CARBONDALE, Ill. — For the third year in a row, Oklahoma State found itself in the NIT. For the third year in a row Sean Sutton tried to convince his team the NCAA's little-brother tournament was worth its effort, could be made into something positive.
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For the third year in a row, OSU lost in the first round, this time a 69-53 loss to Southern Illinois.
But unlike last year, when Sutton said his players looked like they would have rather been on Spring Break after their first-round loss to Marist, Sutton said he was content with their effort in the 16-point loss to the Missouri Valley team.
"I thought we played hard,” Sutton said. "We just missed shots.”
Point guard Byron Eaton echoed his sentiment.
"We was ready to play the game,” Eaton said. "We missed a lot of inside shots… We had a lot of shots we wasn't able to collect on. We was definitely ready. We just didn't hit shots when we were open.”
SIU coach Chris Lowery declined to offer his opinion on OSU's preparedness.
"That's not my team so I can't answer that,” Lowery said. "All I can say is my guys were ready to play. We wanted to play again. We took the NIT very serious. There was letdown on selection Sunday, but we got them back in. We played really hard.”
OSU shot just 35 percent from the floor and 16 percent from 3-point range. Junior Terrel Harris led the Cowboys with 20 points and freshman James Anderson had 13. In his final game in an OSU uniform Marcus Dove scored five points.
The Salukis were 51 percent from the floor and 54 percent from 3.
"I thought they played really well,” Sutton said. "We knew they were a terrific defensive team. Tonight they played extremely well at the defensive end and the offensive end.”
OSU never led, and was down 20 points in the final minutes despite the Salukis being without their starting point guard.
SIU committed 18 turnovers – and OSU had 11 steals – as the Salukis handled the ball by committee without injured point guard Bryan Mullins. But ball security aside, SIU outplayed OSU as the combination of poor rebounding and ice-cold shooting did the Cowboys in.
Southern Illinois outrebounded OSU 39-21.
OSU tied the score on an Anderson 3-pointer – the Cowboys' first of the game – with 17 minutes to play.
It was the first time since the score was 3-3 that OSU wasn't trailing. But SIU responded promptly, with Matt Shaw draining a 3 to start a 7-0 run. OSU would not pull any closer than three points the rest of the way.
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Neel, thank you for confirming the weakness of your argument by resort to inflammatory rhetoric like "spewing" rather than addressing the merits of what I wrote. How is a team that started a senior and one-sometimes two juniors--"quite young"? Why where you admonishing people to remember this so-called youth if you were not making some excuse for their poor performance?
Neel, thank you for confirming the weakness of your argument by resort to inflammatory rhetoric like "spewing" rather than addressing the merits of what I wrote. How is a team that started a senior and one-sometimes two juniors--"quite young"? Why where you admonishing people to remember this so-called youth if you were not making some excuse for their poor performance?
robert.....ok that wasnt an excuse it continued on into the lack of team chemistry.....maybe you should read everything before coming to a conclusion and spewing...kstate great team chemistry there was a leader....same thing with texas.....
Oh, and Burt, I have a better idea. The Hobby Lobby guy bought ORU for $8 million. Maybe T-Boone can buy ORU from him, turn it into a satellite OSU campus then Scott can come coach for us as he will now be part of the university anyway.
Patrick, no, I do not want to get into again either. 12 hours on a site in the mountains today and it is all I can do to read, let alone create coherent sentences. But something that I have not read here yet...SIU's best player did not even suit up last night. BTW, I just filled out my bracket and I have Memphis beating UCLA for the title. Who else has what?
Hey Cowboy Fans -- What about this idea? Reassign Sean to being an Assistant Coach, which is where he is much more comfortable. Assign Coach Dickey as the Interim Head Coach for one or more years. Then hire Scott Sutton as Head Coach when he is available; and return Coach Dickey to Assistant Coach. I predict that GIA will be rocking again, sooner rather than later. (Pardon the word after the comma.)
Hey Cowboy Fans -- What about this idea? Reassign Sean to being an Assistant Coach, which is where he is much more comfortable. Assign Coach Dickey as the Interim Head Coach for one or more years. Then hire Scott Sutton as Head Coach when he is available; and return Coach Dickey to Assistant Coach. I predict that GIA will be rocking again, sooner rather than later. (Pardon the word after the comma.)
I do not think Sean should be fired, but I really wish people like Neel would stop making excuses for him, especially this "young team" canard. Our team is NOT particularly young in terms of college basketball these days. K-State starts 4 freshmen and a sophomore, Texas has no seniors and only one junior who plays, and most teams have one or two freshmen who play a lot. So give that excuse that a rest. The pro-Sean contingent has to acknowledge that Sean has not done a very good job so far and he needs to improve his performance. And time alone is not going to improve this team. Sean has to figure out how to motivate and teach the guys we have.
