Oklahoma State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Visits San Diego State on Saturday
December 27, 2000 | Cowboy Basketball
Dec. 27, 2000
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Saturday's Game
Two veteran coaches match up Saturday when Eddie Sutton's Oklahoma State
team visits Steve Fisher's San Diego State club. Fisher owns a 2-1
head-to-head edge over Sutton in the coaches' careers, having coached
Michigan to victories over OSU in the 1992 NCAA Tournament and the 1997 NIT.
The Cowboys have won four straight, including the first two games in the new
Gallagher-Iba Arena last week. San Diego State is 6-3 heading into Thursday's game against Norfolk State.
OSU-San Diego State: The Series
The series is tied 1-1, with OSU winning 97-63 last year in Oklahoma City.
In the only previous meeting in San Diego, though, the Aztecs defeated OSU
104-100 on Dec. 13, 1979, in one of only four games in OSU history in which
both teams scored over 100 points.
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 666-260 (71.9 percent)
overall and is 236-96 (71.1 percent) at OSU. Sutton is the only coach to
take four different schools to the NCAA Tournament.
A quick look at Saturday's game
In last year's game in Oklahoma City, OSU held SDSU to 11 points in the
first 17 minutes of the game and went on to a 97-63 victory. Current Aztec
center Marcelo Correa led all scorers in the game with 22 points ... San
Diego State's director of operations, Gregg Gottlieb, is the older brother
of former OSU point guard Doug Gottlieb ... OSU has lost four of its last
five games played outside the state of Oklahoma between Christmas and New
Year's.
OSU rolls past Lamar
All 10 Cowboys who saw the floor scored Dec. 22 as Oklahoma State rolled to
an 86-45 victory over Lamar in Stillwater. OSU held the Cardinals without a
field goal for the first nine and a half minutes of the game, and by that
time, the Cowboys held a 22-2 lead. Lamar missed 14 of its first 15
field-goal tries and shot just 20 percent in the first half, 31.5 percent
for the game.
Cowboys doing it with defense
OSU's swarming defensive effort against Lamar was just another episode in a
season of tough man-to-man play. The Cowboys' opponents are shooting just
36.9 percent, giving OSU the seventh-best field-goal defense in the country,
and OSU ranks 11th nationally with a scoring defense of 58.6 ppg. And OSU
has generally fared very well against its foes' top players. Three players
who were tabbed as the top players in their leagues UMKC's Michael
Jackson, North Texas' Chris Davis and UNLV's Kaspars Kambala scored in
single digits against OSU, and another, Arkansas' Joe Johnson, scored 22
points but hit just six of 17 field-goal attempts, including just two of his
last 11 tries as the Cowboys came back to win.
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, had the
biggest scoring week of his career in the Cowboys' past two games. He hit
for a career-high 22 points in the victory over Arkansas-Little Rock on Dec.
19 and then topped that number with 26 points against Lamar. Jonzen hit 19
of 26 field-goal attempts in the two games and now is shooting 64.6 percent
>from the field on the season, ranked ninth nationally according to STATS,
Inc.
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 Dec. 19 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 makes opener a memorable one The highly anticipated first game in the new Gallagher-Iba Arena was already a big watercooler topic in Oklahoma last 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 it was CNN's ?Play of the Day? and was featured in ESPN's top highlights of the year as well as earning ?Big Dady? an appearance on ESPN Radio's ?Dan Patrick Show.? In the Lamar game, Keep didn't destroy any equipment, but he earned his third start and responded with 11 points, the second double-digit performance of his career.
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 the UALR
victory and came back with 13 points against Lamar for the first
back-to-back 10-point games of his OSU career. 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.
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 (16.5 ppg) and assists (4.3 apg) and is third in rebounding
(6.1 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 was the Big 12 player of the week for Dec. 5 after scoring 24
and 23 points against North Texas and UNLV.
Sanders' scoring returns against Lamar
Sophomore forward Melvin Sanders, one of three OSU players to start every
game, scored 10 points in each of the first two games. But his shooting
touch eluded him in the Cowboys' next five outings as he failed to reach
double figures again. Against Lamar, though, Sanders scored a career-best 12
points and pulled down seven rebounds. The juco transfer is one of the most
athletic players on an athletic team his triple-jump and long-jump bests
are near world class.
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 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.
Up next
The Cowboys return home for a Jan. 3 game against Texas-San Antonio before
opening Big 12 play at Texas on Jan. 6. After the contest at UT, the Cowboys
hold the official dedication of the new Gallagher-Iba Arena on Jan. 8 when
OSU faces Iowa State in a Big Monday matchup.
Marlow breaks out against Cardinals
Freshman center Jack Marlow is one of the prized parts of the Cowboys'
top-ranked 2000 recruiting class, but until last Friday, he had not yet
scored in double figures. Against Lamar, though, the Tulsa native scored a
career-best 10 points and pulled down four rebounds. He hit four of six
field-goal attempts and both his free-throw tries.
Tickets available for UTSA game
Although Gallagher-Iba Arena is sold out for the season, tickets are
available for the Texas-San Antonio game because, since the game takes place
during holiday break, it was 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 236-96 record at the school as well as a 666-260 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)
