Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Face Pittsburgh Panthers in Sweet 16
March 23, 2004 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State advances to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in East Rutherford, New Jersey
No. 2 seed Cowboys will play No. 3 seed Pittsburgh in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament in the Continental Airlines Arena at 6:27 p.m. (CST)
radio - Cowboy Radio Network • internet - okstate.com • TV - CBS
Pokes advance to Sweet 16
Oklahoma State travels to East Rutherford, N.J., this weekend after advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. No. 2 seed OSU defeated No. 15 Eastern Washington, 75-56, and No. 7 Memphis, 70-53, to advance out of Kansas City. The Cowboys will face the No. 3 seed Pittsburgh on Thursday afternoon at 7:27 p.m. Eastern. The Panthers defeated Central Florida, 53-44, and Wisconsin, 59-55, to advance to the regional semifinals. OSU is 29-3 overall this season and has won 19 of its last 21 games. Pitt is 31-4 overall this season and has won six of its last seven.
Big 12 Tournament Champions
Oklahoma State won the Big 12 Tournament last weekend, the school's first league tournament title since 1995. It is first time that OSU has won both the regular-season championship and the tournament title in the same season. OSU defeated Iowa State, 83-75, in the quarterfinals of the tournament, and staved off a blistering Red Raider run as the Cowboys defeated Texas Tech, 82-77, in the semifinals. Oklahoma State defeated the Texas Longhorns for the third time this season in the finals with a 65-49 victory. Tony Allen was named the MVP of the tournament, while Joey Graham and John Lucas were also named to the all-tournament team.
Regular-Season Champions
Oklahoma State won the conference championship for the first time since 1990-91, when the Cowboys were co-champs with Kansas that year with a 10-4 record. The last time OSU won an outright league title was 1964-65. It is Oklahoma State's 17th regular-season conference title, and the second under Coach Eddie Sutton.
Cowboys ranked fourth in final AP poll
The Associated Press released its final poll prior to the NCAA Tournament, and the Cowboys were ranked fourth. It is the highest that OSU has been ranked in the AP poll since the 1991-92 season, when the Pokes were ranked as high as second in mid-February, and it is the highest ranking Oklahoma State has achieved in the final poll since 1950-51, when the Aggies were ranked second in the final Associated Press poll. Oklahoma State was ranked fourth in the final Coaches poll in 1995. However, the Coaches final poll comes out following the NCAA Tournament has wrapped up. That year, the Cowboys made the Final Four.
Something Special
This season has been quite a year for the Cowboy Basketball team. The 24 wins in the regular season are the most by an OSU squad since the 1991-92 team went 24-4. The 24-3 record is the best mark by percentage since the 1947-48 season, when the then Oklahoma A&M Aggies went 27-3 in the regular season. The Cowboys' 14 conference victories are the most in a single season in school history, and the 15-0 record at home in Gallagher-Iba Arena is the best perfect record all-time for OSU. It is only the 12th time that the Cowboys have gone undefeated at home, and the third time OSU has won 15 games in a single season at home. The Pokes' two losses on the road are the fewest since the 1953-54 squad that went 11-2, the last time OSU finished four games over .500 in league road games.
Allen, Lucas named Co-Big 12 Players of the Year
In a rare occurance, Oklahoma State's Tony Allen and John Lucas were both named the Big 12 Conference's Player of the Year. Allen was the coaches selection as the most valuable player, while Lucas received the writers' vote as the best player in the league. It is the second year in a row that there were two players named Player of the Year in the league (Nick Collison of KU was the coaches selection last year, while OU's Hollis Price was the AP's selection), and the sixth time in Big 12/Big Eight history. However, it is the first time that two players from the same team were named Co-Players of the Year in conference history. This marks the fourth time in league history that a Cowboy was named the conference player of the year. Byron Houston shared the honor with Missouri's Doug Williams in 1991, while Bryant Reeves was the POY in 1993. Reeves shared the accolade in 1995 with Oklahoma's Ryan Minor.
