Oklahoma State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Hosts Lamar
December 21, 2000 | Cowboy Basketball
Dec. 21, 2000
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Oklahoma State hosts Lamar on Friday as the teams play their final game before Christmas. The Cowboys will be playing their second game in the new Gallagher-Iba Arena, part of the school's in-progress OSU Athletics Center. OSU hopes to build on the excitement created by Tuesday's opener, which featured a backboard-shattering dunk by Jason Keep.
vs.
Lamar Cardinals (3-3, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Friday, Dec. 22, 2000 * 7 p.m. * Cowboy Radio Network
Stillwater, Okla. * Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)
OSU-Lamar: The Series
Oklahoma State leads the series 5-1, though the Cardinals' one victory did
come in Gallagher-Iba Arena, in December 1965. The teams are meeting for the
first time since a neutral-site game during the 1987-88 season. The teams'
coaches are squaring off for the second time in three years, OSU's Eddie
Sutton and Lamar's Mike Deane were the bosses when the Cowboys defeated
Marquette 57-54 in Hawaii on Nov. 19, 1998.
OSU Coach Eddie Sutton
Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State, 1958) is in his 11th year at OSU and his 31st
year overall. Under his guidance, OSU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament
eight times. Sutton currently owns a career record of 665-260 (71.9 percent)
overall and is 235-96 (71.0 percent) at OSU. Sutton is the only coach to
take four different schools to the NCAA Tournament.
A quick look at Friday's game
The game is OSU's second in the new Gallagher-Iba Arena, which was expanded
by over 7,000 seats during the off-season, construction continues on the OSU
Athletics Center, which houses the arena ... After Jason Keep's
glass-breaking dunk Tuesday night, a new backboard was in place in time for
Wednesday morning's OSU practice (OSU used an older basket and support
during the final 43.9 seconds of the UALR game).
OSU-Lamar inside the numbers
Here's a statistical comparison between the schools. OSU's Big 12 rank
through Dec. 19 is in parentheses.
Cowboys' late rally earns victory in GIA opener
Jason Keep's three dunks paced a 13-2 run as Oklahoma State overcame a late
deficit to win its first game back in Gallagher-Iba Arena. Visiting
Arkansas-Little Rock took a 56-55 lead with 6:03 remaining, but Keep's first
of three dunks in a five-minute span gave the Cowboys the lead for good, and
the last, at the 43.9-second mark, shattered the backboard and capped the
run. OSU forced 27 turnovers to help overcome a 39-30 rebounding
disadvantage, the first of the season. The 70-60 victory meant that OSU
defeated UALR in the inaugural game in both schools' new arenas in
consecutive seasons. The Cowboys routed the Trojans 93-64 last season in the
first game in Little Rock's Alltel Arena.
Keep's glass-breaker makes opener a memorable one
The highly anticipated first game in the new Gallagher-Iba Arena was already
a big water-cooler topic in Oklahoma this week, but Jason Keep made it the
topic. Keep, who had played just three minutes before entering the game with
5:40 remaining, scored six points, all on dunks, in the game's final 5:25.
But the last of his dunks will be the lasting memory of the home opener.
Keep stole a UALR pass at midcourt, dribbled up the floor and shattered the
backboard with a dunk. It's believed to be the only time an OSU player has
broken a backboard during a game, both Bryant Reeves (during a shoot-around
the day before OSU's 1995 Final Four appearance) and Desmond Mason (during
warmups before the Basketball Bash in November 1996) had shattered glass in
public appearances, however. Keep's dunk made highlight reels around the
country and was CNN's "Play of the Day", it also earned "Big Dady" an
appearance on ESPN Radio's "Dan Patrick Show."
Jonzen renews scoring touch
Swedish import Fredrik Jonzen, whose breakout performance in last year's
postseason earned him All-East Region honors in the NCAA Tournament, hit for
a career-high 22 points in the victory over Arkansas-Little Rock. Jonzen hit
eight of 13 field-goal attempts and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds
to continue his career success against the Trojans. Last year, he scored a
then-career-high 19 points at UALR's expense, and two years ago, one of his
best performances early in his freshman year was a six-point, six-rebound
effort against the Trojans in Oklahoma City.
Victor Williams continues solid play
Transfer guard Victor Williams, who came to OSU after a year at Illinois
State, scored 11 points and tied a season high with four assists in
Tuesday's victory. The 5-10 guard had 20 points against North Texas to go
along with three assists and three steals. Against Arkansas, Williams scored
13 points -- 11 in the second half -- including one of the game's biggest
baskets, a three-pointer that tied the game with 4:33 remaining. Williams
went to the free-throw line with five seconds left against UNLV needing to
make both charities, he swished both attempts to send the game into
overtime.
OSU earns sluggish victory over Demons
OSU owned a 55.1-to-33.9-percent shooting advantage and out-rebounded
Northwestern (La.) State 43-25, but 23 turnovers and 58.6-percent free-throw
shooting prevented the Cowboys from pulling away for a more comfortable
victory Saturday. Oklahoma State ended up with a 73-59 triumph in the game
played in Oklahoma City as the team's final "home away from home" contest of
the year.
