OSU guard Lucas puts on show

By Chuck Woodling     Feb 10, 2004

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo
Oklahoma State's Tony Allen (24) swats the shot of Kansas University's Keith Langford, contributing to Langford's off game. Langford scored eight points on 2-for-10 shooting in the Jayhawks' 80-60 loss to the Cowboys Monday in Stillwater, Okla.

? Preferential seating for parents of players is against NCAA and Big 12 Conference rules.

So Kansas University athletic director Lew Perkins complained to Oklahoma State officials about John Lucas Sr. sitting on press row during the Cowboys’ 80-60 win over KU Monday night.

Veteran O-State coach Eddie Sutton mentioned Perkins’ complaint during his postgame media session, stressing that Lucas, father of the OSU point guard of the same name, had every right to be on press row because he works for the Houston Rockets.

“He’s an NBA scout,” Sutton said. “Evidently, Perkins didn’t think it was OK for him to be there, but he’s paid by the NBA.”

There is no rule against pro scouts sitting among the media. It’s a common practice around the country. In fact, in some places NBA scouts are given better seats than the visiting media.

Although Perkins complained about Lucas Sr. sitting on press row, KU coach Bill Self took it in stride.

“I have no problem with that,” Self said. “He’s a scout.”

What Lucas Sr. saw may have been the best game Lucas Jr. has played since he transferred from Baylor following the Dave Bliss-Carlton Dotson-Patrick Dennehy scandal.

Lucas Jr., a pint-sized point guard who is listed as standing 5-foot-11 and weighing 152 pounds, led the Cowboys in scoring with 21 points. He made seven of nine shots, including three of five from three-point range.

Was he having fun out there, someone asked the junior backcourt standout?

“I was until I looked at the stat sheet and saw I had six turnovers,” Lucas said. “That’s probably my worst game for turnovers.”

KU point guard Aaron Miles also had six turnovers, but Lucas outscored his KU counterpart, 21-3.

“We had a good scouting report. We knew everything they were going to do,” Lucas said. “We knew their signals, their plays, and we came out and stopped them.”

Sutton wished he could bottle what he saw during the early stages Monday night.

“The first 10 minutes I don’t think we can play any better than we did,” Sutton said. “That’s as good a basketball as we’ve seen here in a long, long time. But if we play like we did the last 10 minutes a lot of teams can beat us.”

With a favorable remaining schedule, the Cowboys will be tough to overcome in the Big 12 regular-season title chase. They’re one game ahead of Kansas and a half-game ahead of Texas.

O-State already has knocked off the Longhorns in Austin, Texas, and Kansas still has to play in Austin.

“I’ll be very surprised if we win out,” Sutton said. “We have a lot of tough games ahead of us.”

Not exactly. O-State’s remaining road games are against Oklahoma, Missouri and Baylor — unranked teams all.

Lucas is more optimistic.

“The sky’s the limit, we’ve got so much talent,” Lucas said.

Added Joey Graham: “Right now, we’re in the driver’s seat.”

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