Knight’s diatribe sparks Texas Tech past Colorado

By Associated Press     Mar 9, 2007

? After yet another missed block-out, Texas Tech coach Bob Knight called Martin Zeno over to the Red Raiders’ bench in the second half for what Knight initially referred to as “a discussion” before correcting himself.

“Wasn’t really a discussion,” Knight said. “It was kind of a one-way conversation. ‘Discussion’ is being very liberal with what took place.”

Zeno listened, heeded Knight’s warning and thus returned to the game. That allowed Zeno to match his career high with 28 points as Texas Tech burnished its NCAA Tournament resume with an 81-71 victory over Colorado on Thursday in the first round of the Big 12 conference tournament.

Colorado (7-20) closed its final season under coach Ricardo Patton, who said before the season that his 11th campaign with the Buffaloes would be his last. Colorado failed to win consecutive games this season, the first time the Buffs had done that since the 1971-72 season.

Oklahoma State 54, Nebraska 39

Oklahoma City – Mario Boggan scored 11 points to lead a balanced scoring attack for Oklahoma State.

The victory advances Oklahoma State (21-11) into a quarterfinal matchup with No. 2 seed Texas A&M today and keeps the Cowboys hopes for an NCAA Tournament bid alive.

Three days after shooting 54 percent in an 85-73 home victory over Oklahoma State, Nebraska (17-14) went into the deep freeze via a 13-of-47 shooting performance that included a 6-of-24 effort during the opening 20 minutes. The Cornhuskers were led by Aleks Maric with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The 39 points by Nebraska establishes a new low-water mark for first-round games in the Big 12 tournament.

Baylor 97, Missouri 83

Oklahoma City – Baylor pulled off the only major upset of the opening day of the Big 12 tournament with the best shooting performance any team ever has had at the event.

Curtis Jerrells scored a career-high 31 points, and Henry Dugat added 25, sparking the 11th-seeded Bears to their first Big 12 tournament win since 2001.

Led by Jerrells and Dugat, Baylor set a tournament record by shooting 63 percent. The Bears were 34-for-54 from the field.

The backcourt combo broke a 30-30 tie by combining for 15 straight points in a two-minute span late in the opening half, helping Baylor to a 48-35 halftime lead. The pair wound up scoring 28 points in a row for the Bears during the last five minutes of the first half and first five minutes of the second half.

Missouri (18-12) got three three-point baskets from Matt Lawrence in the first four minutes of the second half to cut the Bears’ lead to 53-50, but Dugat scored back-to-back buckets, and Mark Shepherd added a hoop to run the lead to 60-50. Missouri never challenged from that point.

“We knew going in that it would be a game of runs. You could be up 20 or down 20 with their style of play. You just have to weather the storm,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said.

PREV POST

Baylor upsets Missouri

NEXT POST

23858Knight’s diatribe sparks Texas Tech past Colorado