[2] Oklahoma State men’s basketball has a very rich history of success, having won back-to-back national championships in 1945 and 1946.

The Cowboys also boast 6 Final Fours to go along with 11 Elite Eights and Sweet Sixteens over a total of 29 NCAA tournament appearances.

On March 21, 2016, Brad Underwood was hired as head coach at Oklahoma State, replacing the fired Travis Ford.

The Cowboys (including the predecessor Aggies teams) rank 40th in total victories among all NCAA Division I college basketball programs, with an all-time win–loss record of 1,748–1,249 (.583) at the end of 2023–24 season.

Very little success was found early on and after a six-win 15-loss season under first-year coach John Maulbetsch things were not looking well.

After Maulbetsch resigned from the positions of football, baseball and basketball coach the Aggies would not have another winning season until Henry Iba took the reins in 1934.

Iba's teams were methodical, ball-controlling units that featured weaving patterns and low scoring games.

Iba's "swinging gate" defense (a man-to-man with team flow) was applauded by many, and is still effective in today's game.

"Mr. Iba," as he is still popularly known at OSU, remained a fixture on campus until his death in 1993, often giving advice to players during practice.

In the years leading up to his hiring, the team had made postseason play only three times since joining the Big Eight Conference in 1957.

Led by John Lucas III, Joey Graham, and 2004 Big 12 Player of the Year Tony Allen, Sutton's 2003–04 team finished with a school-record 31 wins (31–4), won both the Big 12 regular season and tournament championships, and advanced to the Final Four as a No.

Sutton finished his career at OSU as the second-winningest coach in school history, behind only his mentor, Iba.

[8] On January 27, 2001, one of three planes carrying Oklahoma State staff and players crashed in a snow storm near Byers, Colorado, killing all 10 on board.

Those killed included Nate Fleming, a redshirt freshman guard; Dan Lawson, a junior guard; Bill Teegins, radio sportscaster of OSU basketball and sports anchor on CBS affiliate KWTV-9 in Oklahoma City; Kendall Durfey, television and radio engineer; Will Hancock, media relations coordinator; Pat Noyes, director of basketball operations; Brian Luinstra, athletic trainer; Jared Weiberg, student assistant; Denver Mills, pilot; and Bjorn Falistrom, co-pilot.

Following a record of 39–29 during his first two seasons, Sutton resigned under pressure after a March 31, 2008, meeting with Athletic Director Mike Holder.

[11] On April 16, 2008, Travis Ford was hired as the 18th men's basketball head coach at Oklahoma State.

Underwood then went to South Carolina as an assistant for a season before being hired to his first head coaching post at SFA.

[17] During the 2016-17 season, Associate head coach Lamont Evans was engaged in bribery scheme that came to light in 2017.

[18][19] Evans was sentenced to three months in prison in June 2019 for his participation in the scheme, which he also conducted at the University of South Carolina.

After renovations in 1987, the name became Gallagher-Iba Arena, as a tribute to longtime basketball coach and innovator, Henry Iba.

[27] Oklahoma State completed a $55 million expansion of Gallagher-Iba Arena prior to the 1999–2000 Cowboy basketball season.