STILLWATER — Steve Lutz’s new-look squad had a bit of a team-bonding exercise and learned a valuable skill Wednesday.
The group spent an hour learning CPR on Eddie Sutton Court in partnership with the American Heart Associate. OSU’s upcoming scrimmage against SMU on Oct. 26 with benefit the American Heart Association via the Eddie Sutton Foundation.
The Cowboys are coming off a closed-door scrimmage against Wichita State this past weekend. OSU fell in that scrimmage, according to Trilly Donovan (basketball media is in a weird spot). Regardless of the result, it was a learning experience for a team that features a new coaching staff and 10 new scholarship players.
“I know that we got dogs and people that’s willing to fight,” said center Abou Ousmane on what he learned from the scrimmage. “I realize that we have a lot to work on, but that’s what practice and nonconference is for. I think if we just keep going with how we’re going, with our workouts and everything, we should be fine.”
The Cowboys aren’t the deepest in the frontcourt with two players listed taller than 6-foot-8 in Ousmane and Serbian freshman Andrija Vukovic. Ousmane spent three seasons at North Texas before spending last season at Xavier. In his four-year career to this point, Ousmane has averaged eight points and 5.3 rebounds a game while shooting 49% from the field. With this new team that’s a little light in the front court, Ousmane said he welcomes a little extra on his plate.
“For sure, just because we have a new team, and this is the Big 12 — like the Big 12,” Ousmane said. “I feel like even with the small amount of bigs we have, we do have a good core, where we work every day, we get after it, we’re getting better. I feel like we can compete with any team, honestly.”
Lutz also brought in some bigger forwards who can help alleviate some of that load on Ousmane’s shoulders. One of those big forwards is West Virginia transfer Patrick Suemnick.
Suemnick, listed at 6-8, 225 pounds, is a college basketball journeyman at this point. He started his college career at Robert Morris before dropping down to the junior college level at Triton College (Illinois) for the 2021-22 season. He was an NJCAA All-American that year, averaging 12 points and six boards a game while shooting 55% from the field and 42% from 3. After that season, Suemnick transferred into the Big 12, spending two seasons at West Virginia.
Needless to say, Suemnick has seen a lot of basketball teams. He said the early characteristics of this group are toughness, chips on shoulders and no primadonnas.
“Out of all the teams I’ve played on, we have some of the quickest guards,” Suemnick said. “Just like the defensive tenacity, picking up full court, offensive — I would say they’re like bulldogs. They’re catching it on offense, getting into the paint, being real quick, moving fast, being physical. I would say I definitely noticed that from our guards a lot.”
Although the Cowboys’ depth in the paint might be a bit of a question mark entering the season, the Pokes’ backcourt is at the other end of the spectrum — there are so many solid, experienced options it’s hard to predict who will play where.
OSU’s roster features six guards who averaged at least 5.9 points a game at the Division-I level last season. Four of those guards averaged double figures.
La Salle transfer Khalil Brantley averaged the most points among that group. In three seasons with the Explorers, Brantley totaled 1,183 points, averaging 15 a game last season. He’s scored at least 20 points in a dozen games during his career.
As new as this group is, it doesn’t lack in overall experience. Brantley can fill it up. Bryce Thompson has experience in the Big 12 and OSU, as does the younger Jamyron Keller. Brandon Newman has been under Lutz at Purdue and Western Kentucky. Arturo Dean led the nation in steals last season. Then Davonte Davis, who averaged the fewest number of points among that group of guards last season, was a key cog in two Elite Eight teams with the Razorbacks.
“It’s a battle day in and day out, especially the way Coach Lutz wants us to play,” Brantley said. “It’s definitely a battle. There’s guys that we have like Davonte, Abou, guys that have been in the tournament, guys with a lot of experience. We’ve all been in college for a certain period of time, but those guys, they’ve been on teams that have been in the tournament and made runs and maybe fell a little short. So they kind of have a better understanding than I feel that I do in certain aspects, but we all bring a certain level of experience.”
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