Kansas City, Mo — Oklahoma State may have locked up an NCAA tournament bid Thursday, but the fate of Texas Tech coach James Dickey was the main topic of conversation after the Cowboys' 71-59 win over the Red Raiders in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
Dickey, however, didn't have much to say about reports that he will be fired.
"I'm the coach until someone tells me differently," he said.
Dickey, 166-124 in 10 years at Texas Tech, had come under fire after finishing 3-13 in the regular season league race, tied with Texas A&M for last place.
OSU coach Eddie Sutton spoke up for his former assistant.
"He's been extremely loyal to Texas Tech," Sutton said, "but they haven't shown him much loyalty if it's true they went out and talked to Bob Knight or any other coach."
Tech (9-19) led at 16-15 on a basket by Jamal Brown, who finished with 14, but Maurice Baker scored seven points in a 13-0 run and the Cowboys (20-8) led 32-18 halftime lead.
OSU, the sentimental favorite in the wake of the January plane crash that killed 10 members of its traveling party, opened the second half with a 13-2 run.
Tech then hit six straight free throws and went on a 19-0 run of its own to close to 45-39. Fredrik Jonzen scored five points as OSU ran off the next 10 and went on to beat Tech for the third time this season.
Baker scored 31 points and had seven rebounds and seven assists to lead Oklahoma State.
Jonzen added 21 points and had nine rebounds for OSU, which will play No. 20 Texas today.
Baylor 86,
Colorado 84 (OT)
Freshman Matt Sayman hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left in overtime, lifting Baylor in a first-round victory.
Chevis Brimmer hit a three-pointer with 48 seconds left, giving Colorado (15-15) its first lead since the opening minutes at 78-76. After Terry Black's free throw made it 78-77 for Baylor, Brimmer had a chance to give Colorado a three-point lead with 22 seconds left. But he missed both free throws.
With 13 seconds to go, DeMarcus Minor, made one of two free throws and the game went into overtime tied at 78.
Minor had 30 points for the Bears. Jamahl Mosley had 19 points for Colorado.
Eighth-seeded Baylor (18-10) will meet top-seeded Iowa State (25-4) today.
Kansas State 62, Nebraska 58
Travis Reynolds scored two baskets in the final 43 seconds, including the game-winning jump shot from the lane with 1.5 seconds left, to lift Kansas State over Nebraska. K-State (11-17) avenged two regular-season losses.
Nebraska (14-16) had the ball and a 58-56 lead with a minute remaining, but Cookie Belcher the Cornhuskers' leading scorer with 20 points fell to the floor and lost the ball.
Reynolds finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Larry Reid led Kansas State with 21 points and Buchanan had 11. Kelvin Howell had a game-high 13 rebounds for the Wildcats, who will play Kansas tonight in the quarterfinals.
Missouri 77, Texas A&M 62
Clarence Gilbert tied a school record with eight three-pointers and scored 30 points in a win over the Aggies.
Gilbert was 8-for-11 overall from three-point range, tying a record set by John Woods in the 1998 National Invitation Tournament.
Kareem Rush, in his second game back since undergoing surgery to repair a damaged ligament in his left thumb, was 4-for-6 on three-point tries and added 16 points for the Tigers.
Missouri had more three-pointers (14-for-19) than two-pointers (11-for-29). Center Arthur Johnson finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.
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