After losses to No. 14 Houston and West Virginia, it looked like Oklahoma State might be in for a repeat of last season when it opened up Big 12 Conference play with six straight losses.

The Cowboys (9-5, 1-2 Big 12) avoided that fate with a much-needed 79-66 win over Kansas State on Tuesday, led by a 27-point outing from Abou Ousmane.

Now, Utah (8-6, 0-3) is hoping for a similar breakthrough performance against Oklahoma State when the two teams square off Saturday in Salt Lake City.

The Utes have struggled mightily so far in their Big 12 debut, losing to Baylor (81-56), Texas Tech (93-65) and Iowa State (82-59) by an average of 25.3 points.

Utah coach Craig Smith remained positive after the Utes lost to the third-ranked Cyclones on Tuesday. The Utes held an early lead and pulled within six in the second half before falling on the road.

One bonus was the fact that leading scorer Gabe Madsen scored 20 points after struggling through a slump.

“I thought we did some really good things. Obviously, we’ve been struggling a little bit coming into (Tuesday),” Smith said. “We’re not light on losing, but I thought we took a step forward for our team for where we’re trying to go. We’ll keep pushing forward. Our best basketball is yet to come.”

Oklahoma State will try to keep the ball rolling in a positive direction as it begins a two-game trip in Utah, also including a game at BYU on Tuesday.

Though defeating Kansas State was only one win, it sure beats starting 0-6 like last year.

“The really good teams that you’ll see play their best basketball in March will be the teams that figure it out the quickest,” Oklahoma State’s Brandon Newman told ocolly.com. “We showed really good flashes (Tuesday), and I’m hoping we can be this consistent as the season goes on.”

Ousmane leads the Cowboys at 12.9 points per game and Marchelus Avery is at 12.6 ppg. Both players average more than five rebounds per game.

–Field Level Media