Red Raiders » Big 12

Panthers knock off No. 1 Kansas 69-67

A-J Staff — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:04:38 +0000

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Ali Farokhmanesh hit another big 3-pointer with 34 seconds left and Northern Iowa pulled off the biggest upset in the NCAA tournament, beating top overall seed Kansas 69-67 in the second round on Saturday.

Northern Iowa (30-4) won the tempo tug-of-war, grounding the high-flying Jayhawks with in-their-jersey defense, then withstood a furious rally to become the first team to beat a No. 1 seed in the second round since UAB and Alabama did it to Kentucky and Stanford in 2004.

The ninth-seeded Panthers led early and made just enough plays late to pull off the biggest win in their history.

Kansas (33-3) trailed nearly the entire game, finally pulling close in the closing minutes behind its fullcourt pressure. The Jayhawks never made it all the way back, though, bowing out early in what was supposed to be another title run.

Tech-Jacksonville game scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday

Courtney Linehan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:06:42 +0000

Texas Tech’s game against Jacksonville in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at United Spirit Arena.

Tickets cost $9 for reserved seats and $4 for Texas Tech students.

The game will not be televised.

Tickets are available by calling (806) 742-TECH or on the Web at texastech.com.

Tech expects to host second round of NIT

Courtney Linehan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:46:21 +0000

Texas Tech expects its men’s basketball team to host the second round of the National Invitation Tournament after defeating Seton Hall on Tuesday night in New Jersey.

Media relations representative Randy Farley confirmed Wednesday afternoon that athletic director Gerald Myers has not yet recieved information regarding the day and time of the game, but expects to host at United Spirit Arena.

Myers anticipates the call to come later Wednesday evening or early Thursday.

Texas Tech was seeded fifth in the NIT after finishing its season 17-15. It traveled to New Jersey for the first round, defeating fourth-seeded Seton Hall 87-69 in Newark, N.J.

Tech will host Jacksonville, which as the No. 8 seed upset No. 1 seeded Arizona State on Tuesday with a buzzer-beating banked 3-point shot.

Big 12 sets record with seven NCAA bids

A-J Staff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:05:51 +0000

By John Marshall | ASSOCIATED PRESS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Big 12’s coaches spent an entire season, even some time before it, telling anyone who’d listen this was the conference’s strongest year ever.

Turns out, they were right.

The Big 12 earned a conference-record seven NCAA tournament berths Sunday, including the No. 1 overall seed and two more in the top three, validating what its coaches have been saying all along.

“The more the merrier,” Oklahoma coach Travis Ford said Monday. “I know our coaches are always pleased when they see people value the product that the Big 12 schools are putting out there. To get over half your teams into the NCAA tournament is a very, very nice compliment.”

Football has been the calling card for the Big 12 since its inception in 1996, the perception being Kansas and Oklahoma State were the only teams playing real basketball.

The league has gradually changed its acumen over the past few years as Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri joined the Jayhawks in making deep runs in the NCAA tournament.

Still, six NCAA berths was the best the Big 12 could do – seven times, including the past two seasons – feeding an inferiority complex, as if the basketball power conferences were a big brother who wouldn’t let them win at anything.

Now that Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Missouri, Texas A&M and Texas are in, this relatively new conference has moved up to a level usually reserved for older powerhouses like the Big East and ACC.

“As far as us getting seven in this year, my response is: it’s about time,” Kansas State coach Frank Martin said.

Kansas, no surprise, earned the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. The Jayhawks start Thursday in Oklahoma City, against Lehigh.

A monumental mismatch? Probably. But after that, the road gets tougher.

The Midwest regional is considered the toughest in the tournament, one potential land mine after another awaiting the top-ranked Jayhawks.

Get by Lehigh and the second round, Kansas could face Michigan State or Maryland in the regional semifinals, then could face Georgetown or the two teams that gave the Jayhawks their two losses, Oklahoma State or Tennessee.

Even for a team that’s as deep as any in the country, one that spent all but four weeks at No. 1, that’s a tough gauntlet.