Another week, another award for Baker
Juco transfer Maurice Baker has bolted toward the top of the very early
contenders for the Big 12's newcomer-of-the-year award. The 6-1 guard leads
OSU in scoring (18.6 ppg) and assists (3.7 apg) and is third in rebounding
(5.9 rpg). He led OSU in scoring (17), rebounds (eight), assists (four) and
steals (three) at Wichita State, becoming the first OSU player to lead the
team in those four categories since Chianti Roberts did so against Tulsa on
Nov. 22, 1996, and scored a career-high 25 points against Arkansas. His
performance in those two games made him the Big 12 Rookie of the Week for
Dec. 12. Baker, who has averaged 21.2 points in the past six games after
scoring 24 against Northwestern State, was the Big 12 player of the week for
Dec. 5 after scoring 24 and 23 points against North Texas and UNLV.
Andre Williams on track in career blocks
Sophomore forward Andre Williams, one of just three returning lettermen for
OSU, has recorded double-doubles in two of the past three OSU games. He had
a career-high 16 points against Northwestern State, scoring 10 to help OSU
open up a seven-point lead in the first half. Williams had picked up the
second double-double of his career with an 11-point, 13-rebound performance
against Arkansas. His career-high 13 rebounds were vital as the Cowboys
maintained a modest rebounding edge over the Razorbacks. Though he has
played just 35 games in his Cowboy career, Williams is already 10th in
school history in blocked shots with 47.
Up next
The Cowboys visit San Diego State on Dec. 30 and return home for a Jan. 3
game against Texas-San Antonio before opening Big 12 play at Texas on Jan.
6.
On the air
OSU games are broadcast on the Cowboy Radio Network with KWTV's Bill Teegins
handling play-by-play duties and Tom Dirato, OSU coordinator of radio & TV,
providing commentary. Dirato and Teegins are in their 10th year as the
Cowboys' basketball radio team, Dirato is calling OSU men's basketball for
the 24th season. The OSU radio network can be accessed through the Internet
(www.okstate.com) or on Teamline. Fans wishing to use Teamline should call
(800) 846-4700 and use team code No. 1750. Use of Teamline requires a Visa
or MasterCard.
Tickets available for non-conference home games
Although Gallagher-Iba Arena is sold out for the season, tickets are
available for the next two non-conference games in the arena because, since
the games take place during holiday break, they were not included in the
student ticket package. Fans interested in purchasing tickets to the games
may call the OSU athletic ticket office at (877) ALL-4-OSU or may access
OSU's Internet site (www.okstate.com) and click on "Tickets."
Head Coach Eddie Sutton
Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State, 1958) is in his 11th year at his alma mater
with a 235-96 record at the school as well as a 665-260 overall mark in his
31st year of collegiate coaching. Under his guidance, OSU has advanced to
postseason play in nine of 10 years and has won 20 games or more eight
times. Sutton is the 20th coach in Division I history to reach the
600-victory mark, and he is just the seventh coach to reach it in 28 years
or less, joining Denny Crum, Bob Knight, Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, Jerry
Tarkanian and John Wooden.
Only one active coach (Tarkanian) ranks ahead of Sutton in both victories and winning percentage, and Sutton is the 26th person overall and the fifth active boss to coach 900 NCAA games. Sutton, who previously coached at Creighton, Arkansas and Kentucky, is the only coach in NCAA history to lead four different schools to the national tournament. With Sutton and Henry P. Iba among the 600-win club, OSU is one of only three schools -- joining Illinois and Kentucky -- with two coaches among the all-time top 20.
The OSU Athletics Center
Oklahoma State began play in its new Athletics Center on Dec. 19. Here is a quick look at the facts of the construction:
Facility name:
The arena itself will continue to be called "Gallagher-Iba
Arena," but the entire facility is known as "The OSU Athletics Center."
Architects: Gary Sparks Companies
Contractor: Manhattan Construction
Seating capacity: 13,611
For current construction information, see the "Facility Update" section of OSU's Web site (http://www.okstate.com).
On tap this week
Here's a look at what is planned for construction during the week of Dec.
18:
- Complete ground-floor Gallagher-Iba finishes & inspections/punchlist
- EIFS at southeast corner
- Windows academics area
- MEP work control work and Test & Balance work
- Masonry: southeast corner & academics
- Metal roofing & cap flashing
- Concrete south street area
- Finishes in stadium club (flooring, painting & millwork)
- Steam tunnel work in Hall of Fame tunnel (on hold by OSU)
- Terrazzo east lobby, Heritage Hall & ground floor areas
- Punchlist new arena all areas
- Academic center/practice gym finishes
- Concourse finishes & inspection/punchlist
- Second-floor finishes
- Lower-level finishes
- OSU service agencies activities
- First game Dec. 19, 2000
