Kansas suffers first loss but still perfect in conference play

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Oklahoma State Cowboys on newly renamed Eddie Sutton Court are unbeaten -- a word no longer applicable to Kansas.

The Jayhawks -- who knew in their hearts they had not been performing up to their No. 2 national ranking -- played just about as poorly as they had played three days earlier at home against Nebraska.

But finally their luck ran out. They weren't home, they were in Pennsylvania. And this was not Nebraska, it was Villanova, the team that had come within a whisker a few days earlier of taking out unbeaten Boston College.

Now the Jayhawks (14-1, 4-0 Big 12) can only hope their 83-62 loss to the Wildcats on Saturday serves as the wake-up call coach Bill Self knew they had been needing.

"I don't want to say a whippin' like this had been coming," said Self. "But we've put a lot of Band-Aids on deficiencies."

No. 5 Oklahoma State, in the meantime, rebounded from a midweek loss to No. 15 Texas with an 82-53 victory over Baylor. It was their first home game since their court -- installed in 1938 at Gallagher-Iba Arena -- was renamed in honor of their coach's climb to No. 7 on the all-time victory list.

Tonight, the Cowboys (14-2, 4-1) will still be in Oklahoma. But they'll be playing on a court that is not named after Eddie Sutton and the crowd will be decidedly hostile. The No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners (15-2, 4-0), the most-improved team in the Big 12, will play host to their state rivals in a game that is certain to have consequences in the Big 12 race.

The Sooners will be coming in with a load of momentum. Inspired by former football coach Barry Switzer's pregame pep talk at center court, the Sooners stretched their winning streak to nine straight with a 64-60 victory over the short-handed Texas Longhorns (14-4, 3-2).

The win also halted a five-game losing streak to Texas, which played for the first time since star P.J. Tucker was declared ineligible with academic problems.

"This is my first time to beat Texas," said Oklahoma's junior forward Kevin Bookout, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds. "I love it."

In other weekend games, Colorado broke a 13-game losing streak at Iowa State with a 54-52 overtime win; Texas A&M beat Kansas State 65-51; and the up-and-down Missouri Tigers were up, whipping Nebraska 80-70.

Andy Osborn hit a 3-pointer with 15.9 seconds left in overtime, giving Colorado the lead for good at Iowa State. The Hilton Coliseum fans were so unhappy with the loss, which kept the Cyclones winless in four Big 12 games, they pelted the Buffaloes with paper, cups and towels as they left the floor.

"Somebody is supposed to have some security here!" Colorado coach Ricardo Patton yelled to a police officer.

Colorado (9-7, 1-4) had five players score seven or more points, led by Glean Eddy's 12. Eddie also had 11 rebounds.

"It was finally time for some results," Colorado guard Marcus Hall said. "Everybody had something to do with this win."

Iowa State athletic director Bruce Van DeVelde went to the Colorado locker room after the game to apologize for the actions of his fans.

Patton struck a conciliatory tone.

"I don't want to be critical of Iowa State fans," he said. "I have a great deal of respect for them to support the team the way they do. I don't think that one or two bad decisions on the part of one or two people should reflect the whole crowd."

Iowa State (8-7, 0-4) is the only Big 12 team without a conference win and is 0-10 in its last 10 overtime league games.

At Eddie Sutton Court, Joey Graham scored 24 points to help the Cowboys rebound from their loss to Texas. Freshman JamesOn Curry added 14 points, including 10 in the final 2:16.

Tim Bush led the Bears (9-6, 1-3) with 19 points and Tommy Swanson added 15.

Texas A&M (13-3, 2-3) got 17 points from guard Acie Law, who played on a severely sprained left ankle and hit 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Freshman center Joseph Jones, who was sick the previous three days, had 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Aggies outscored Kansas State (11-4, 1-3) 35-21 in the second half.

"Last year, teams were able to push us around, and we'd lay down and not fight back," Law said. "When teams throw a blow at us this year, we'll throw one back."

Linas Kleiza had a career-high 31 points for Missouri, which snapped a three-game losing skid. Kleiza also hit 15 of 17 free throws for the Tigers (10-8, 2-3). Nebraska, after coming within two points of Kansas on Wednesday night, dropped to 8-7, 2-3.