Hampered depth, rebounding woes plague Cowboys in 95-88 loss to TCU in Big 12 Tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  — Tanner Toolson’s put-back near the 4-minute mark in the second half wasn’t an isolated incident.

As TCU’s shooting guard evaded Kanye Clary with ease for a mid-air tip-in — resulting in an and-one play — to put the Horned Frogs ahead by 4, it further encapsulated a lingering issue that Oklahoma State faced in the matchup. Rebounding, a lack of depth and size disadvantages in the paint.

All of it culminated, snowballing into a 95-88 defeat for 14th-seeded OSU against sixth-seeded TCU in the second round of the Big 12 Basketball Tournament at the T-Mobile Center on Wednesday. 

The Cowboys controlled the majority of the contest, leading for 31:28 and by as many as 10 — 67-57 at the 13:48 mark of the second half. Ultimately, such issues surfaced late in an untimely manner and came costly. 

“Ultimately, we shot ourselves in the foot (with) the inability to box out, be physical and get a rebound,” Cowboys’ coach Steve Lutz said. “And give TCU credit for that. They earned it.”

OSU was already without a multitude of key prospects heading into its first-round contest against Colorado. Two weeks ago, star center Parsa Fallah tore his ACL. Forward Robert Jennings III was lost for the season only three games in. Lefteris Mantzoukas left the team last month to return home to Greece after battling injuries most of the season. And center Andrija Vukovic has been unavailable this week due to a knee injury. Thus, Lutz and Co. relied heavily on freshmen Ben Ahmed and Mekhi Ragland to anchor the paint.

OSU got 25 points and nine rebounds from guard Anthony Roy. Forward Christian Coleman complemented that with 15 of his own, while four others scored double digits. Most often, Lutz said, that’s enough holistic offensive production to secure a win. 

Until it wasn't.

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OSU took a 46-43 lead into halftime and controlled almost every noteworthy category. Most importantly, a plus-four advantage in rebounding.

Then came foul trouble.

By the 9:41 mark, Ahmed picked up his fourth foul. Two minutes later, Ragland tallied his fourth, and the musical chairs substitution game among the freshman duo ignited. 

That’s when the Cowboys’ (19-14) lack of depth within their frontcourt was exposed. With the foul total between Ahmed and Ragland piling up, OSU’s aggressiveness down low dwindled as the guards resorted to isolation ball. And TCU’s star tandem of Xavier Edmonds and David Punch made easy work of that.

“I don’t want to make excuses — y’all know me, that’s not who I am,” Lutz said. “But you’re without Robert Jennings, you’re without Lefteris (Mantzoukas), you’re without Parsa (Fallah) and you’re without (Andrija Vukovic), and then those two guys (Ahmed and Ragland) have four fouls. It’s really hard. Everything about it is.”

The Cowboys overcame their aforementioned rotation vacancies in a 92-83 win against the Buffs on Tuesday. The Horned Frogs (22-10), however, capitalized off those blemishes.

OSU was outscored 20-8 over the game’s final 6:30, and Punch’s top-of-the-key 3-pointer with 5:07 remaining gave the Horned Frogs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. TCU secured seven of the available 11 rebounds in the span, winning the rebounding battle by eight in the second half.

“Trying to stay disciplined in that situation was the (most difficult part) of that, I would say,” Ragland said. “Obviously trying to avoid those situations (with foul trouble) would be ideal, but ultimately we still put ourselves in that situation late.”

Now, uncertainty clouds the road ahead.

As of Wednesday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi tabbed OSU just outside of the “Next Four Out” column in his latest bracketology projection. Now, with the loss to TCU, the Cowboys are likely out of consideration for an NCAA Tournament berth.

Simultaneously, opportunities for postseason play are still available. 

The Cowboys have appeared in the NIT three times the past decade, including a season ago, which featured a run to the quarterfinal round. Then there’s the newly-founded College Basketball Crown, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The NIT takes 32 teams, while the Crown shrunk its pool of teams from 16 to eight in its second year of existence.

But will the players want to continue playing, even outside of the NCAA Tournament? 

“I feel like we’ve still got more in the tank we can give,” OSU point guard Jaylen Curry said. “I feel like there’s way more we can give. We just had a fluke today.”

Lutz echoed his player’s sentiment. 

“Our guys are playing hard,” Lutz said. “We’ve won three out of the last (six), even without (Fallah) and guys like Chris Coleman had to morph into other positions — we had to play him at (center) again a little bit tonight because of foul trouble, and this, that and the other. And you have to be proud of them for their effort in those sorts of things.

“I would think that the way these guys are playing and because they’re playing so hard and having fun and playing for one another, I would think that they would want to continue on. And if they want to continue on, I want to continue to coach them.”

While the opportunity for OSU to prolong its season is on the table, it won't feel the same. A stark contrast exists within the satisfaction level of playing in the NCAA Tournament, and the NIT or College Basketball Crown, which players acknowledged postgame.

One is college basketball's promised land. The latter, merely a consolation prize.

On the outside, a 12-1 start gradually dwindled into an all-too-familiar feeling ahead of Selection Sunday for OSU delegates. Lutz highlighted his standard postgame — competing for Big 12 championships and reaching the NCAA Tournament on a consistent basis. And for the fifth-straight season, the Cowboys will likely fall short on both ends.

At the same time, he noted the silver linings that came with Wednesday. Most notably, Ahmed and Ragland both garnered notable minutes — an important element of their development as they transition from freshmen to sophomores.

As the question of whether this OSU team will play beyond this week lingers, Lutz pointed to accountability as a pivotal avenue for building upon a grim ending to his team's short stay in Kansas City. And ultimately, a dire ending to a season that started with so much hope.

“We’ve got to be able to look in the mirror and take ownership of this,” Lutz said. “But also (we can’t) lose sight of the fact that we’ve made strides and we’ve still had a good year and we’re continuing to move the program forward. And so, with that, I’m still very proud of these guys and their effort, especially with how the season ended and unfolded with losing a couple of players.”