Sean's comments here really concern me. After this pathetic effort, Eddie would have been talking about all the open 3s we allowed SIU to make, not the shots we missed. We have to regain our commitment to playing defense first.
the thing that hurt this team the most is that the shots wouldnt fall they played hard they fought and some of the toughness we play with got us in early foul trouble because they dont play that style of rough and tough ball as we do in the big 12.......overall it has been a a huge let down in term of the season but many factors contributed to the demise..i believe that sean deserves another year its not like we got blown out of any our confrence losses....last night the guys gave up in the end and the Siluakis just rubbed it in....Holder would come under intense scrutiny if he did fire sean...you also have to remember the make up of this team was quite young and for the most part did not gel chemistry wise
All year, the team has not made adjustments during the games. Granted, Sean can't make the shots go in, but he can change up plays. Holder's silence speaks volumes and I don't think he will be around much longer. For years, Eddie gave Sean all the credit. He would say that Sean was running the offense and Sean scouted the opposing teams. So how much longer does Sean need to adjust to players he recruited, an offense he has been running for years, and a conference he has been coaching in for years? One more year won't solve anything.
Joon, you have to understand that once the OSU English department teaches the use of the word "was", there is absolutely no need to confuse their students with the more difficult use of the word "were" and its derivation "weren't".
wow, I shouldnt have gone away for those few hours, seems like the osu fans, despite their team getting their azzes handed to them, cant seem to quit talking smack, looks like that humiliating defeat would have been enough, the more smack is thrown my way the more I smile also, not one person paid attention to my post on the OU page, not one! Then it struck me, OU fans have more class and really dont pay attention to osu stuff, Guess what that says for all of you bashers on here?, yup thats right it says "we fall for his crap every time"
itmustsucktobeosu, ardmore - Mar 19, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Sounds like Phillip isn't afraid to spend some time in reality. Don't worry Phillip even a Sooner can see your evolution contrasted to less informed Cowboy faithful.
Now is the time to make a change with Coach Sean...On more than one occasion this season, he has failed to get the team ready to play...makes no adjustments throughout the game and displays no leadership...just like last night...OSU fans, students and most definitely recruiting cannot stand another season like this one...It's time we take a step in the right direction...make a commitment to basketball and hire a worthy coach...one with charisma, obvious coaching talents and a burning desire to win and build a winning program.
Have to give the Salukis credit -- that was TOUGH defense they put on our Cowboys. Without the 3-point scoring, OSU really had no chance. The inside game is marginal at best, and last night that was all they could go to. UGH --
I'm not hating on OSU saying there is a coaching problem. What does on forsee happening in one year that will change perceptions of Sean? The quicker OSU moves forward in a positive direction. The quicker we can possibly all get a better point of view about their future. Believe me I have much more to say, you folks make me smile.
But about the game, OSU just could not hit a shot to save their life. Looked like the OU game in Stillwater. Just no shots falling at all! It is what it is, just hope these freshman see how they can improve and get to working in the offseason.
Guys, don't worry. danny is just wanting to provoke us and then try to tell us we are not classy. I saw he posted on an OU article about Capel talking to South Carolina. Everyone was discussing it, and he just posted that he has posted on OSU articles about how we should be in the MVC because of this loss. Not one person even paid attention to it. What a moron. Just let him and Arron talk, and ignore their comments. I will be from now on. I can't handle talking to losers who just like OU for their football team. Let's all ignore them from now on. Ready, go.
Another sad end to another sad year. I do have to agree with one of the earlier comments that if we get an invitation to the NIT again, we should turn it down!! It's obvious that our coaching staff can't get the players up for an NIT game. Last night's performance was just an embarassment. Pass, Dribble, Pass, and shoot and miss a contested three. Something needs to change in the Cowboy basketball program and it needs to happen quickly!
Maybe all you one more year fans need to remember who has been coaching this team for the whole time they have been at OSU. Few assistant coachs suceed when promoted from within. Much better to go somewhere else as head coach. This applies even to sons of legends.
OSU notebook 03/19/2008 First-half follies Oklahoma State scored just 19 points in the first half of Tuesday night's game. It was the second-fewest points OSU scored in a half...
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Sean's comments here really concern me. After this pathetic effort, Eddie would have been talking about all the open 3s we allowed SIU to make, not the shots we missed. We have to regain our commitment to playing defense first.