March 24, 2025 | Cowboy Basketball

[2] NORTH TEXAS (26-8) at [4] OKLAHOMA STATE (17-17) National Invitation Tournament | Quarterfinals Tuesday, Mar. 25, 2025 | 8:05 p.m. CT Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611) Tickets: okstate.com/tickets Tournament Central: ncaa.com/NIT Watch: ESPN2 (Mikey Corey & Fran Fraschilla) Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb) Series: OSU leads 15-2 (9-1 in Stillwater) Last: Mar. 21, 2023 in Stillwater; NIT Quarterfinals (UNT, 65-59 ot) ### 

The Basics:

• No. 4 seed Oklahoma State will host No. 2 North Texas at 8 p.m. CT Tuesday in the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals.
• The Cowboys (17-17) knocked off top-seed SMU in Sunday’s second round, 85-83, on the heels of an 89-79 first-round win over Wichita State.
• North Texas (26-8, 14-4) hits the road for the first time after home victories over Furman (75-64) and Arkansas State (65-63), the latter on a last-second jumper.
• Tickets are on sale at okstate.com/tickets with GA seats priced at $15 and reserved seats for $30. Students get in free with a valid OSU ID.
• The winner of Tuesday’s game advances to Indianapolis for the NIT semifinals on Tuesday, Apr. 1 at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.
• This is the 88th edition of the NIT. Its first 82 champions were crowned exclusively at New York City’s Madison Square Garden (1938-2019), however, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the final site has rotated between host cities: Frisco, Texas (2021), MSG (2022), Las Vegas (2023) and Indianapolis (2024, 2025).
• Indianapolis has the honor again in 2026 as part of a massive weekend that will also include title games from all three NCAA men’s divisions.

• Follow the Bouncing Ball:Fans can watch Sunday’s second round matchup on ESPN2 or tune in to Dave Hunziker and John Holcomb on the Varsity App and across the Cowboy Radio Network. Visit okstate.com/radio for a complete list of affiliates.
• Find the bracket, schedules, scores, stats, recaps and other fan information on the championship central page at NCAA.com/NIT.

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Opening Tips:

• A trip to Indianapolis is on the line Tuesday night when Oklahoma State hosts North Texas in an NIT quarterfinal matchup in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
• It’s a rematch of the 2023 quartefinals when UNT upset top-seed OSU in overtime on the way to an eventual title.
• The Cowboys lead the all-time series between the schools, 15-2 (9-1 in Stillwater).
• Bryce Thompson scored 24 points in Sunday’s 85-83 shootout against SMU. OSU shot 51% from the field, including 10-of-21 from three, to overcome SMU’s 12-of-21 three-point barrage.
• Thompson has averaged 23.5 points through the first two rounds, helped by a 23-point effort in the opener against Wichita State.
• This is OSU’s 43rd postseason tournament and 14th NIT bid. The Cowboys reached the quarterfinals in their two most recent NIT appearances (2018 and 2023) but last played in a semifinal in 1944.
• Steve Lutz has made the postseason in each of his first four seasons as a head coach with this year’s NIT preceded by NCAA bids at Corpus Christi (’22, ’23) and Western Kentucky (’24).
• Lutz brings a fast, physical brand of basketball to Stillwater with a team that relentlessly attacks the rim and feasts on transition opportunities created by a smothering half court defense.
• OSU has made impressive strides in year one, improving by (at least) five wins over last year as well as 31 spots in the NET. The group played some of its best ball down the stretch, highlighted by a Feb. 25 upset of No. 9 Iowa St.
• The Pokes have reestablished home court advantage under Lutz, posting a 13-3 mark in GIA with the only losses to top-12 NET teams.
• Thompson, an honorable mention All-Big 12 pick, is the team’s leading scorer (12.9 ppg).
• 6-foot-10 fifth-year Abou Ousmane (12.4 ppg) is OSU’s top rebounder (5.2) and shot-blocker (33). He played his first three seasons at UNT.
• Junior guard Arturo Dean leads the Big 12 in steals (2.5) and is among the keys to a defense that forces close to 15 turnover per game.
• OSU’s bench unit ranks 12th nationally in points (30.8) and ninth in minutes (42.5%). That depth has helped sustain a breakneck pace. OSU is 14th in adjusted tempo, per KenPom, with nearly one-in-five points coming in transition.
• OSU has also made a living at the line with nearly a quarter of its offense coming on free throws (23.4% is 13th nationally). The Cowboys lead the Big 12 in free throw rate (19th, 41.3) and rank among the national leaders in makes (16th, 17.2) and attempts (16th, 23.9).

