Colorado aims to break Big 12 drought at Oklahoma State

Colorado and Oklahoma State have each had disastrous starts in Big 12 play, but one team will get a step closer to righting the ship as the Buffaloes head to Stillwater, Okla., for a Saturday matinee. Colorado (9-7, 0-5) has yet to win a game in its first season back in the conference, with a few heartbreakers to boot. One of the Buffaloes' near-misses was Wednesday's 68-62 decision against Cincinnati, in which a double-digit second-half comeback wasn't enough even after the Buffaloes briefly led in the closing minutes. Bangot Dak was the only player on Colorado in double figures, scoring 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Colorado has already suffered three losses at home this season after losing just one in 2023-24. "Really, really disappointing," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. "We've now lost three winnable games (in this building) that we weren't good enough to win ... I feel like this is the poorest-coached team in America, because the stuff that we talk about in practice, the stuff we talk about in huddles, it doesn't translate to the games for whatever reason. "Maybe they're tuning me out, but I'm not getting through to them, which is really frustrating." Oklahoma State (9-7, 1-4) has at least broken the ice in conference play, though they immediately crawled back under it. The Cowboys suffered double-digit losses to Houston and West Virginia to start their Big 12 campaign before finding reprieve with a 79-66 win against Kansas State last week. No momentum was sustained, however, as Oklahoma State subsequently lost by 21 to Utah and by 16 to BYU. "I've been impressed by the fact that at times we're willing learners and listeners and competitors, but it's at times. It's not all of the time," Cowboys coach Steve Lutz said. "... When we try, we're pretty good. But when we don't, we're just not very good." Oklahoma State is led by fifth-year forward Abou Ousmane, who averages a team-high 12.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Marchelus Avery trails just behind in both categories, averaging 12 points and 5.1 rebounds. Guard Bryce Thompson is the only other Cowboy averaging double digits (10.3 ppg). Julian Hammond III leads Colorado with 13.7 points and 3.3 assists per game, while Andrej Jakimovski (10.5) and Elijah Malone (10.1) also maintain double-figure scoring averages. Trevor Baskin leads the Buffaloes with 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game while averaging 9.1 points. --Field Level Media