Steve Lutz calls out Abou Ousmane for second technical foul: 'That's unacceptable'

Now late in the season, Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Steve Lutz is looking to find things to build some momentum going into the offseason. However, he’s also still looking to fix some issues that his team is dealing with this season.

One issue for fifth-year player Abou Ousmane has been committing fouls and controlling his emotions in those moments where he is called for fouls. That included fouling out against the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UCF Knights. In each of those games, he also received a technical foul. That’s something that Lutz was highly critical of following the team’s win over UCF.

“Well, I need to see him control his emotions, right,” Steve Lutz said. “That’s unacceptable from him. He cannot let the emotions in the game and the emotions from officiating, whether it’s good calls or bad calls in his favor affect his play. We need him on the floor and he’s got to be better.”

In the game against UCF, Oklahoma State snapped a two-game losing skid. They did that by scoring 104 points in the game. However, Abou Ousmane would only be on the floor for 21 minutes of the game, scoring 17 points and adding two rebounds.

Since Steve Lutz called out Abou Ousmane, the Cowboys have had another game, losing to the Kansas Jayhawks by 32 points. In that game, Ousmane played in 19 minutes and had seven points to go with a rebound and an assist. However, he was able to do that while only committing two fouls during the game.

This is Abou Ousmane’s first season with Oklahoma State. He previously played three seasons at North Texas and one season at Xavier before landing in Stillwater. This season, he’s started in 25 of the 26 games he’s appeared in this season and he’s averaging 22.7 minutes per game. That’s about a minute more than he played last season with Xavier per game. Ousmane is also averaging 11.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game this season. He’s also shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 48 percent from three-point range.

It’s been a difficult season for Oklahoma State as a team, though. The Cowboys are now 13-14 on the season and 5-11 in Big 12 play, which puts them at a tie for 13th in the conference standings. With four regular season games remaining, the Cowboys want to finish the regular season on a high note and finish above .500 overall. That could help build momentum going into the Big 12 Tournament.

Next up for Oklahoma State is going to be a tough home game against the Iowa State Cyclones.