Oklahoma State stuns No. 8 Kansas 67-62
Storming the court after beating Kansas is becoming routine for Oklahoma State students.
Le'Bryan Nash scored 18 points to help the Cowboys upset the eighth-ranked Jayhawks 67-62 on Saturday.
The Cowboys fans stormed the floor for the second straight year, and Oklahoma State has now beaten Kansas in four of the past six meetings in Stillwater.
The Cowboys trailed this one by 11 at halftime, but their pressure defense held the Jayhawks to 27 percent shooting in the second half.
"We just became more aggressive, our whole mentality," Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. "I think it was more about us than them. We did make them turn it over a bit more, we did speed them up a little bit, but it got us being aggressive, it got us in attack mode."
Phil Forte, Oklahoma State's leading scorer for the season, had the flu and was limited to 29 minutes. He finished with 13 points after throwing up before the game.
"Just the fact that my teammates kept coming up to me and wanting me to play -- I just tried to mentally push through it," Forte said. "I didn't want to let my teammates down, and I just wanted to go out there and give it all I had.
Anthony Hickey added 15 points for the Cowboys (16-7, 6-5 Big 12), who were coming off a road win at No. 25 Texas on Wednesday.
"We got to keep our kids' heads out of the clouds and get back down to earth," Ford said. "It was a big win, because of the respect we have for Kansas, period."
Wayne Selden, Jr. scored 15 points, and Perry Ellis, Frank Mason III and Brannen Greene each added 10 points for the Jayhawks (19-4, 8-2), who had won five straight.
"We just didn't play very well," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "You can't look at any individual on our team and say they had a good game. We had a couple guys make some shots, but we didn't play very well. We didn't coach them very well. We didn't do anything very well today."
Nash's spinning left-handed layup put the Cowboys up 59-52 with 7:21 to play. Kansas rallied back, but a steal by Jeff Newberry led to a fast-break layup by Hickey that gave Oklahoma State a 65-61 lead with 2:32 remaining.
Nash missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 53 seconds left to give Kansas a chance, but the Jayhawks couldn't score, and Hickey made a layup at the other end to make it a 67-62 game with 20 seconds to play.
Kansas led 16-13 when Nash was called for a charge, his second foul, with 10:52 left in the first half. With Nash on the bench, Kansas went on a 10-1 run to take a 26-14 lead. Kansas boosted its edge to 30-17 before the Cowboys rallied. Mitchell Solomon's baseline jam on a nice find by Newberry cut Kansas' lead to 30-24, forced a timeout and brought the crowd back into the game.
A 3-pointer by Greene in the final minute of the half put the Jayhawks up 41-30 at the break. Kansas shot 57 percent in the first half to overcome 11 turnovers.
Oklahoma State opened the second half with a flurry. A dunk by Michael Cobbins cut Kansas' lead to 42-38 two minutes in. A 3-pointer by Hickey cut Oklahoma State's deficit to a point, Forte's 3-pointer put the Cowboys ahead, and it was a game the rest of the way.
"I feel like we just didn't execute like we needed to on the offensive end," Ellis said. "That was it, really."
TIP-INS
Kansas: Mason was issued a technical foul with 2:40 left in the first half after a scramble for the ball near the Oklahoma State bench. ... Self played for Oklahoma State from 1981-1985 and is from Okmulgee, Oklahoma. ... Kansas made just 11 of 20 free throws.
Oklahoma State: Nash has scored in double figures every game this season. ... The Cowboys shot 36 percent in the first half. ... Forte took just six shots from the field.
COURTSIDE
Members of the school's 1995 Final Four team and businessman T. Boone Pickens were on hand. Pickens, an Oklahoma State graduate, has donated more than $500 million to his alma mater. ... Coach Eddie Sutton and former star post player Bryant Reeves were among those in attendance.