Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys set to defend Big 12 Tournament title
March 08, 2005 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State (21-6, 11-5)
vs. Texas (20-9, 9-7) or Colorado (13-15, 4-12)
Quarterfinals • Big 12 Tournament
Friday, March 11, 2005 • 8:20 p.m. • ESPNU/ESPN+
Kemper Arena [18,278] • Kansas City, Mo.
Oklahoma State set to defend Big 12 Tournament title
Oklahoma State will travel to Kansas City, Mo., this week to compete as the No. 3 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament. The Cowboys will play the winner of Texas-Colorado on Friday night at approximately 8:20 p.m. in the quarterfinals. OSU is 21-6 overall this season and finished 11-5 in Big 12 Conference play. The Cowboys won the Big 12 Tournament last season with wins over Iowa State (83-75 in the quarterfinals), Texas Tech (82-77 in the semifinals) and Texas (65-49 in the finals).
Possible Opponents
Oklahoma State will play the winner of Thursday’s 8:20 game between No. 6 Texas and No. 11 Colorado. OSU defeated the Buffaloes, 104-86, earlier this season, and was swept by the Longhorns (75-61 in Austin and 74-73 in Stillwater). Also in the lower half of the bracket are No. 2 seed Kansas, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 10 Kansas State.
Down the road
Following this weekend’s conference tournament, the Cowboys will await word of their destination in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Selection Show will take place on Sunday, March 13, at 5:30 p.m. on CBS. Check with Mike Noteware regarding where the Cowboys will watch the broadcast.
Games on Television
Every game of the Big 12 Tournament will be televised by ESPN this season. The first eight games (Thursday’s first round and Friday’s quarterfinals) will all be televised by ESPN Regional stations in Big 12 markets and ESPNU nationwide. Saturday’s semifinals will be aired on ESPN Regional in Big 12 markets and ESPN2 nationally. Sunday’s championship game will be broadcast on ESPN. For OSU’s game on Friday night, Dave Armstrong will handle the play-by-play duties, while Reid Gettys will provide expert analysis. For Saturday’s 3:20 p.m. game, Armstrong will handle the play-by-play duties, while Paul Splittorff will provide color commentary. Sunday’s championship game will feature Ron Franklin handling the play-by-play duties, Fran Fraschilla will expert analysis and Stacey Dales-Schuman as a sideline reporter.
ESPN College GameDay in Stillwater
Last weekend, Stillwater became college basketball central with the airing of ESPN’s College GameDay fueled by Mountain Dew from outside the OSU Athletics Center. The weekend began Friday morning with ESPN2’s Cold Pizza breaking live to Stillwater on several occasions. Friday evening saw the launching of ESPNU, the latest station in ESPN’s network. That showed aired from 6 - 8 p.m. from the College GameDay set. Immediately following the ESPNU debut, 3 Doors Down, the nation’s hottest band, played a free concert for the OSU students and alumni. Saturday morning, ESPN College GameDay was live at Gallagher-Iba Arena with shows at 10 a.m., 7 p.m. and again at 11 p.m. Chris Fowler, Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas and Andy Katz took part in the show. Oklahoma State was the only school to host both ESPN’s College Football GameDay and College Basketball GameDay this season.
Last game
Texas’ Brad Buckman had a career day, scoring 27 points and grabbing nine rebounds, as the Longhorns broke OSU’s 29-game homecourt winning streak with a 74-73 win over the Cowboys. OSU had five players score in double figures, led by Joey Graham’s 17 and JamesOn Curry’s 16. The Pokes trailed by six, 70-64, with 48 seconds remaining. A putback by Ivan McFarlin cut the lead to four, and after Buckman went 1-of-2 from the line, John Lucas canned a jumper to cut it to three. Kenny Taylor made the first but missed the second free throw and Buckman got the rebound and was fouled. He missed both free throws and, with four 3.8 seconds left, Terrence Crawford nailed a trey on an in-bounds play. Daniel Gibson hit both free throws to take a 74-71 lead with less than two seconds remaining, and on a desperation shot from mid-court, Crawford was fouled by Buckman. T.C. hit the first, but missed the second with 0.3 seconds on the clock. After a timeout, he was supposed to intentionally miss the final free throw, but it banked off the back of the rim and went in.
Series vs. the Longhorns
With Texas’ of Oklahoma State this season, the Longhorns now lead the all-time series, 33-32. UT also has a 14-8 lead in the series since the Big 12 formed in 1996-97. These two teams have met four times in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, with each school winning two. The No. 10 seeded Longhorns upset the No. 2 Cowboys, 65-64, in the 1998 Big 12 Tournament. One year later, fifth-seeded OSU squeaked past top-seeded Texas, 59-57. In 2001, the fourth-seeded ‘Horns defeated No. 5 Oklahoma State, 55-54. Last year, the top-seeded Cowboys defeated No. 2 Texas, 65-49, in the finals, garnering their third conference tournament title.
Series vs. the Buffaloes
Oklahoma State leads the all-time series with Colorado, 56-45, including a 104-86 victory earlier this season in Boulder. The Cowboys also lead the series since the Big 12 formed in 1996-97 by a 5-4 count. Eddie Sutton is 16-5 vs. the Buffaloes since his return to Oklahoma State. These two teams have not met in the conference tournament since 1990. That year, the fifth-seeded Cowboys fell to No. 8 Colorado, 82-72. That game marked the only meeting between these two teams in a league tournament. They have played 10 times in Kansas City, with eight of those coming in the Big Eight Holiday Classic. That series is tied, 5-5.
