Oklahoma State University Athletics
Men's Hoops Squares Off Against Pepperdine
March 18, 2000 | Cowboy Basketball
March 18, 2000
No. 14/15 Oklahoma State Cowboys
2000 NCAA Tournament East Regional
Second-Round Supplement
OSU advances to second round again
For the eighth time in eight NCAA Tournament trips under Eddie Sutton,
Oklahoma State has reached the tourney's second round. The third-seeded
Cowboys, who will square off against Pepperdine on Sunday, are 8-0 under
Sutton and 16-1 all-time in opening NCAA Tournament games after Friday's
86-66 victory over Hofstra. However, OSU is looking for its first Sweet 16
appearance since the 1995 team went to the Final Four. The Cowboys have
reached the Sweet 16 three times under Coach Sutton but have lost in the
second round in each of the last two years.
OSU-Pepperdine series deadlocked at 1
Oklahoma State and Pepperdine have met just twice, with each team winning on
its home floor during a two-year home-and-home series in the 1980s.
Pepperdine won the first meeting Nov. 29, 1986, in Malibu, and OSU returned
the favor with an 83-66 Gallagher-Iba Arena victory Dec. 14, 1987. The
Cowboys are 11-0 against other members of the West Coast Conference.
Cowboys roll to first-round triumph
Oklahoma State took control with an early 17-6 run and cruised to an 86-66
victory over Hofstra in Friday's first-round game. The victory continued
OSU's trend of bouncing back big-time from its losses, this season, OSU won
games following losses by margins of 60, 15, 39, 36, 19 and 20 points and an
average score of 91.5 to 60.
Mason continues Tourney dominance
Desmond Mason had a national coming-out party in last year's NCAA
Tournament, scoring 54 points in two games. He continued that streak in
Friday's game when he torched Hofstra for 30 points, the third-most ever
scored by an OSU player in an NCAA Tournament game. Only All-Americans Bob
Mattick (35 against Texas Christian in 1953) and Bryant Reeves (32 vs. Tulsa
in 1994) have scored more points for OSU in the tourney. Mason moved into
fourth place in school history in career NCAA Tournament scoring with 105
points (Byron Houston is third with 119). His career NCAA Tournament scoring
average of 21.0 points per game currently ranks third in school history as
well. Mason has averaged 28.0 points in his last three NCAA Tournament
performances. OSU is 27-3 in his career when Mason is the Cowboys' leading
scorer, during his four years at OSU, the team's winning percentage drops
28.5 points when Mason is not the high point man.
Adkins continues scoring pace
Joe Adkins scored 11 points Friday for his 12th double-figure scoring game
in the last 13 contests. In the month of January, Adkins averaged just 5.9
points, but since the first of February, he has averaged 14.1 points,
including 15.0 in postseason play.
Jonzen continues postseason hot streak
Fredrik Jonzen didn't hit his first (and only) field goal Friday until
almost 30 minutes had elapsed, but that didn't stop him from having yet
another outstanding postseason performance. Jonzen, who had 30 rebounds --
including a tournament-record 17 against Iowa State -- in two Big 12
Tournament games last week, had 13 points and 11 rebounds against Hofstra
for his third straight double-digit-carom performance and his second
double-double in three games. Jonzen also hit a career-high 11 free throws,
the most by an OSU player since Bryant Reeves hit 13 against Kansas in 1995.
Coming into this season, no OSU player since Reeves had hit as many as nine
free throws in a game, but Jonzen has done so three times this season,
including twice in the last three games. In postseason play, Jonzen has
recorded 41 rebounds and 26 free throws in three games. His 11 rebounds
against Hofstra rank as the sixth-highest board total in OSU history in NCAA
Tournament games.
Alexander gets off the tourney schneid
Glendon Alexander struggled from the field in last year's NCAA Tournament
performance, going 0-for-9 from three-point range. But Alexander had no such
trouble Friday against Hofstra as he scored 11 points and hit three of five
three-point attempts (one was a 40-foot shot as the shot clock expired at
the end of the game). Alexander's 75 three-pointers this season rank fifth
in school history, and he needs three more to catch Randy Rutherford (78 in
1994) for fourth place. In the last 12 games, Alexander has hit 35 of 63
three-point shots (55.6 percent).
Noting the Cowboys
- OSU is now 28-15 in its NCAA Tournament history, coach Eddie Sutton's career record stands at 30-20.
- Oklahoma State is now 3-0 in NCAA Tournament games played in the state of New York. The Cowboys' only two previous NCAA Tourney games in the Empire State were the 1945 and '46 title games, won by the Cowboys of coach Henry Iba and center Bob Kurland.
- OSU's 86 points in its victory over Hofstra rank as the team's third-highest total in a tournament game. The 1992 Cowboys scored 100 in an opening-round win over Georgia Southern and 87 in a second-round triumph over Tulane. The 20-point margin of victory was OSU's best in an NCAA Tourney game since the first round of the 1995 tournament, when OSU defeated Drexel 73-49.
- After Friday's game against 14th-seeded Hofstra and heading into Sunday's contest with 11th seed Pepperdine, OSU is 7-3 all-time against tournament teams seeded 10th or higher, with losses to 12th-seeded Princeton in 1983, 10th seed Temple in 1991 and No. 12 Tulsa in 1994. The Cowboys are 10-4 in the national tournament when they are the higher-seeded team.
