Cowboys Will Take On USC In NCAA First Round

March 13, 2001

Weekly Release in PDF Format
Player Bios in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

About the Cowboys
Oklahoma State enters the tournament with a 20-9 overall record, the fourth straight season of 20 or more wins and ninth under head coach Eddie Sutton in his 11 seasons in Stillwater. The Cowboys, who lost seven seniors from last year's team, has none on its squad this season. Junior college transfer Maurice Baker, the Big 12's Newcomer of the Year, leads the team in scoring at 20.1 points per game and is averaging 27.3 points per game over his last three contests.

Cowboys return to Tourney for 18th appearance
OSU has earned its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and the team's 18th all-time. This year's berth marks the ninth in Eddie Sutton's 11 years in Stillwater. OSU has enjoyed some tournament success, winning two championships, reaching the Final Four five times and earning a 17-1 record in opening tournament games (OSU's only loss came in 1983 at the hands of Princeton).

OSU's No. 11 seed is the lowest the team has ever had in the tournament. The team's previous low was ninth seed in 1999 when the team went 1-1 in the South Region. OSU is in the East Region for the second straight year and the fourth time overall, and each trip back east has resulted in successful runs. OSU reached the Sweet 16 as a third seed in 1991, advanced to the Final Four as the fourth seed in 1995 and made it to the Elite Eight as the third seed in 2000.

Here's a look at some OSU Tournament Trivia:

Oklahoma State, then known as Oklahoma A&M College, was the first school to win back-to-back NCAA titles when Bob Kurland led the Aggies to titles in 1945 and '46. OSU is one of just five schools with back-to-back NCAA trophies and one of only 11 universities with two trophies overall.

Kurland was named the Outstanding Player of the tournament in both championship years and is one of only five players in NCAA history to win the award twice.

OSU hit 80 percent (20 of 35) of its field-goal attempts in the 1992 second round against Tulane, that mark still stands as a tournament record.

The 1946 NCAA Championship game against North Carolina was the first to be televised locally and was broadcast on WCBS in New York with an estimated audience of 500,000.

Legendary former OSU coach Henry Iba is one of 10 coaches to win at least two NCAA titles.

Eddie Sutton is the only coach to take four different schools to the NCAA Tournament and one of just 11 to take two different schools to the Final Four. Interestingly, for the third straight year, all four of the schools Sutton has coached - OSU, Arkansas, Creighton and Kentucky - are in the tournament field. Sutton also joins Syracuse's Jim Boeheim as the only bosses who have coached teams to Final Fours after having played in the tournament with the same school.

Men's basketball part of OSU's overall athletic success
Although March means men's and women's basketball, OSU is known nationally for its success in several different sports. The Cowboys' 30 national wrestling titles are the most by any school in any sport, and Oklahoma State ranks fourth in NCAA history with 43 national team titles in all men's sports. In addition to its 30 wrestling and two men's basketball championships, OSU has also won titles in men's golf (nine, 2000 Champs), baseball (one) and men's cross country (one). Oklahoma State's total of 146 individual national titles ranks sixth all-time.

Baker and Jonzen, one of OSU's all-time top tandems
Maurice Baker and Fredrik Jonzen are shaping up as one of the top one-two scoring punches in OSU history and the best since the Final Four combo of Bryant Reeves and Randy Rutherford. Baker and Jonzen average a combined 35.1 points per game, currently the fourth-best combination in school history and the best since Reeves and Rutherford averaged a combined 41.1. See page three of this release for a list of the top five.

Cowboys, Trojans meet for the 10th time
Thursday's contest will be the 10th meeting between the two schools on the hardwood, with the Cowboys holding a 5-4 series edge. Oklahoma State and USC last played in the 1974 campaign, a 107-88 victory for the Trojans in Los Angeles. Prior to that, the squads met on a regular basis in the 1950's with six of the nine games taking place in that decade. Thursday's game will be the first ever for Eddie Sutton against USC in his 31-year coaching career. Inside the numbers

Looking ahead: Boston College or Southern Utah awaits
The winner of the OSU-USC game will face Boston College or Southern Utah in the second round. The Cowboys have never played Boston College and are 2-0 all-time against Southern Utah. The Cowboys last played the Thunderbirds in the 1997-98 season and came away a 79-58 victory in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Cowboys in the NCAA Tournament Here's a look at the Cowboys' career numbers in NCAA Tournament play. Fredrik Jonzen is the only current player to have played in two tournaments.

