BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2025

Steve Lutz

Bryce Thompson

Connor Dow

T-Mobile Center

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Postgame Press Conference

Oklahoma State 68, Oklahoma State 68

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Oklahoma State Head Coach Steve Lutz along with Bryce Thompson and Connor Dow. Coach?

STEVE LUTZ: Yeah, you know, you want to give credit where credit is due. I give Coach Miller and his team a lot of credit. They played with a lot of toughness, a lot of discipline today. We did not.

At the end of the day we just -- we did not perform well today. We did not play our best basketball and they played better than us, therefore they won. Hats off to them, they get to play another day, and we get to go home and figure out what the next step is.

But I like the direction our program is headed and know that we have a big-time future here with Cowboy basketball.

Q. Steve mentioned kind of what's next. Sounds like you guys are open to the idea in playing a tournament after this.

STEVE LUTZ: Yeah, we're absolutely open to it. I think these guys deserve it. It's sad because I don't know, Bryce did you go to the tournament your first year at KU? Did you get to sit up here?

They're going to miss it. It's just like the NCAA Tournament. You have a moderator, and everybody is out there, and these guys aren't going to get to experience that because we didn't win this tournament.

But if we can play postseason and have an opportunity to continue to fight for a championship, these guys deserve it. They've given a lot all year long and have set the culture for the future.

We need to reward them if at all possible.

Q. Steve, what is it about the culture that you've established this year that you're most proud of? And Connor I would like to get your thoughts on that as well as far as what you can take from this year to carry over to next year.

STEVE LUTZ: Obviously when I was hired here I told you guys that our program would be built on defense and toughness and playing the right way and sharing the basketball.

These guys throughout the season, it's not always gone well. Obviously none of us expected to finish 12th in the league and get bounced in the first game of the tournament, right?

But these guys continued to fight all year long. We started off 2-7 in the league. We had a much better February, a much better March than did January, and these guys always did things the right way.

We weren't perfect, but they've set the tone for people to expect when they come to Gallagher-Iba or when they watch us that we're going to fight, we're going to scrap and play hard.

Today was want the best day, but for the future of our program they've set the standard. We've got to make the standard even higher, but they've done a good job setting a standard for us.

CONNOR DOW: I would agree with Coach. We're a team that has always played hard, banded together whenever times get tough, so whenever the next group comes in we have to instill that in them and tell them what we're about and what our culture is about and everybody will buy in.

Q. Bryce, obviously just a great career, I know fans will always be appreciative of what you did here at OSU. What's going through your head right now?

BRYCE THOMPSON: It's a lot right now, man. Obviously we wanted to perform better as a team, individually as well. Really just thankful for my time at Oklahoma State. It went by fast. Glad I got to finish it out with this group.

Obviously wish we could have went further and did a little better, but I think we approached each day the right way, and even though every practice may not have been the best practice, we still gave it our all and we tried our best to give ourselves a chance.

Ultimately that's what we did and I'm proud of that.

Q. Coach, your first season in Stillwater. Do you have any overall takeaways?

WES MILLER: Yeah, sure, I mean, I think that Gallagher-Iba Arena is a great place to play. As we continue to engage students and fans and continue to build the program and win, you know, we're going to get it back to where it needs to be. I have no doubt about that. The administration has been fantastic in their support. Our boosters and our fans have been fantastic in their support. Now we've just got to continue to take it to the next level.

You know, we've got all the pieces in place in order to win, and I fully believe we will do that moving forward. That being said, I think the Big 12 is one of the best basketball leagues in the country. It's fun to go against some of the best basketball players and basketball coaches and go against them each and every night. We just need to figure out a way to get back to the top. That's not too far along.

Q. Connor, how did it feel? You would have rather had the win buttock in and play the way you did on this stage, how did that feel? Did you sense that might be coming?

CONNOR DOW: It felt good to come in and hit some shots, just trying to do anything to help us get back into the game. It felt good. My teammates were also giving me open looks, so that was helping a lot.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.