“I do believe this is a very, very difficult region,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “But, from my standpoint, to get to where you want to go, you should have to beat good people. I’m sure no matter who gets to Indianapolis they’re going to have a tough road.”

Kansas State set a school record for wins and has its highest seeding ever, No. 2 in the West. The seventh-ranked Wildcats open the NCAA tournament against North Texas in Oklahoma City on Thursday.

Baylor, No. 3 in the South and 19th in the nation, also starts on Thursday, against Sam Houston State in New Orleans. No. 23 Texas A&M gets Utah State in Spokane, Wash., as the fifth seed in the South, and Oklahoma State faces a tough first-round matchup against Georgia Tech as the seventh seed in Milwaukee. The Aggies and Cowboys both play Friday.

The other Big 12 teams in the NCAA tournament need to make quick turnarounds.

Missouri closed out the season by losing three of its final four games, including to last-place Nebraska in the conference tournament. The Tigers open Friday in Buffalo, N.Y., against Clemson in what’s likely to be the fastest game of the tournament.

Then there’s Texas.

The former No. 1 team in the nation, the Longhorns followed a 17-0 start with a crash, going 9-7 during the Big 12 regular season. Texas is the eighth seed in the East regional and opens against Wake Forest on Thursday in New Orleans, hoping to get one potentially momentum-swinging win.

“One game, it can swing quickly,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “We see it all the time, teams come into that have been down and out, and they catch it and kind of ride the wave with it … This time of year, one game here or there, one play here or there can really swing it.”

After playing in the rugged Big 12, the Longhorns should be ready for it.

Frogs sweep three-game series with Red Raiders

A-J Staff — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:17:25 +0000

FORT WORTH — No. 7 TCU scored five unearned runs in the bottom of the first and Texas Tech couldn’t recover as the Horned Frogs handed the Red Raiders a three-game series sweep with an 8-5 win on Sunday afternoon at Lupton Stadium.
The loss is Tech’s fourth consecutive as the Red Raiders fall below .500 at 8-9 while TCU improves to 12-2 on the season. Texas Tech returns to Lubbock for a midweek game against Texas State Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. before hitting the road next weekend for the Big 12 opener at Texas A&M.
The game was out of reach early on for the Red Raiders as the Frogs took advantage of a costly defensive mistake by catcher Jeremy Mayo. Mayo’s error allowed Jason Coats to reach first on a passed ball after striking out.
A ground ball in the next at-bat should have ended the inning, instead, the Frogs got a huge three-run home run from Jimmie Pharr to give the Frogs a 4-0 lead. Jerome Pena followed with a solo home run to push the TCU lead to 5-0.
Back-to-back doubles by Nick Popescu and Jeremy Mayo led to Tech’s first run of the game in the top of the second as the Red Raiders cut into the Horned Frog lead to make it 5-1.
TCU answered, though, in the bottom of the second with a two-run single from Jason Coats, pushing the Frog lead to 7-1.
The Red Raiders rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth thanks to RBI singles by Stephen Hagen and Justin Berry and a two-run home run by Jamodrick McGruder. The home run was his first of the season.
After a shaky start, Bettis settled in and retired 10-straight TCU hitters during the middle innings and struckout out a career-high 10. Despite the recovery, Bettis was charged with the loss after giving up seven runs, two earned, on seven hits and now stands at 2-2 on the year.
Kyle Winkler (3-0) earned the win for TCU after holding the Red Raiders to just one run on seven hits and struckout four without issuing a walk.

