20.6 points per game in their first five games before inexplicably only scoring 2 in their last game against Nicholls St (apparently he was a game-time decision, so maybe not fully healthy). 29% of Miller's possessions have been in transition this season, so we'll need to keep an eye on him leaking out ahead of the play, but he can do it all - drive to the rim, shoot 3s (50% on the season!), hit the midrange shot, draw fouls, or hit the cutter going to the rim. His weaknesses are ball security, as he's had 2+ turnovers in 5 of the 6 games, with 4 against Oral Roberts and South Florida, along with bring a bit foul-prone. He's also averaging 1 steal/game.
#4, 6'8" Wing F Christian Coleman - Not related to Isaiah, Christian spent his first two seasons at UAB, where he shot 1 3-pointer combined. This year, he's already shot 13 and made 5 of them, which gives him a new dimension to his game. He has the handle to drive to the rim, will occasionally look to kick it out for a 3, and will often try to get behind the D for a backdoor cut. A solid defender, blocks shots and grabs a steal or so per game. Was also apparently a game-time decision in their last game, though he played and had his worst game of the season, shooting just 3-10 for 6 points with 7 rebounds.
