STILLWATER, OKLA. ? At least a handful of fans in Oklahoma State’s Gallagher-Iba Arena will be rooting for Kansas University freshman J.R. Giddens tonight.
“My family will be cheering,” Giddens said of relatives who will make the hour drive from his hometown of Oklahoma City for an 8:05 p.m. battle between KU and OSU.
“I hope the rest aren’t booing,” he added with a grin.
The 6-foot-5 McDonald’s All-American, who chose KU over OSU and Oklahoma, has attended enough games in the 13,611-seat building to know it will be rocking tonight.
“It’s like Allen Fieldhouse except it’s more jam-packed,” he said of the building in which he once scored 48 points in an AAU game.
“It’s like, ‘Ahhhhhhhh,”‘ Giddens said, mimicking the roar of the crowd. “It’s really loud.”
He’d like nothing better than to win in the Sooner State — his favorite state — tonight.
“We flew to Texas twice this year. I’m like, ‘Hey, we’re flying over my state, you want to stop?'” Giddens quipped. “I’m like, ‘I live down there somewhere.'”
So does fellow KU freshman Jeremy Case, another all-stater from McAlester, Okla.
“I think it will be a lot of fun to play against Oklahoma State,” said Case, who was not recruited heavily by OU or OSU. “I grew up as an OU fan, not liking Oklahoma State because my mom and stepdad were OU fans.”
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Case’s dad, Win, is a former Oklahoma State standout who works as head coach at Oklahoma City University.
“I know he’s going for me. He wants me to beat them pretty bad,” Case said.
KU’s third Oklahoman is coach Bill Self, a former all-stater at Edmond High who played point guard for four years at OSU.
“It is his school. He’s from Oklahoma too. He doesn’t want to lose that game,” Giddens said. “Most of all we all want to win for the Jayhawks.”
Oklahomans already are hyping Giddens’ return home. A story Sunday in his hometown paper, the Daily Oklahoman, speculated that Giddens’ ability could land him a spot in the NBA after just two college seasons.
“I haven’t told Bill this yet,” San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford told the paper, “but I was sitting next to one of the scouts who said if Giddens would come out this year, he’d be building a bigger house.”
“I’m just going to laugh about it,” Giddens said of turning pro after two seasons. “I’m not planning on doing anything but playing ball at Kansas.”
“If everybody starts writing it and saying it, trust me, it wouldn’t take much to get J.R.’s emotions going,” Self joked. “He’s an emotional dude, but he’s a terrific kid.”
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Case staying put: Jeremy Case, who hasn’t played much his freshman year, doesn’t plan to transfer to OCU to play for his dad.
“No, that is definitely not an option,” Win Case told the Oklahoman. “Jeremy absolutely loves it at Kansas. He is in no way leaving, no way.”
Jeremy Case told the Journal-World: “My goals are to get better and hopefully my minutes will go up the rest of the season. If not, it’s OK. I’ll keep working hard and hopefully have better minutes next year.”
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Solid point guard: John Lucas, a 5-11 junior who played at Baylor last season, transferred to Okie State in the wake of the Patrick Dennehy tragedy and was granted immediate eligibility by Big 12 Conference officials. He takes averages of 13.8 points a game and 5.0 assists into tonight’s showdown between teams with 7-1 league records.
“I’ve heard people are already camping out,” Lucas said of KU-OSU. “This is going to be a big-time game. I can’t wait.”