Former Red Raider baseball player dies in half marathon

George Watson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:15:23 +0000

Former Texas Tech baseball player Mark Austry collapsed and died Sunday morning after finishing the Rock ’n Roll Half Marathon in Dallas.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Austry, 33, had just crossed the finish line of the 13.1-mile run at Dallas Fair Park when he collapsed shortly after 10 a.m. Emergency crews at the scene performed CPR on Austry before rushing him to Baylor University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead around noon.
“Mark was always fun to be around,” said former teammate and current Frenship baseball coach Chad Reynolds. “He was always joking around and just a great person to be around. He was a team player. It’s such a tragic deal.”
Austry was recently in Lubbock and participated in the Texas Tech alumni baseball game on Feb. 12. The Rock ’n Roll Half Marathon helps benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
“When he came back for the alumni game I commented to him I thought he was in the best shape of everybody there,” former Tech head coach Larry Hays said. “He looked like the picture of health. But like most things in life you can’t count on anything. (His death) was sure a surprise, he sure looked healthy.”
Austry, a native of Fort Worth, played for the Red Raiders from 1998 to 2000 after playing one season at Coastal Carolina. He played mostly first base, starting 39 games his senior season and hitting .238 with four home runs, 19 RBIs. He finished his three-year Tech career with a .283 batting average, playing in 172 games with 96 runs scored, 144 hits, 24 doubles, four triples, 15 home runs and 82 RBIs.
“He could really play defense at first base,” Hays said. “He wasn’t what you want when you look for a power guy at first, but when you put it all together he sure was a plus because he played such great defense. And his power numbers always ended up being better than I thought they would. He had the ability to score people from first and hit the alleys, and he usually hit a home run when you needed it. He was just a good, sound player and pitchers really liked him because he defended his position so well.”
Austry is survived by his wife, Mariana Alvarez Austry, and daughters Isabella and Anna.
“On behalf of Texas Tech University and all of Red Raider nation, we extend our deepest sympathies to the Austry family,” athletic director Gerald Myers said. “Mark was a great person and will be sorely missed.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.

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Texas Tech basketball to play Seton Hall in NIT

Courtney Linehan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:28:25 +0000

By 8:30 p.m. Sunday, three different TVs in the Texas Tech basketball office were set to game film featuring Seton Hall. While in one room basketball staff members scrambled to find flights and hotels for the team’s last-second trip to New Jersey, in others coaches were already busy breaking down film.
Tech’s season continues Tuesday, as the fifth-seeded Red Raiders face the fourth-seeded Pirates in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament. After missing the postseason the past two years, Tech’s 17-15 finish earned the team a chance to continue playing.
“I feel like this is pretty much us being able to step up for the Big 12 and show that we’re a competitive team over here,” guard Nick Okorie said. “Just because we’re the lower seed team and didn’t make it to the NCAA doesn’t mean we can’t play with the best.”
The players watched the selection show together in their locker room, just hours after a Sunday afternoon practice that might have been futile had they learned they would not make the NIT field. But after beating Colorado in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament and playing well against eventual champions Kansas in the quarterfinals, Tech proved to the selection committee it was worth including.
Tech’s coaches watched film in their own locker room before briefly meeting with the players and sending them home to pack. The trip to New Jersey marks the Raiders’ first postseason since Pat Knight took over as head coach midway through the 2007-08 season.
“I’m happy we pulled it out,” Knight said. “To make the NIT shows we’re headed in the right direction, because that was one of our goals before the season started.”
Tech is the only Big 12 team to make the NIT field, although seven league teams are in the NCAA tournament. Seton Hall is making its 16th appearance in the NIT, but first since the 2002-03 season.
It will be the first time either team has gone to the tournament under its current head coach, and the first time the programs have ever met.
“They’re a Big East team, they’re good, play fast-paced, shoot a lot of threes,” Okorie said. “We have to play good defense, be on the help line when they drive, and pretty much play our game.”
Seton Hall has an overall record of 19-12 and finished tied for ninth in the Big East. It defeated NCAA tournament teams Notre Dame, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Cornell.
The Pirates will be without junior forward Robert Mitchell, who started about half the season and averaged 8.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez announced Sunday that Mitchell had been removed from the team, but did not release further details.
Okorie, who almost carried Tech through the tail end of its season, said his other plans during spring break were to head home to Houston for a few days or travel to Florida with teammate Brad Reese.
But after playing in the postseason during his two years at South Plains College then missing the postseason in 2009, he’s happy to stay off the beach.
“I’d rather be playing basketball than be on spring break, any time,” Okorie said.

