Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Set For Showdown With The Gators
March 25, 2000 | Cowboy Basketball
March 25, 2000
OSU returns to Elite Eight
A narrow victory over Seton Hall on Friday gave OSU its first Elite Eight
berth since the 1995 team went to the Final Four. The Cowboys, who improved
to 7-2 all-time in round-of-16 games, are 5-3 in their round-of-eight
history. OSU won in the national quarterfinals in 1945, '46, '49, '51 and
'95 and lost in 1953, '54 and '58.
Cowboys, Gators meet for second time
Oklahoma State and Florida have met just once before on the men's basketball
floor. The Gators, who would go on to the Final Four three months later,
defeated OSU 74-69 in the December 1993 Rainbow Classic. Florida held Bryant
Reeves to just four points and four rebounds in the game.
OSU coach Eddie Sutton owns a 4-5 lifetime record against Florida, his Kentucky teams split eight games with the Gators. OSU is 39-26 all-time against current SEC members, OSU lost 63-53 to LSU in New Orleans earlier this season and fell 81-74 to Auburn in last year's NCAA second round.
Cowboys eke out Sweet 16 triumph
When Brian Montonati's basket just 14 seconds into the second half gave OSU
the lead in Friday night's game, it erased Seton Hall's last lead of the
game. But the 10th-seeded Pirates hung tough throughout the second period,
extending the Cowboys until OSU finished with a 68-66 victory. Oklahoma
State committed just six turnovers, the fewest by a Cowboys squad since
OSU's 1995 team committed the same number in a second-round NCAA Tournament
victory over Alabama and a Sweet 16 triumph over Wake Forest.
Oklahoma is OK in men's hoops...
The four men's college basketball teams in the state of Oklahoma have spent
the entire season enjoying the best combined record (currently 99-34, 74.4
percent) of any state in the U.S.
Now, Tulsa and OSU have made the state the most successful in the NCAA Tournament. Both schools have reached the Elite Eight, the first time two Oklahoma schools could make that claim since 1945, when Tulsa joined Oklahoma A&M in the eight-team tournament field. That tournament, of course, marked A&M's first NCAA Championship, the Aggies would repeat the title a year later.
...and so is the Big 12
Oklahoma State and Iowa State make the Big 12 Conference one of just two
leagues to post multiple Elite Eight entries this year (the Big 10 boasts
Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin).
The Cowboys and Cyclones are the first Big 12 teams to reach the regional finals since the inception of the league prior to the 1996-97 season. The last time more than one of the current members of the Big 12 reached the final eight was 1988, when Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma earned regional-final berths. Kansas and Oklahoma advanced to the Final Four and eventually the national championship game that season, with the Jayhawks defeating the Sooners for the title.
Mason continues tourney dominance
Desmond Mason had a national coming-out party in last year's NCAA
Tournament, scoring 54 points in two games. His history of strong tournament
performances continued Friday as Mason led OSU in scoring once again,
improving the Cowboys' record to 28-3 in his career when the Waxahachie,
Texas, native is the team's top point man. Mason moved into third place in
school history in career NCAA Tournament scoring with 134 points (Randy
Rutherford is second with 150).
Jonzen continues postseason hot streak
At the end of the regular season, Fredrik Jonzen had recorded nine
double-figure-scoring games and three double-figure-rebounding games in his
career. In just five postseason games this year, though, he has four games
with 10 or more points and three with 10 or more rebounds. He continued to
show his improvement Friday with 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds,
joining Mason and Brian Montonati as OSU's only players to score in double
figures in every NCAA Tournament game.
Gottlieb continues to climb assist chart
Doug Gottlieb had 12 assists (his first double-digit game in helpers since
Feb. 21) and just two turnovers in Friday's victory. Entering the 2000
tournament, 12 assists ranked fourth among all East Region single-game
performances. Gottlieb moved past Gary Payton into eighth place in Division
I history in career assists with 940 (UNLV's Greg Anthony is seventh with
950). The Orange, Calif., native, who is 13 assists from tying the
single-season school and Big 12 record he set last season (299, 13th
all-time in Division I), also had a career-high seven rebounds in the
Cowboys' triumph over Seton Hall. His 286 helpers so far this season would
rank 24th on the Division I single-season chart, making him just the sixth
player with two seasons among the all-time top 25.
Montonati's quick strike ends deficit
OSU came out of Friday's halftime trailing by one, and Brian Montonati
wasted no time eradicating Seton Hall's last lead of the game. He scored
just 14 seconds into the period to give OSU a one-point lead and then scored
four more points consecutively before the half was a minute old, upping the
Cowboys' margin to five. Although he battled foul trouble throughout the
game, Montonati scored 15 points, one off Mason's team high. The Cowboys'
second-leading scorer this season, Montonati joins Mason as the only OSU
players to start every game this season.
Noting the Cowboys
- OSU is now 30-15 in its NCAA Tournament history, coach Eddie Sutton's career record stands at 32-20.
- Oklahoma State is now 5-0 in NCAA Tournament games played in the state of New York. Prior to this year's games in Buffalo and Syracuse, 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 is 27-6, only three teams in school history -- 1945-46 (31-2), 1950-51 (29-6) and 1991-92 (28-8) -- have won more games in a single season.
- The Cowboys are 12-4 in the national tournament when they are the higher-seeded team.
- Sutton is making his fifth appearance in the Elite Eight. His teams are 2-2: His 1978 Arkansas team reached the Final Four after defeating Cal State-Fullerton in the regional final, his 1979 Arkansas squad fell to Larry Bird's Indiana State team in the final eight, his 1986 Kentucky team lost to LSU in the final eight, and his 1995 OSU team reached the Final Four by topping Massachusetts. This tournament marked Sutton's 11th career Sweet 16 appearance (four at Arkansas, four at OSU, two at Kentucky, one at Creighton).
- OSU began this week ranked eighth nationally in three-point field-goal percentage. The Cowboys' five postseason foes have hit just 23.7 percent from long range while OSU has nailed 38.8 percent.