We're here to help...
Traveling with the Cowboys are media relations coordinator Thomas Samuel and associate director of athletics/media relations Steve Buzzard. Please feel free to contact either Buzzard or Samuel with any questions. Both can be reached at the team hotel, the Nassau Hotel and Convention Center, (phone(516) 486-4100). Should OSU advance in the tournament, updated statistics will be available within two hours of the game's completion, and updated notes will be available prior to Friday's news conferences.

Head Coach Eddie Sutton
Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State, 1958) is in his 11th year at his alma mater with a 249-104 record at the school as well as a 679-268 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 recently passed John Wooden and Denny Crum into 14th place (fifth among active coaches) in career victories.

Only one active coach (Tarkanian) ranks ahead of Sutton in both victories and winning percentage, and OSU's boss ranks behind only Tarkanian, Dean Smith and Bob Knight in victories through 31 or fewer years of coaching. 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.

Announcers donate efforts in honor of fallen comrade
Big 12 radio play-by-play men from the eight of the 11 other schools in the conference have volunteered their efforts in honor of their comrade Bill Teegins, OSU's play-by-play man, who passed away in the Jan. 27 airplane crash. The eight announcers call at least one Cowboy game each (Mike Kelly of Missouri graciously did two) and donated their $500 talent fee to the Bill Teegins Memorial Fund. Learfield Sports, which owns the rights to Cowboy Basketball, matched the sum as well. The first game after the accident against Missouri on Feb. 5 was broadcasted by Bob Barry Sr., the voice of the Oklahoma Sooners. Warren Swain, the voice of the Nebraska Cornhuskers will call the action for the Cowboys at the East Regional in Long Island, N.Y.

New York, New York
The Cowboys seem to enjoy playing in the state of New York, where the team is 5-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament games. Prior to last season's 3-1 run through Buffalo and Syracuse, the Cowboys previously had played just two tourney games in the Empire State: OSU's two NCAA title-game victories, in 1945 and '46, were played in New York City.

Recapping the 2001 Big 12 Tournament
First Round, March 8: OSU 71, Texas Tech 59
Oklahoma State opened the Big 12 tourney with a 71-59 victory over Texas Tech on Thursday in Kansas City. The Cowboys trailed only briefly and beat Tech for the third time this season. Maurice Baker tied his career-high of 31 points, set against Oklahoma on March 3, to lead Oklahoma State to the win. OSU moved to 4-1 all-time in opening games of the Big 12 tournament. Fredrik Jonzen added 21 points and had nine rebounds for the Cowboys. Tech led only twice, at 2-0 and 16-15, both on baskets by Jamal Brown, who finished with 14. After Brown put Tech up for the second time, Baker scored seven points in a 13-0 run and the Cowboys went on to a 32-18 halftime lead. Oklahoma State opened the second half with a 13-2 run, but Tech then scored 19 straight points to close to 45-39. Jonzen scored five points as the Cowboys ran off the next 10 and went on to close out the season for the Red Raiders.

Quarterfinals, March 9: Texas 55, OSU 54
No. 20 Texas slipped past Oklahoma State 55-54 last Friday to reach the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament. Texas had its lead cut to one when Oklahoma State's Maurice Baker hit his fourth 3-pointer with 44 seconds to go. After Brian Boddicker missed from the baseline for Texas, Victor Williams got the rebound for Oklahoma State and passed to Baker. But as Baker drove in for the potential go-ahead bucket, Mouton tied up the Cowboys' All-Big 12 guard and the Longhorns got the ball on the alternate possession. After a deliberate foul with 3.1 seconds left, Owens missed the front end of a one-and-one. But Baker's desperation heave from 35 feet was long as the buzzer sounded. Baker finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season, in the loss.