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Kansas wins Big 12 championship

Associated Press — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:21:54 +0000

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Marcus Morris had 18 points, Tyrel Reed added 15 and No. 1 Kansas held off No. 9 Kansas State down the stretch for a 72-64 victory and its seventh Big 12 tournament title Saturday night.

Kansas (32-2) labored through a physical, defense-dominated first half and used a small spurt midway through the second to beat its in-state rivals for the third time this season. Coming off a sixth straight regular-season title, the Jayhawks will likely be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament when the brackets are announced Sunday.

Kansas State (26-7) had never beaten Kansas in six tries at the Big 12 tournament and had lost 40 of 42 meetings since 1994, but had hopes of winning its first conference championship since 1980. Instead, the Wildcats go into Selection Sunday still hoping for a high seed after setting a record for wins this season.
Denis Clemente had 17 points, Jamar Samuels 14 and Jacob Pullen added 13 for K-State.

Tournament MVP Sherron Collins had 12 points and seven assists for Kansas.

The two regular-season meetings were among the biggest in the rivalry’s 103-year history.

The final act — well, barring a fourth in the NCAA tournament — was a rivalry intertwined with bigger prizes: another Big 12 tournament title for Kansas, K-State’s first ever, a probable No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament on the line, big-time bragging rights.

Mostly, it was a lot of missed shots, offensive fouls and not much separation.

Kansas State missed its first 12 attempts against KU’s pressure before finally scoring on Wally Judge’s tip 5:14 into the game. The Jayhawks had similar problems with Kansas State’s overplaying defense, managing five points during the Wildcats’ scoreless start.

The clangs continued throughout the first half and the teams combined to shoot 13 of 67, with Kansas clinging to a 31-27 lead.

The trend continued into the second half until Kansas started to find seams and the bottom of the net midway through.

Kansas pushed the lead to 62-52 on Collins’ half-hook runner in the lane with just over five minutes left and answered every Kansas State challenge after that to go into the NCAA tournament with a head of steam.

Aggies shock No. 3 Cornhuskers

Associated Press — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:21:19 +0000

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Danielle Adams had 22 points while No. 11 Texas A&M forced Kelsey Griffin to the bench with early foul trouble and spoiled No. 3 Nebraska’s unbeaten season with an 80-70 victory Saturday in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament.

Nebraska was bidding to become just the 12th team to make it to the NCAA tournament unbeaten. Griffin, the Big 12 player of the year and catalyst behind the only undefeated regular season in Big 12 history, had three fouls at halftime and got saddled with her fourth early in the second half.

With the 6-foot-2 senior sitting long-faced on the bench for several minutes at a stretch, the Huskers (30-1) could not stop their school-record winning streak from coming to an end.

Top-ranked UConn (33-0) is the only unbeaten team heading to the NCAA tournament.

-No. 12 Oklahoma 74, No. 20 Oklahoma State 69
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Danielle Robinson and Amanda Thompson hit big free throws in the final seconds, lifting Oklahoma past Oklahoma State and sending the Sooners into the Big 12 title game against Texas A&M.

Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State’s streaky 5-foot-5 senior, made six of her first seven shots but missed her last nine and wound up with 32 points — giving her a tournament-record 112 in just three games.

The victory gave the Sooners (23-9) a three-game season sweep of the Cowgirls (23-10) and pits them against an Aggies team that handed Nebraska its first loss of the season in the other semifinal. A&M and Oklahoma split two games in the regular season.

Robinson had 19 points for the Sooners, Thompson 17 and Nyeshia Stevenson 15.

Leach attorneys confident after this week’s testimony

A-J Staff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:14:14 +0000

By Matthew McGowan / Avalanche-Journal

Mike Leach and Texas Tech dug their legal trenches deeper Friday after a week of pretrial investigations and viral Internet videos culminated in a vitriolic new round of finger-pointing.

