STILLWATER — Back before the season, new Oklahoma State coach Steve Lutz joked about the day the preliminary Big 12 men’s basketball schedule arrived in his email.

“Hey, I have a top-five team at home, then I go on the road for two, and I come back and there’s a top-10 team coming here,” Lutz said with an exasperated look. “But everybody in the league is saying that. That’s why we do this, right? Play in the best league in the country.”

Well, maybe the schedule doesn’t look quite as tough as it did in the preseason. Only five Big 12 teams are ranked in the top 25 — as opposed to November when five were ranked in the top 10.

But that doesn’t mean the conference is suddenly a pushover. It’s still in the conversation for the toughest conference in the country, though the Southeastern Conference may have the edge now. 

Coming off an 8-3 non-conference schedule, the Cowboys enter Big 12 play with 15th-ranked Houston at 7 p.m. Monday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

That’s followed by a Saturday trip to West Virginia, which is receiving votes in the latest poll.

Just how the Cowboys will fare in Lutz’s first trip through the league is hard to predict. But here’s a look at three things we learned about the Pokes during non-conference play:

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Bryce Thompson found a new gear

As a fifth-year senior, OSU guard Bryce Thompson seemed to be well-established as a player who fit the offensive styles of the coaches he had played for — Mike Boynton at OSU and Bill Self for a year at Kansas. 

It was unclear if Thompson would excel in the up-tempo pace of Lutz. 

But through 11 games, Thompson not only has shown he can do it, he has thrived in it.

He’s shooting the best field goal percentage of his career, 42.0%, being more choosy with his 3-point selection, rebounding more and sharing the ball just as well, even though he’s not being asked to play point guard nearly as much.

“He’s a good basketball player,” Lutz said. “The way I look at the way we play is if you’re a good basketball player, you’re gonna be fine. Ultimately, we don’t run a million set plays. So if you know how to play basketball, we’re gonna put you in positions to be successful and I knew he’s a good player, so I never had any doubts there.”

To this point, Thompson leads the Cowboys in minutes played at just under 24 per game, is third in scoring and third in steals, which is a key development of his game as Lutz pushes the envelope of how his players defend.

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Marchelus Avery needs to be focus

As important as Thompson’s presence on the court is, Marchelus Avery — you might’ve heard him referred to as Chi Chi — needs to be the offensive driving force of this team.

Avery knows it. Lutz knows it. 

But getting it to happen has been a learning experience.

“We’ve just got him to be more disciplined,” Lutz said. “There’s a couple times out there tonight where we’re not trapping the ball and he’s just kind of running all over. 

“And I love it that he has ambition and fire and he’s playing hard and he’s having fun. But we also have to be disciplined with what we’re doing. But we need him to score.”

A 6-foot-8 wing who transferred from Central Florida, Avery is the team’s leading scorer at 13.0 points per game, and he’s second in minutes played at 22.9 despite coming off the bench every game.

Among Cowboys attempting at least two 3-pointers per game, Avery is their best shooter at 39.2% (20 of 51) and leads the team in rebounding at 5.6 per game. 

Frontcourt size will be a struggle

The most challenging area for Lutz in building his roster from the transfer portal last summer was finding capable big men.

The Cowboys have just two players on the roster taller than 6-8. One of them is 6-10 Serbian freshman Andrija Vukovic, who has dealt with injuries as well as the challenge of getting in the kind of shape required to play extended minutes in Lutz’s system. 

Vukovic didn’t appear in a game until mid-December and has played just 18 minutes in three games overall. He has nine points and one rebound in that span, but saw increased usage against Oral Roberts in the Cowboys’ final non-conference game.

If he can continue to develop and play meaningful minutes, it’ll be an important boost to the guys who have shared the bulk of the work at the center position thus far.

Abou Ousmane, who is 6-10, and 6-7 Robert Jennings II have been asked to carry the load there, and both have their strong points. But in a conference with a string of talented big men, they’ll need all the help they can get. 

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Oklahoma State vs. Houston

TIPOFF: 7 p.m. Monday at Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater (ESPN+)