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Last Time on Cowboy Basketball:

• Sunday, Mar. 23 in Dallas | OSU 85, SMU 83Bryce Thompson scored 24 points and Abou Ousmane added 18, including the go-ahead basket with 34 second remaining to help OSU snap a 10-game road losing streak and advance to the NIT quarterfinals.
• SMU’s Chuck Harris handed out 10 assists, capped by an alley-oop to Samet Yigitoglu that gave the Mustangs an 81-79 lead with 1:33 left.
• OSU went inside to Ousmane on each of the next two possessions. He tied the game at 81 on a pair of free throws then knocked down a baby hook for the last of 13 second-half lead changes.
• Newman stole a long inbound pass with 3.6 seconds remaining to preserve the Cowboy win.
• OSU shot 50.8%, including 10-of-21 from deep.
• SMU connected on 12-of-21 threes but just 15-of-40 from inside the arc.
• OSU made 12 of its first 15 shots and led by as many as 14 points midway through the first half, but SMU used a 16-3 run to knot the game at 31 near the 5:00-mark.
• Kario Oquendo scored 24 of his 31 points in the first half on 9-of-9 shooting. He hit the last of five threes to send the hosts into the break up 41-40.

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SMU Second Round Leftovers:

• The Cowboys topped 50% shooting for just the third time this season.
• SMU’s .571 three-point percentage (12-of-21) was a season-high for an OSU opponent, however, the Mustangs’ .375 two-point percentage (15-of-40) was a season-low.
• OSU improved to 12-0 when scoring at least 80 points and won for just the second time when surrendering 80+ (the other came against UCF on Feb. 19).
• The Cowboys also won for just the second time when trailing at halftime, snapping a 13-game losing streak. They trailed 31-25 in the Dec. 18 win over Tarleton State.
• It was just the second one-possession game that OSU has played in this season and the first victory. The Cowboys fell 73-72 at TCU in an eerily similar finish. The Horned Frogs – down two points – went the length of the floor in less than 4 seconds for a buzzer-beating three-pointer.
• Including his 8-1 record in conference tournament play, Steve Lutz now has a 11-4 career mark in postseason events.
• OSU’s 21 assists matched a season-high as did 10 three-point field goals.
• Bryce Thompson‘s 11 field goals were a new career-high.
• Brandon Newman made a season-best four threes on seven attempts.
• Jamyron Keller is 12-of-17 from three over his last five games. Prior to that, he had shot just 27.1% from deep on the year (38-of-140).
• OSU is averaging 9.0 steals this season, which is just off the school record pace of the 1988-89 team (9.033).

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Thompson Finishing Strong:

• Bryce Thompson has been one of the Big 12’s best comeback stories this season. A right shoulder injury sidelined him for the final six weeks of the 2023-24 campaign, as well as the majority of the off-season, but the 6-foot-6 guard returned better than ever, earning honorable mention All-Big 12 honors while averaging a career-high 12.5 points.
• Three of Thompson’s 14 career 20-point performances have come in the NIT. He’s done it now in back-to-back games against Wichita State (23) and SMU (24).
• The Tulsa native is on track to become just the ninth player in OSU history to average double-figure points in four different seasons.
• Thompson isn’t just scoring more this year. Head coach Steve Lutz challenged Thompson to become a better all around player, and the senior has responded well. He finished with a career-high five steals against the Shockers.
• Thompson is 32 points shy of the 1,500-mark for his collegiate career. He has 1,377 in an OSU uniform, which is 21st on the school’s all-time list. He needs just one more to move into the top-20.
• Thompon also ranks 14th on OSU’s career three-point chart (154) and is in line for his 113th OSU start, which would tie him for sixth-most all-time with Byron Eaton (2005-09).

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The Series with North Texas:

• The teams last met in the 2023 NIT quarterfinals when North Texas left Stillwater with a 65-59 overtime win on its way to an eventual title.
• Prior to that game, the Cowboys had won 15 of the 16 all-time meetings and were a perfect 9-0 in Gallagher-Iba Arena with all nine victories by double-figure margins.

