Miller's Clutch Free Throws Lift Cowboys Past K-State 84-83
Sophomore guard converts three free throws after pump-fake draws foul with 2.8 seconds left in thriller at Gallagher-Iba Arena
Vyctorious Miller walked toward the free throw line with the weight of the game on his shoulders.
Moments prior, Miller had been fouled during a corner-3-point shot attempt. A pump fake drew contact from Kansas State guard Abdi Bashir Jr., sending Miller to the free throw line, his team trailing by 2 with only 2.8 seconds remaining. Silence scattered through Gallagher-Iba Arena as Miller, Oklahoma State’s sophomore shooting guard, displayed poise in a paramount moment of his young college basketball career.
Had he been in such moments before?
“Only in my dreams,” Miller said. “As a kid you dream of those moments.”
The magnitude and pressure that came tethered to it was a mere footnote of the moment for him. Miller calmly drained all three free throws to put the Cowboys in front, eventually lifting OSU past Kansas State 84-83 on Saturday night at GIA. But his late-game heroics didn’t matter to him, he said.
His primary focus? Locking down the Wildcats on the game's final possession.
“People have been hitting buzzer-beaters (lately in college basketball),” Miller said. “All type of crazy stuff has been going on. I just didn’t want that to happen today. Not on our home court.”
Mission accomplished.
K-State guard PJ Haggerty’s 3-point shot didn’t touch the rim as the final buzzer sounded, finalizing an OSU win. Shortly after, GIA erupted into pandemonium.
The roar of the crowd echoed through the 13,611-seat venue, commemorating a fulfilling end to a back-and-forth contest. And Miller was at the forefront of the postgame celebration.
“It was fun,” said Cowboys’ center Parsa Fallah, who finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. “It was a close game and those types of games, when you win, it’s just more fun. Because it comes down to the last few minutes of the game because (you’re playing) hard and staying with what the coaches tell you to do. So, for us, it was great.”
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OSU cruised to an early advantage, leading for most of the way until Haggerty drained a step-back 3 near the 7-minute mark of the second half to give the Wildcats (9-9, 0-5 Big 12) their first lead since the first half.
The Cowboys (14-4, 2-3 Big 12) forced 16 turnovers, scoring 26 points in return. But while their turnover total was elevated, OSU coach Steve Lutz shed light on K-State's 3-point efficiency, further highlighting a need for defensive improvement. And rightfully so.
The Wildcats, who had totaled a combined 30 3-point makes over their first four Big 12 contests, logged 15 against OSU, preventing the Cowboys from pulling away late. Not even a late takeover from guard Anthony Roy, who led his team with 23 points, could ice it for OSU. Thus, no more than four points separated the teams over the game’s final 14 minutes.
Which set up the whirlwind of events that transpired in the game’s final minute.
OSU had the ball with a chance to take the lead with 15 seconds remaining. So, Lutz called a timeout. There was an execution error during that span, but the Cowboys maintained possession. After Miller’s go-ahead free throws, a multitude of scenarios spiraled through Lutz’s head.
With fouls to give and the ball at midcourt, do you strike early? Or do you risk fouling and putting the Wildcats at the free throw line with a chance to win the game?
Fortunately, Lutz said, OSU’s defense stood tall when it mattered, clinching a vital win for OSU’s clinching its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2021.
“At the end of the day, we executed the play the way we wanted to execute the play, and then we didn’t take advantage of what we had,” Lutz said. “...Ball is loose on the floor, Parsa makes a play and then (Miller) just took advantage of the end of the game where people are just so cognizant of not trying to give up the 3 and lose. And he did a good job of that shot fake and (Bashir Jr.) bit on it and fouled him.”
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The Cowboys' defense will be tested again when they travel to Fort Worth to face TCU at Schollmaier Arena on Tuesday at 7 p.m. But on Saturday, at least, it was good enough. And Lutz didn’t hesitate to credit OSU fans for aiding in the win postgame.
“I thought that considering that late tip-off, considering the weather, for GIA to be packed like it was tonight and for the fans to be as enthusiastic and loud and as into the game as they were, I think that it was the difference in the game,” Lutz said. “I don’t think, I know that we would not have been able to pull this one out without our fans.”
Then there’s Miller.
The heralded young prospect who, up to that point, had been having his roughest shooting game this season - only making 2-of-13 attempts from the field - before being asked to win the game for the Cowboys.
Such makeup opportunities seldom arise. But for Miller, it did.
If anything, Lutz said, he made the most of it.
“I didn’t shoot well, but a lesser man would have folded,” Miller, who finished with 9 points, said. “He would have thought about the last plays and missing shots, stuff like that. But I know my team believed in me — Parsa was talking to me and everybody was talking to me. It was just some free throws and I made them.”
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