Lawyers on both sides of the escalating lawsuit claimed the upper hand after a week’s worth of sworn testimony from several of the case’s key players.

The coach, who now lives in Key West, Fla., gave a brief but emotional statement to reporters after his six-hour deposition Friday.

“We’ve had 10 incredible years here,” Leach said with moist eyes. “I had a really good day today. What can I say? It’s 10 years.”

District Judge William Sowder ordered the two sides attempt a settlement through mediation, which was recessed in early February until an unspecified later date. A gag order kept both sides from commenting on negotiations.

Sowder has set an April 23 deadline for the two teams to file their preliminary discovery findings. He has also scheduled a May 14 hearing on the university’s request for sovereign immunity, which could shield it from the lawsuit as a state entity.

But any talk of a possible out-of-court settlement took a back seat this week to a trickle of pretrial discovery developments that has both camps maneuvering for a courtroom showdown.

“That’s my view,” said Leach attorney Paul Dobrowski after Leach’s deposition downtown. “Certainly, we’re preparing for trial.”

A pair of newly released videos from last season has further inflamed the situation. Leach’s attorneys claim Tech purposely leaked the videos of Leach angrily chastising the team’s poor performance after the Baylor game through a profanity-infused post-game locker room rant.

Tech is denying any motive or design in releasing the videos, which were obtained by at least two media outlets via an open records request and posted online the night before Leach’s deposition.

His testimony also came a day after a Tech Chancellor Kent Hance underwent his own deposition. Charlotte Bingham, a Tech official who conducted an early investigation into Leach’s treatment of the player, testified on March 5.

Leach’s team
After the deposition, Dobrowski told a room full of reporters they dealt a heavy blow to the university’s case on Thursday when Hance confirmed Craig James personally wanted Leach fired.

Dobrowski said this, when told to the board of regents, factored inappropriately on the university’s decision to fire the coach.

“I think that we know, and they know, that our case has gotten substantially stronger by virtue of the discovery process,” he said.

Tech’s team
Dicky Grigg, an Austin-based lawyer for Tech and former Tech football player, countered Dobrowski’s statements, saying the university, not Leach, gained legal footing during the depositions.

Grigg said Leach admitted in his deposition to reacting to James’ concussion by telling a trainer to put the player in a “place so dark that the only way he knows he has an (expletive) is to reach down and touch it.”

“What this language shows is that his intent was vindictive, not therapeutic,” Grigg said. “Leach himself admitted, under oath, that he has never treated another student athlete with a brain concussion in the manner that he treated this young man.”

More subpoenas
Additional evidence gathering has also come from a far-reaching burst of subpoenas filed by the Leach team in recent weeks. One has gone to Frenship Independent School District for records involving the enrollment of his successor’s children.

Another went to Spaeth Communications, a public relations firm representing Craig James, who is scheduled to testify in Lubbock today.

In an earlier filing, according to court documents, Tech’s attorneys referred to Leach’s subpoenas as “a fishing expedition.”

“They call it a fishing expedition,” said Leach attorney Ted Liggett. “I call it a search for truth.”
The videos

Leach’s team also took aim Friday at Tech’s release of the videos — recorded by the university’s athletics department for possible promotional footage — as they rippled throughout blogs and news Web sites. The footage shows an angered coach criticizing the team for a mediocre performance against Baylor in late November.

His attorneys suspected foul play in the timing of the videos’ release.

“We submit that that’s no coincidence,” Dobrowski said. “Texas Tech knows the deposition yesterday of
Chancellor Hance and Ms. Bingham’s last week went poorly for them … therefore, they’re trying to smear Mike with videos that, quite frankly, are irrelevant.”

Although Grigg agreed the videos are irrelevant, he said had no choice but to release the videos after
receiving an open information request for them.

“We had no option but to release them, under law,” he said. “Now, who told the media about them? I don’t know. There were over 100 people, obviously, in the team room after the game.”

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