Sutton earns district Coach of the Year award
Oklahoma State head coach Eddie Sutton is one of 15 coaches named a 2004 National Association of Basketball Coaches District Coach of the Year, it was announced last weekend. Coach Sutton is the COY for District 12. Other coaches that were honored include St. Joseph's Phil Martelli, Rick Stansbury of Mississippi State, Memphis' John Calipari, Mike Montgomery of Stanford and Arizona's Lute Olson.
Sutton consensus league Coach of the Year
Head Coach Eddie Sutton has been named the consensus Big 12 Coach of the Year. It is his third such honor since returning to Oklahoma State. He shared the honor in 1993 with Kansas State's Dana Altman (coaches), and was the consensus Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1998. Coach Sutton is now an eight-time conference coach-of-the-year selection (1975, 77, 79, 81, 86, 93, 98, 2004). This year, the Cowboys were picked fifth in the preseason polls by both the league coaches and the writers that regularly cover the conference. The Cowboys exceeded all expectations, winning both the regular season and tournament title.
Sutton honored by Naismith Foundation
Before the Cowboys' regular-season finale with Texas A&M, Coach Eddie Sutton was named a recipient of the Naismith Good Sportsmanship Award. The award, the most prestigious presented by the Naismith Foundation, has been given to only 31 people, including Michael Jordan, Red Auerbach, John Wooden, Oscar Robertson and Pat Summit. The Naismith award weighs 80 pounds and is 3-1/2 feet tall. An eight-inch bronze sculpture of James Naismith in a gym with replica peach baskets is featured on the upper tier. On the base, six plaques contain the original rules of basketball.
Lucas a Wooden Award finalist
John Lucas is one of 20 players nationally that has been named to the official voting ballot for the 2004 Wooden Award All-America team and Player of the Year, presented annually to the nation's top collegiate basketball player. The All-America team will be announced on March 30, and the top-five candidates will be invited to Los Angeles for the awards ceremony. The winner will be announced on Saturday, April 10, and each finalist will receive a contribution from the John R. Wooden Award Scholarship fund in their name to their university's general scholarship fund. Lucas is one of three Big 12 student-athletes on the list, joining Andre Emmett of Texas Tech and Kansas' Wayne Simien. A pair of Lucas' former teammates (Emeka Okafor at Bellaire HS and Lawrence Roberts at Baylor) are also on the finalist list.
Cowboys earn All-Big 12 accolades
While a complete list of postseason honors can be found elsewhere in this release, it is safe to say that the Oklahoma State Cowboys have earned a multitude of accolades this season. Several publications have released their All-Big 12 teams, as well as individual honors, and several Cowboys are listed. The Associated Press released its All-Big 12 team, and both Tony Allen and John Lucas were named to the first team. Juniors Ivan McFarlin and Joey Graham were named honorable mention All-Big 12. In the coaches balloting, Allen and Lucas were both first-team All-Big 12, while Joey Graham earned third-team honors and Ivan McFarlin was an honorable mention selection.
Graham Big 12 Newcomer of the Year
For the second-consecutive season, a Cowboy was named the Big 12 Conference's Newcomer of the Year. Last season, Tony Allen was a unanimous selection. This year, junior Joey Graham was the Big 12 Coaches' pick for newcomer of the year.
Big 12 Specialty teams
Oklahoma State had several players named to the Big 12 All-Specialty teams, selected by sportswriters who regularly cover the league. Joey Graham was named to the all-newcomer team, while John Lucas was named to the all-improved squad. Both Tony Allen and Ivan McFarlin were named to the all-defense team.
Allen, Lucas named All-District
Senior Tony Allen and junior John Lucas were both named first-team All-District 12 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, it was announced on Feb. 18. That gave the Cowboys two players on the first team of their respective all-district team, one of 10 teams in the country to share that distinction. Both players are now listed as candidates for the NABC's All-America teams.
Cowboys garner honors in the classroom
Three Oklahoma State Cowboys earned Academic All-Big 12 honors, it was announced last week by the league office. Stephen Graham, a junior majoring in aviation sciences, was named first-team Academic All-Big 12. Stephen's twin brother, Joey, who is also majoring in aviation sciences, was named second-team Academic All-Big 12, as was junior Terrence Crawford, who is majoring in marketing.
About Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is 31-4 overall this season and is the No. 3 seed in the East Rutherford regional. The Panthers finished with a 13-3 league record in the Big East Conference this season, and lost to UConn in the finals of the Big East Championship. In fact, two of Pitt's four losses are to the Connecticut Huskies. The Panthers lost at UConn, 68-65, and the 61-58 loss in the finals of the Big East Tournament. Pittsburgh's other two losses were a 68-67 overtime loss at Seton Hall and a 49-46 overtime loss to Syracuse at home. Pitt defeated Central Florida, 53-44, in the first round, and defeated Wisconsin, 59-55, to advance to the Sweet 16. The Panthers are led by sophomore guard Carl Krauser, who is averaging 15.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, as well as 4.6 assists per contest. All four other starters are averaging nearly 10 points per game. As a team, Pitt is shooting 47.4 percent from the floor, 31.1 percent from long range, and 65.4 percent from the charity stripe. The Panthers are averaging 68.4 points per game while limiting their opponents to just 56.2 points per contest. Pitt outrebounds its opponent by an average of 5.5 boards per game.
Series History vs. Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh owns a 3-2 mark against Oklahoma State all-time on the hardwood, including a 2-1 record on neutral courts. The two teams played the first game in the series on Feb. 8, 1950, with OSU taking a 43-34 victory in Stillwater. The next four games were all played within a three-year span. Pitt defeated the Cowboys, 93-75, on Nov. 26, 1988, in Pittsburgh. The teams played twice during the 1989-90 season, with the 18th-ranked Panthers taking a 102-90 win over Oklahoma State on Dec. 1, and again defeating the Cowboys, 92-81, on Dec. 27, in Atlanta, Ga. The last meeting between these two schools came on Nov. 27, 1991, when OSU defeated the Panthers, 74-63, in New York City in the Preseason NIT. OSU was ranked No. 11 at the time, while Pittsburgh was ranked 24th. It was the only time Coach Eddie Sutton has ever played Pittsburgh.
Looking ahead
Should the Cowboys defeat Pittsburgh, there are two opponents looming on the horizon — St. Joseph's and Wake Forest. OSU is 3-2 all-time vs. St. Joe's, with all five meetings being played in Pennsylvania in the 1940s. Oklahoma State is 1-1 all-time vs. the Demon Deacons, defeating Wake Forest, 71-66, in March of 1995 en route to the Final Four, and losing to Wake eight months later, 69-53, in Detroit.
NCAA Tournament Notes
Here are some tidbits regarding Oklahoma State's Sweet 16 appearance in East Rutherford this weekend:
• This is Oklahoma State's 21st appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including the 12th under Coach Eddie Sutton. It is also Oklahoma State's seventh-consecutive appearance in the postseason tourney.
• Oklahoma State has made two previous appearances in East Rutherford, with mixed results. In 1991, OSU lost to 10th-seeded Temple, 72-63, in overtime in the Sweet 16 in East Rutherford. In 1995, OSU advanced to the Final Four after defeating No. 1 seed Wake Forest and No. 2 seed UMass, both in the Meadowlands.
• OSU owns the record for the highest field-goal percentage by a team in an NCAA Tournament game. The Cowboys shot 80 percent (28-of-35) vs. Tulane on March 22, 1992, in the second round in Atlanta, Ga.
• Oklahoma State's No. 2 seed is the second since the seeding process began. OSU was also a No. 2 seed in 1992, when the Cowboys advanced to the Sweet 16. That year, the Pokes defeated No. 15 Georgia Southern, 100-73, in the first round, but fell to a sixth-seeded Michigan, 75-72, in Lexington, Ky.
• This is OSU's sixth top-four seed under Coach Sutton.
• Oklahoma State is 33-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• Ivan McFarlin has recorded four of his 21 career double-doubles in the NCAA Tournament. He has grabbed double-figure rebounds in each of his five NCAA Tournament games, and is averaging a double-double with 13.8 points and 11 rebounds per contest.
• Tony Allen is averaging 13.3 points, five rebounds, four assists and 2.8 steals per game in five NCAA Tournament games.
