Cowboys Get Set to Battle the Longhorns

March 6, 1999

Oklahoma State Cowboys
No. 5 Seed (21-9, 10-6 Big 12)
Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament Notes
Semifinal Supplement: OSU vs. Texas

OSU looks to end losing skein vs. UT
Fresh from its biggest victory of the season, Oklahoma State looks for another big one when the Cowboys face top-seeded Texas in a Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament semifinal. The Cowboys have lost three straight games to the Longhorns, including last year's 65-64 loss in the quarterfinals of the league tourney, and have won just once in seven meetings since the inception of the Big 12 Conference.

Semifinals have been good to Cowboys
OSU has won its last three conference tournament semifinal games. The Cowboys defeated Oklahoma 74-58 in 1995 on their way to the league tourney title in their most recent semifinal appearance. OSU defeated Kansas 69-68 in 1994 and Iowa State 69-60 in 1992; both of those victories led to runner-up finishes in the tournament. (The Cowboys' last semifinal loss was a double-overtime, 94-92 setback against Missouri in 1991.) However, the Cowboys have not beaten a top-seeded conference team in tournament play since 1983, when the Cowboys won a double-OT contest against Missouri in the championship game.

Alexander on fire in tournament play
Junior guard Glendon Alexander has been white-hot in the Cowboys' last three games and especially in the team's two tournament victories. Alexander has scored in double figures in three straight games and has averaged 22.5 points in the two postseason games. He tied a career high with five three-pointers against Baylor and broke it the next day with six threes against Oklahoma. Alexander has hit 21 of 36 three-point attempts (58.3 percent) in the past five games.

Cowboys hope to avoid hat trick
OSU, which lost to Texas 73-70 in Austin on Jan. 23 and 73-68 in Stillwater on Feb. 14, has not lost three times in the same year to any team since Kansas' 1988 national-championship team defeated OSU twice in the regular season and again in the league tourney quarterfinals. In fact, the 1988 season marked the end of a four-year string that saw OSU lose in the conference tournament to complete a three-game sweep each year (1985 Oklahoma, 1986 Nebraska, 1987 Kansas, 1988 Kansas). The axiom that it's tough to beat a team three times in the same season has not held true for past OSU teams; the Cowboys are 1-6 in league tournament games when facing a team that swept the regular-season two-game series. Of course, the one victory came in Friday's quarterfinal triumph over Bedlam rival Oklahoma.

The bid watch
In addition to The Chris Theisen Note no eligible Big 12 team with 10 conference victories has missed the NCAA Tournament and The Jeff Bollig Note after the NCAA field was expanded to 64 teams, all Big Eight teams with 17 victories and a .500 league record made the tournament the Cowboys have a historical note of their own on their side. OSU's victory over Baylor was its 20th of the season, and the Oklahoma game marked the Cowboys' 20th Division I triumph. Every 20-game-winning Oklahoma State team since 1948, when OSU lost in the district tournament to Kansas State, has reached the NCAA tourney.

Besides the more distant historical comparisons, OSU is making a strong case for postseason consideration with its very recent history as well. The Cowboys have won five of their last six games, with four victories by double figures, three victories against top-division Big 12 teams and the lone loss in overtime by one point on the road.

Wrapping up the Bedlam victory
Here are a few other odds and ends after Oklahoma State's 60-57 quarterfinal victory over Oklahoma:

Although Oklahoma won two of the three OSU-OU games this year, the Cowboys have won nine of the last 14 meetings between the schools.

The victory marked Eddie Sutton's 200th as OSU's coach. His career record currently stands at 200-86 (.699) in nine years at OSU and 630-250 (.716) in 29 years overall.

Doug Gottlieb, who remains the nation's assist leader at 8.67 per game, set a new OSU single-season assist record. He has 260 assists this year, topping the previous record of 256, set in 1995 by Andre Owens. Gottlieb also tied the record for assists in a Big 12 Tournament (22, previously set by Jacque Vaughn of Kansas in 1997).

Desmond Mason has recorded three straight double-doubles, giving him eight this season and 16 in his career.

Alex Webber tied a career high with nine rebounds.

The victory was OSU's first in a conference tournament quarterfinal since 1995 and the first ever (in six tries) over a fourth-seeded team.

In the past eight games, OSU is 5-0 when shooting at least 66.7 percent from the foul line and 0-3 when hitting less than two-thirds of its charities.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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