Oklahoma State enters its Big 12 home game against Kansas State on Tuesday in need of a conference win in Stillwater.

With Saturday’s 69-50 loss at West Virginia, the Cowboys (8-5, 0-2) have lost two straight to open Big 12 play.

Super sixth man Marchelus Avery leads the Cowboys with 12.5 points per game, leading the team in 3-point shooting at 36.4 percent (24 of 66) despite coming off the bench in all 13 games.

Abou Ousmane scores 11.8 ppg and pulls down a team-high 5.9 rebounds. Ousmane is a fifth-year senior who has scored more than 1,100 points and made more than 100 starts.

But it’s in valuing possessions that Cowboys coach Steve Lutz wants his team to focus after 17 turnovers against WVU.

“It’s a simple game,” Lutz said. “If you give the other teams more possessions than you, you’re not going to win the game.”

The Wildcats (7-6, 1-1) fell 63-62 at TCU on Sunday, surrendering the winning basket with 12 seconds to play. Kansas State didn’t score for the last three-plus minutes and coach Jermone Tang said he wants his players to move forward and draw inspiration from how athletes use short memories to have success.

“If we would have won the game (at TCU), the message is the same,” Tang said. “Like a golfer or tennis player, it’s one point, we have to move on to the next. We flush it and start our preparation.”

Michigan transfer Dug McDaniel averages 10.4 points, third on the team. Even though he’s a newcomer — along with Illinois transfer Coleman Hawkins (10.2 points, 7.3 rebounds) — McDaniel has seen the Wildcats’ potential.

“I prepared for it in practice, going up against our guys,” McDaniel said. “It’s nothing surprising for me. I’m just trying to keep building this culture.”

David N’Guessan leads Kansas State with a 13.3 ppg scoring average.

–Field Level Media