Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys face Jayhawks in Lawrence
February 25, 2005 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State (20-4, 10-3)
at Kansas (20-4, 10-3)
Sunday, February 27, 2005 • 3:05 p.m.
Allen Fieldhouse [16,300] • Lawrence, Kan.
Cowboys face Jayhawks in Lawrence
Oklahoma State travels to Lawrence, Kan., this weekend for a Sunday afternoon game with the Kansas Jayhawks. Tipoff is set for 3:05 p.m., and the game will be televised by CBS Sports. Both teams sport an identical 20-4 overall record and a 10-3 mark in Big 12 Conference action, tied for first in the league. The Cowboys are coming off a 74-67 loss to Nebraska on Tuesday night in Lincoln, while the Jayhawks are coming off a 71-63 defeat at the hands of Oklahoma on Monday night in Norman. OSU and KU have a one-game lead over Oklahoma and Texas Tech in the league standings. Oklahoma State is ranked fourth nationally in both polls, while Kansas is ranked seventh in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and eighth in the Associated Press poll. The Jayhawks lead the all-time series, 97-50, including a 52-10 mark in Lawrence. OSU won last year’s meeting, 80-60, in Stillwater.
OSU-KU on television
Oklahoma State’s game at Kansas will be televised nationally by CBS Sports. Verne Lundquist will handle the play-by-play duties, while Billy Packer will provide color commentary. This game will mark OSU’s second game in a week on CBS, as the same crew also called the OSU-Texas Tech game last Saturday in Stillwater. It is also the 11th of 13 nationally televised games for the Cowboys this season. The Texas A&M game next week will be broadcast by ESPN2, and the regular-season finale against Texas next Saturday will be televised by ESPN. Of Oklahoma State’s 27 regular-season games this year, 23 will be on television.
Last game
Oklahoma State committed 19 turnovers and allowed Nebraska to shoot 56.3 percent from the floor as the Huskers downed the Cowboys, 74-67, Tuesday night in Lincoln. John Lucas scored 20 points and Daniel Bobik added 14, but the Pokes could not overcome a 22 point outing by Husker freshman Joe McCray. NU had just three steals despite OSU’s 19 turnovers, justifying the notion that most of them were unforced turnovers. The Cowboys connected on 11 of 24 shots from beyond the three-point arc, but was just 6-of-8 from the line, while Nebraska made 24 trips to the charity stripe. OSU led by 11 just nine minutes into the game at 18-7 and appeared to be en route to an easy victory. However, the Huskers wouldn’t go away and with 30 seconds remaining before intermission, NU had a two-point lead. The game entered halftime tied at 32-32. Nebraska scored the first 10 points of the second half and never looked back.
About Kansas
Kansas is 20-4 overall and 10-3 in league play, currently on a three-game losing streak. It’s the first time KU has lost three in a row since the 1993-94 season. The Jayhawks are led by senior forward Wayne Simien, who leads the league in both scoring (18.6 points per game) and rebounding (10.8 boards per contest). Kansas is 13-1 at home, with that lone loss being the Jayhawks las game in Allen Fieldhouse, a 63-61 loss to Iowa State in overtime. KU is outscoring its opponents by an average of 11.7 points per game, and has a plus-3.5 rebounding margin. The ‘Hawks are shooting 47.2 percent from the floor and averaging 6.8 treys per game. Kansas has an overall turnover margin of +0.2, and is shooting 67 percent from the free-throw line.
Series vs. the Jayhawks
Kansas leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State, 97-50, including a 52-10 mark in Allen Fieldhouse. OSU is 3-8 vs. Kansas since the Big 12 formed in 1996-97, and that includes an 80-60 win in the last meeting last season in Stillwater. The other two wins came in 1999-2000, with OSU defeating the Jayhawks 86-53 in Stillwater and 77-58 in Kansas City at the Big 12 Tournament. The series began in 1926, with this being the 148th meeting. Eddie Sutton is 10-19 all-time against Kansas, including an 8-17 mark while at Oklahoma State.
OSU-Kansas ties
Kansas head coach Bill Self is a 1985 graduate of Oklahoma State, and was a four-year letterwinner for the Cowboys. He was an assistant for OSU from 1986-90 under Leonard Hamilton and 1990-93 under Eddie Sutton ... KU assistant Tim Jankovich was an assistant on Sutton’s staff at Oklahoma State during the 1992-93 season ... Chris Theisen, the Kansas Assistant AD for Media Relations, is a 1991 OSU graduate ... KU has three Oklahomans on its roster: sophomore guard Jeremy Case (McAlester), sophomore guard J.R. Giddens (OKC John Marshall), and freshman forward Darnell Jackson (Midwest City).
Down the road
OSU will host Texas A&M on Wed., March 2 (please note tipoff time change to 6 p.m.), in a game that will be televised by both Cowboy Sports Network (within state of Oklahoma) and ESPN2 (outside state of Oklahoma). The Cowboys will round out the regular season with a home game against Texas on Saturday, March 5, in a game televised by ESPN at 8 p.m.
