Can Oklahoma State Avoid Another Southern Illinois Upset?
Oklahoma State is entering a new era, but it needs to overcome a familiar foe.
OSU beat Green Bay and St. Thomas in its first two games to move to 2-0 and set up a sneaky important matchup on Thursday night. The Cowboys are set to host Southern Illinois in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Playing a random directional school from the Missouri Valley Conference is typically an easy game for a power conference team. Instead, this game has spelled early disaster for the Cowboys in the past two seasons.
In 2022-23, the Cowboys hosted the Salukis in their home opener and held a 13-point lead in the second half. However, the Cowboys slowly let their lead trickle away in the closing minutes.
Eventually, Southern Illinois took a one-point lead after Marcus Domask’s 3-pointer with 22 seconds left. After an OSU turnover and another missed shot as time expired, the Cowboys fell to the Salukis early in a season where they were the first team out of the NCAA Tournament.
Last season, the Cowboys traveled to Carbondale for their first true road game and had a similar result. Entering their eighth game without getting over .500 was a sign of things to come as OSU fell to 3-5.
OSU never led by more than seven, shot 38.8% from the floor and turned the ball over 12 times in a two-point loss. Again, the Cowboys faltered in the final seconds.
Clarence Rupert’s layup broke a tie to give Southern Illinois a lead with 29 seconds left. After some free throws for both sides, OSU had a chance to take the lead down one.
Instead, Javon Small missed a layup, and Quion Williams’ putback was off to secure another disappointing nonconference loss.
With Steve Lutz at the helm, OSU has played noticeably faster and had a more efficient offense. Playing with the same attitude and flare on Thursday should help the Cowboys avoid an upset. However, it will be up to the players on the court to overcome the demons that have haunted OSU basketball in recent years.
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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.