'That’s Embarrassing': Lutz Calls for Team Accountability After 94-79 loss to Baylor

Rarely is the first possession of a basketball game indicative of its trajectory.

That, however, was the case Tuesday evening. It took only 35 seconds for Baylor forward Michael Rataj to sink a floater as the shot clock expired, scoring the game’s first points. A precise foreshadowing of what was to unfold. And from that point, it was smooth sailing for the Bears. 

Oklahoma State suffered consecutive defeats for the first time this season, losing to Baylor 94-79 at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Tuesday. OSU, critiqued heavily for its defense throughout the season, failed to contain the Bears’ hot shooting, spiraling into chunks of offensive stagnancy for the rest of the way. In a game where everything seemed to fall in Baylor’s favor, the polar-opposite transpired for the Cowboys (13-4, 1-3 Big 12). 

“I thought (Baylor) played with a level of desperation, like a 0-3 team in the Big 12 should,” Lutz said. “Man, they came out and they played very, very well. They shot the ball very, very well. So, hats off to them."

But Lutz outlined the game from a different lens. Instead of crediting Baylor’s hot hand entirely for the game’s end result, Lutz took accountability for the letdown on OSU’s end, demanding his players do the same. 

“At the end of the day if you allow somebody to come onto your home court and score (94) points, you better look in the mirror,” he said. “I don’t care if it was their night or not. You have to look in the mirror.”

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By the first media timeout, the Bears were 4-for-5, and 9 of 13 by halftime. The Bears had already scored 57 points — the most OSU had given up in a first half this season — taking an 18-point lead into the break. And it didn’t get any better for the Cowboys from that point on. 

While Baylor led by as many as 24, OSU made a couple late runs. Consecutive 3s from OSU guard Anthony Roy, who finished with 17 points, trimmed Baylor’s lead to 11 with 11:49 remaining. Baylor coach Scott Drew swiftly motioned for a timeout, jolting life into GIA for the first time since the opening tip-off. 

Eventually, OSU reverted back to old habits — ones Lutz has profusely highlighted over the season’s course. Forcing contested shots and passes into heavy traffic. Settling for transition 3s instead of finding an open man down court. And perhaps most importantly, nonchalant defensive effort. 

All of it, Lutz said, culminated, snowballing into what Lutz called an “embarrassment” of a performance at home. Thus, he wasn’t coy when sharing his two cents. 

“That’s embarrassing — that’s just embarrassing,” Lutz said. “We have to take stock in that.

"When you play against other good teams, especially in the Big 12, the momentum flips on you and the game flips on you, and now all of a sudden you're playing from behind. And that's our fault."

The Bears (11-5, 1-3 Big 12) ended the night shooting 52% from 3 and 59.3% from the floor as a whole, while projected first-round freshman guard Tounde Yessoufou led all scorers with 24. And while Roy’s shooting performance and center Parsa Fallah’s 18 points were a silver lining for OSU, ultimately, Lutz and his players acknowledged their self-inflicted wounds that led to Baylor’s lengthy scoring runs. 

“Bad shots are equal to turnovers,” Roy said. “And we took some bad shots that led to transition buckets (for Baylor). I feel like as a team, it’s just such a long season and we have more to learn. But once we understand that concept, it’ll just make our offense better and make our defense better.”

When asked his preferred method of preparation for Saturday’s 9 p.m. tip-off against Kansas State, Roy didn’t shy away from reality. 

“I’ll say make a lot of shots before the game starts.”

Roy’s teammate, guard Vyctorious Miller, echoed his postgame sentiment — self-reflection and practicing fundamentals might be the best remedy.

Because the road ahead doesn’t get any easier for OSU. After its home game against the Wildcats, OSU travels to Fort Worth to face a hot TCU team. Shortly after, clashes with No. 2 Iowa State, No. 11 BYU and top-ranked Arizona await.

And if such defensive woes aren’t patched soon, Lutz said, the Cowboys will endure a grueling stretch of games. One that could holistically deflate the course of their season. 

“When the time came for somebody to either rise up and make a shot or get a defensive stop, (Baylor) did their job and we did not — that’s the story of the game, really,” Lutz said. “You can’t let somebody come into your gym and hang 57 on you in the first half and go, ‘Oh, well they just shot the ball really well.’ Man, I ain't trying to hear any of that. Nobody’s trying to hear that. You’ve got to figure out a way to be tough enough, gritty enough to make them miss and be better defensively. And therein lies the difference between winning and losing tonight.”