Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Get 600th Win for Eddie Sutton
July 18, 2003 | Cowboy Basketball
STILLWATER, Okla. -It looked for a little while as though Eddie Sutton's 600th victory would take some work. But only for a little while.
Oklahoma State, after falling behind 13-3 in the opening minutes, overwhelmed Texas A&M 94-62 Saturday to make Sutton the 20th coach to win 600 Division I games.
Sutton, 600-237 in 28 seasons at Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and OSU, got victory No. 599 on Jan. 10 against Texas Tech. Then the Cowboys lost winnable games at Missouri and Baylor, the latter last weekend.
"I'm happy it happened here," said Sutton, in his eighth season at his alma mater. "I would have liked to beat Missouri and Baylor ... but it's over now and now we have to worry about 601 Monday night (at Oklahoma). It will be a little tougher than this one."
As the game clock wound down, the crowd chanted "Eddie! Eddie!" and the players on the bench donned T-shirts commemorating No. 600. Afterward, Sutton was presented a game ball autographed by the team.
"I've coached a long time, and I want you to know my seven-plus years here have been the happiest," he told the crowd.
Sutton had said the countdown to 600 had not become a burden, although senior Brett Robisch said, "I think Coach is relieved to have it behind him."
"I know that we tried three or four times and made out three different game balls signed by everybody, which had different (opponent) teams on them," Robisch said. "It's good to have it over with."
Robisch and Joe Adkins led a first-half blitz that got the Cowboys (13-3, 3-3 Big 12) out of their early funk. Each was 5-for-5 from the field and scored 12 points as Oklahoma State turned a 10-point deficit into a 17-point halftime lead.
"It just seemed like the ball was going in tonight," said Robisch, who was 8-of-9 from the field and had 22 points. "Some nights are going to be like that, some nights are not. But you enjoy it a lot when it is like that."
Adkins, who finished with 16 points, punctuated the opening 20 minutes with a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to make it 44-27. The Aggies made the first basket of the second half to get within 15, then Oklahoma State scored eight straight and the rout was on.
"I liked the last 35 minutes better than the first five," Sutton said. "When we came out of the dressing room, we were about as flat as I have ever seen a basketball team."
Doug Gottlieb had 10 assists and 11 points for the Cowboys.
Shanne Jones scored 14 for A&M (6-10, 0-6), which lost its seventh straight and ninth in 10 games.
"We're struggling. We're not getting things done," coach Tony Barone said. "A lot of it had to do with Oklahoma State today, but this was Eddie's day. I'm not glad that we were a part of it, but it is his day."
The blowout was Oklahoma State's second straight against the Aggies. The Cowboys won 100-65 on Jan. 3, when they shot 68 percent. They shot 63 percent Saturday.