Maurice Baker- Big 12 Newcomer of the Year
Prior to the start of the Big 12 Tourney last week in Kansas City, junior guard Maurice Baker was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year as voted on by the coaches. Baker lived up to the honor in the first round of the tourney, tying a career-high with 31 points in the Cowboys 71-59 win over Texas Tech. He followed that performance with a 20-point, 10 rebound performance against Texas, his fifth double-double of the season. Baker closed out the regular season in fine fashion against Oklahoma on March 3, scoring a career-high 31 points to go along with nine rebounds. The 6-1 guard, who had been the Big 12 player of the week Dec. 5 and the rookie of the week Dec. 12 and Jan. 15, was named the league's rookie of the week for the third time Jan. 22 after averaging 27.5 points in two games. He leads OSU in scoring (19.7 ppg, second in the Big 12, his 20.7 ppg average in conference games is first in the league), assists (4.4 apg) and steals (2.0 spg). The Madison, Ill., product is starting to garner postseason awards as well as he was named to All-Big 12 first team by the Associated Press and the Big 12 coaches as well as the All-District 12 team by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). In addition, he was named College Hoops Insider's Juco Transfer of the Year as well as being named to the All-Juco first team by the internet site. Baker, who was named to the Big 12's All-Newcomer team, scored 22 points against Missouri on Feb. 5 and tallied the same number of points in the Cowboys loss to Nebraska on Feb. 7. His streak of 20 or more points in a game ended at six in the loss to Kansas on Feb 10. Baker scored 13 points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds in the win over Oklahoma on Feb. 14. He followed that with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists against Texas before fouling out in overtime. He scored 19 points with four steals in the Cowboys win over Texas A&M Feb. 24.

Baker's 29 points against Baylor, hitting six of 10 three-pointers - OSU's previous team high for a single game this season was five treys. He then hit seven threes against St. Gregory's and four against Texas A&M, giving him 17 in his last three games after he hit 19 in the first 13 games of the year. Baker's 22-point, 10-rebound effort against Texas A&M gave him his fourth double-double, all of which have come since Jan. 1. The junior led the team with 27 points in the loss to Colorado, his fourth straight game of 20 or more points.

Baker had 19 points and career highs of 14 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals in the Jan. 3 victory over Texas-San Antonio. The performance made him just the second Cowboy to record a triple-double. Joe Atkinson was previously the only OSU player with a triple-double, he had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocked shots against New Orleans on Jan. 5, 1985. Baker is also only the third player in Big 12 history with a triple-double. The Iowa State game marked the third time this season that Baker has led OSU in points, rebounds, assists and steals in the same game (he also did so at Wichita State and against Texas-San Antonio), before this season, no player had accomplished that feat since the 1996-97 season.

Jonzen putting together solid junior campaign
Swedish import Fredrik Jonzen, whose breakout performance in last year's postseason earned him All-East Region honors in the NCAA Tournament, has picked up his scoring numbers in last two months of the season. Jonzen, who turned in a career-high-tying 26-point effort against Iowa State and equalled that mark against Missouri, appears to like the surroundings of the new Gallagher-Iba Arena, where he averages a team-high 17.6 points per game. Despite a subpar shooting night, he scored 17 points against Texas A&M and pulled down 12 rebounds for his second double-double this season and the sixth of his career. Jonzen has scored in double figures in his last six contests and managed to dish out a career-high six assists in the Cowboys emotional win over Missouri on Feb. 5. He continued his streak of double-digit scoring games with 11 points against Nebraska and 11 against Kansas before fouling out in both games. The Sweden native narrowly missed out on a triple-double against Texas A&M on Feb. 21, scoring 13 points with nine rebounds and seven assists in the 82-76 win. He hit a clutch 16-foot jumper with 36 seconds left in the Kansas State game to give the Cowboys the lead in a 52-47 win. Of late, Jonzen has been a deft passer, including a career-high eight dishes against Baylor on Feb. 28.

Three Cowboys earn Academic All-Big 12 honors
Fredrik Jonzen, Jason Keep and the late Nate Fleming were all named to the Academic All-Big 12 team, the conference announced on Feb. 28. Jonzen, a junior international business major, and Fleming, a sophomore from Edmond, Okla., were both named to the first team which recognizes student-athletes who achieve a grade point average of 3.20 or better. Keep, a junior, was named to the second team which honors those who have a 3.0 to 3.19 grade point.

Bernard Ellis Kidd leaves the Cowboy basketball team
Oklahoma State head basketball coach Eddie Sutton confirmed Feb. 26 following the Texas Tech contest that freshman guard Ellis Kidd has withdrawn from school for personal reasons. Kidd, a 6-4, 180-pound shooting guard from James Madison High School in Dallas, had seen limited playing time this year due to a knee injury suffered during the preseason. He saw action against Wichita State and Arkansas and was going to pursue a medical redshirt year. "He withdrew from school last Friday," Coach Sutton said. "He was struggling with his classes and, in all likelihood, will have to go to a community college. We certainly wish him well."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Related News

Related Videos