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Scouting the Mean Green:

• American Athletic Conference regular season runner-up North Texas (26-8, 14-4) has won a game in each of the last four NITs, highlighted by a 2023 title run.
• Ross Hodge is in his second year as UNT head coach and ninth overall on the Mean Green staff, having previously served as an assistant under Grant McCasland. He was promoted in 2023 after the latter’s move to Texas Tech.
• UNT is 17-1 at home but unable to host this round, due to a facility conflict.
• The Mean Green are 7-5 on the road and 2-2 a neutral sites.
• UNT ranks 363rd out of 364 teams in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom. Only Drake plays slower.
• As a result, the Mean Green are 308th nationally in scoring (68.2 ppg) but also third in scoring defense, surrendering just under 60 points per game (59.9). Opponents are shooting just 41.1% from the field, including an AAC low 30.7% from behind the three-point line.
• UNT is led by a pair of first team All-AAC transfers.
• Senior guard Atin Wright (Drake) is the team’s leading scorer at 14.9 points and one of the nation’s best shooters. He’s knocked down 93 threes on 39.9% accuracy and ranks second nationally in free throw percentage (109/116, .940).
• Junior forward Brenden Lorient — an FAU transfer — was also the league’s sixth-man of the year, averaging 11.9 points with 39 blocks.
• Jasper Floyd averages 3.9 assists with a better than 2-to-1 A:TO ratio.
• Moulaye Sissoko (team-high 6.4 rebounds) was the AAC’s co-Most Improved Player.

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Matchup Mashup:

• Including non-conference games with Florida Atlantic and Tulsa and the first-round NIT win over Wichita State, North Texas is the fourth member of the American Athletic Conference that OSU has faced this season.
• Two of the greatest scorers in Cowboy history will occupy opposite benches. Phil Forte (1,746 points from 2012-17) is an assistant coach on the UNT staff and Keiton Page (1,651 points from 2008-12) has the same role at his alma mater. Both players rank among the top-10 on OSU’s all-time list. Forte (329) broke the school’s career three-point record, previously held by Page (299).
• Forte is in his second season at UNT after a two-year stop at Saint Louis under his former coach Travis Ford (2021-23) and another two-year stint at Sam Houston (2019-21) under Jason Hooten.
• Forte had 32 points to lead OSU’s last series win over UNT in December, 2014.
• Page (in just his second collegiate game) scored 20 points on 5-of-8 three-point shooting off the bench to key a 100-88 win over UNT on Nov. 17, 2008.
• OSU fifth-year Abou Ousmane played his first three collegiate seasons at North Texas under head coach Grant McCasland and helped the Mean Green to the best three-year stretch in program history with a 74-24 record from 2020-23. Ousmane was a third-team All-CUSA performer on a team that won 31 games and the 2023 NIT title. Prior to that, UNT won the 2022 CUSA regular season title and advanced to the second round of the NIT and captured the 2021 CUSA tournament crown before claiming the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament victory (over Steve Lutz‘s Purdue Boilermakers).
• North Texas, likewise, has a former Cowboy. Rondel Walker started his career in Stillwater (2020-22).
• OSU associate head coach James Miller and current UNT head coach Ross Hodge were both members of Grant McCasland‘s inaugural Mean Green staff in 2017-18. UNT, which had never won a postseason game in nearly six decades of Division I basketball, ripped off five of them during a run to the 2018 CBI title. The Mean Green were one of the nation’s most-improved teams, winning 20 games (up from eight the previous year).
• Bryce Thompson is the lone OSU holdover from the 2023 NIT quarterfinals. Likewise, Matthew Floyd and Moulaye Sissoko are the only current UNT players who saw time in that game. Sissoko had 12 points and 15 rebounds.

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A Cowboy Win Would…

• Move them into the NIT semifinals for the first time since 1944 (and fourth time ever).
• Set up a matchup next Tuesday at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, against either UC Irvine or UAB.
• Boost their record above the .500-mark at 18-17 — six wins ahead of last season’s total.
• Be their fifth straight at home and make them 14-3 (.824) in GIA — the program’s best home winning percentage since the 2012-13 season (15-2).
• Make Steve Lutz 87-52 in his four-year head coaching career, including 12-4 in postseason and conference tournament play.
• Even the program’s all-time NIT record at 14-14 (9-3 in Stillwater).
• Make them 16-2 all-time against North Texas, including 10-1 in GIA.
• Lift their all-time GIA record to 873-267 (.766) in 87 seasons, including 305-93 (.766) since the building’s 2000 expansion.