Nebraska Stuns No. 4 Oklahoma State

Lincoln ? Joe McCray scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, as Nebraska rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit to stun No. 4 Oklahoma State, 74-67, Tuesday evening at the DevaneyCenter.

 

Nebraska’s freshman duo of McCray and Aleks Maric, who scored a career-high 15 points, combined for half of Nebraska’s point total. The Huskers (12-12, 5-8 Big 12) posted their first win over a top-five opponent since a 98-91 win over then No. 3 Missouri during the 1994 Big Eight Tournament.

 

Nebraska, which trailed for most of the first half, took command in the opening stages of the second stanza, using a 10-0 run to forge a 42-32 lead and never trailed again. The Huskers’ win snapped an OklahomaState (20-4, 10-3 Big 12) six-game winning streak.

 

The win was also NU’s first in 20 tries against a top-10 team dating back to a 74-69 overtime win over IowaState eight years ago to the day.  

 

The Husker victory also muddled the standings, knocking OklahomaState out of sole possession of first place in the Big 12 race. The Cowboys and Kansas are tied with 10-3 conference marks, one game ahead of Oklahoma and Texas Tech.

 

Maric, whose previous career best was a 14-point effort at Missouri on Jan. 22, scored four of the points in the spurt helping NU take a 42-32 on a McCray jumper with 15:21 remaining. The Huskers shot a season-high 56.3 percent on the evening, including 61 percent in the final 20 minutes.

 

McCray, who topped the 20-point mark for the eighth time this season, finishing with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. McCray’s effort tripled the production of OklahomaState freshman JamesOn Curry, who was held to seven points on just four shot attempts and six turnovers in a matchup between two of the Big 12’s top freshmen.

 

McCray and Maric led four Huskers in double figures, as Jake Muhleisen added 11 points while Jason Dourisseau finished with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Nebraska overcame its largest deficit in any win this season.

 

Nebraska, which trailed 18-7 nine minutes into the contest, held the Cowboys without a field goal for the first 6:14 of the second half in building a double-figure margin in the opening minutes of the first half. NU took a 39-36 lead on a Corey Simms layup at the 11:08 mark, but a pair of Curry free throws and a Daniel Bobik 3-pointer put the Cowboys within eight moments later.

 

Dourisseau then took over, beating the shot clock for a short jumper and then taking an alley-oop pass from Charles Richardson Jr. to put the Huskers up 53-41 with 8:14 left.

 

OSU, which had won the won the last three meetings including an 87-83 overtime victory over Nebraska in Stillwater last February, got to within 57-50 on a Stephen Graham free throw with 3:55 left. But McCray’s three-point play and two free throws put NU up by 12 with 2:48 left.

 

John Lucas led OSU with 20 points, but had 11 points in the opening half. He was held to just two points before he scored the Cowboys last seven points, getting the visitors within 72-67 with eight seconds left, but Muhleisen sank a pair of free throws moments later to cap the upset.

 

Joey Graham, who torched the Huskers for a career-high 36 points in an 87-83 overtime win over Nebraska last season in Stillwater, was held to 12 points and four rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.

 

Behind the shooting of Daniel Bobik, who finished with 14 points, and Lucas, the Cowboys used a 13-0 spurt to take a 18-7 lead nine minutes into the contest. Bobik started the run with all five of his first half points, while Lucas capped the spurt with consecutive 3-pointers to give OSU its largest lead of the game.

 

Trailing 21-11, McCray triggered a 7-0 spurt, as the freshman hit a 3-pointer before consecutive baskets by Dourisseau cut the Cowboy lead to 21-18 with 6:55 remaining in the half. NU continued the charge, holding OSU without a field goal for 5:18, as NU forged back to tie the score at 28-all on a Marcus Neal 3-pointer. After an OSU basket gave the Cowboys a 30-28 lead, Cory Simms tied the score with a layup and then hit a pair of free throws to give NU a 32-30 lead with 30 seconds left in the half before the teams went into the locker room tied at 32.

 

Nebraska returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 27, when it travels to IowaState. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be on ESPN Regional Television, including Ch. 10/11 in Lincoln, and carried on the Pinnacle Sports Network.

 

Oklahoma State vs Nebraska (2/22/05 at Lincoln, Neb. (Devaney Center))

• Box Score

Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Oklahoma State vs Nebraska 2/22/05 7:08 p.m. at Lincoln, Neb. (Devaney Center) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Oklahoma State (20-4) (10-3) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 14 Graham, Joey........ f 5-11 1-3 1-2 1 3 4 5 12 4 4 0 1 37 23 McFarlin, Ivan...... f 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 6 7 5 2 0 1 1 2 25 15 Lucas, John......... g 8-18 4-10 0-0 1 2 3 3 20 4 2 0 0 38 20 Bobik, Daniel....... g 5-9 4-8 0-0 0 2 2 4 14 1 1 0 2 33 24 Curry, JamesOn...... g 1-4 1-2 4-4 0 0 0 3 7 1 6 0 1 29 05 Dove, Marcus........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 6 21 Graham, Stephen..... 1-4 1-1 1-2 0 2 2 2 4 2 3 0 1 15 32 Monds, David........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 42 Crawford, Terrence.. 3-3 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 3 6 0 0 0 0 13 TEAM................ 2 1 3 2 Totals.............. 25-54 11-24 6-8 9 18 27 26 67 13 19 2 7 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-25 48.0% 2nd Half: 13-29 44.8% Game: 46.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 5-13 38.5% Game: 45.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 75.0% 2

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Nebraska (12-12) (5-8) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 31 Maric, Aleks........ f 7-10 0-2 1-1 1 1 2 2 15 3 0 1 0 32 44 Turek, John......... f 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 4 4 4 2 5 1 2 0 26 01 Dourisseau, Jason... g 5-9 0-1 0-0 3 1 4 3 10 1 3 0 0 28 02 McCray, Joe......... g 7-12 2-5 6-9 0 4 4 2 22 2 3 0 0 32 12 Muhleisen, Jake..... g 3-5 1-1 4-4 0 4 4 0 11 4 3 0 2 31 03 Richardson, Charles. 0-0 0-0 3-4 0 1 1 2 3 3 3 0 1 19 10 Neal, Marcus........ 1-2 1-1 0-2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 4 11 Wilkinson, Wes...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 3 1 0 10 15 Schliep, Bronsen.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 21 Simms, Corey........ 3-6 0-0 2-3 1 4 5 1 8 0 0 0 0 17 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 27-48 4-10 16-24 6 20 26 15 74 18 16 4 3 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-25 52.0% 2nd Half: 14-23 60.9% Game: 56.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 40.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 13-20 65.0% Game: 66.7% 5

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Tom O'Neill, Mike Thibodeaux, Tim Higgins Technical fouls: Oklahoma State-None. Nebraska-None. Attendance: 8305 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Oklahoma State................ 32 35 - 67 Nebraska...................... 32 42 - 74

Points in the paint-OS 20,NU 32. Points off turnovers-OS 8,NU 23. 2nd chance points-OS 9,NU 8. Fast break points-OS 8,NU 6. Bench points-OS 12,NU 14. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-4 times. Last FG-OS 2nd-00:08, NU 2nd-01:04.