The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 27

THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN Thursday. December 1 0, 1 998 27, West Virginia Upsets Syracuse Saturday, Jan. 30 Oklahoma at Texas 12:30 p.m.; SMU at Tulsa, Fox Sports Southwest, 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2 Iowa State at Oklahoma State, KOCB-34, 8 p.m.

1 Saturday, Feb. 4 Oklahoma State at Oklahoma, ESPN, 8:30 p.m. 3 Wednesday, Feb. 10 Oklahoma at Texas, KOCB-34, Bp.m. Saturday, Feb.

13 Texas ASM at Oklahoma, -KFOR-4, 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14 Texas at Oklahoma State, KOCO-5, 12:30 p.m. '0 Monday, Feb. 15 Oklahoma at Missouri, ESPN, 8:30 p.mj UNLV at Tulsa.o ESPN2, 10 p.m.

rx Saturday, Feb. 20 Missouri at Oklahoma State, KFOR-4, 1230 p.m.; Kansas at Oklahoma, ABC (KOCO-5), 2:30 p.m.; Rice at Tulsa, Fox Sports Southwest, 5 p.m. 1 Monday, Feb. 22 Oklahoma State at ESPN, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb.

27 -Texas Tech at Oklahoma State, KFOR-4, 1230 pjn. Baylor at Oklahoma, KFOR-4, 3 p.mj" Unlvertrtv of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Stat University and University of Tulsa men' basketball telecasts in Oklahoma Oty area: Tuesday, Dec. 72 Oklahoma State at UNLV, ESPN, 11 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 Kansas State at Oklahoma State, KFOR-4, 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 3 Oklahoma at Iowa State, KFOR-4, 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 9 Colorado at Oklahoma, KFOR-4, 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan.

10 Wyomlno at Tulsa, ESPN2, 4 P.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12 Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, KOCB-34, 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16 Oklahoma at Cincinnati, (CBS) KWTV-9, 11 a.m.

Sunday, Jan. 17 Oklahoma State at Texas Tech, KFOR-4, 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23 Oklahoma at Kansas State, KFOR-4, 3 p.m.; Tulsa at Rice, Fox Sports Sportswest, p.m.; Oklahoma State at Texas, ESPN, 8:30 p.m. Monday, Jan.

25 TCU at Tulsa, Fox Sports Sportswest, 7 p.m.; Texas at Oklahoma, ESPN, 8:30 p.m. Tuisa at tcu, espn or espnz, 5 a p.m. And Now for Your The Associated Press MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Elton Scott scored 19 points, and reserve Brooks Berry had eight of his career-high 16 points in a key second-half run to lift West Virginia to a 73-59 upset of No. 13 Syracuse in their Big East opener Wednesday night.

Syracuse (7-2) lost for the second time in five days. West Virginia (4-3), which trailed 32-30 at halftime, used a zone defense early in the second half to cut off Syracuse's inside game and hold the Orangemen scoreless for seven minutes. Berry led a 21-5 run that gave West Virginia a 51-37 lead with 9:46 remaining. He later hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 61-47 lead with 4:43 left. Syracuse was forced to shoot from long range the rest of the way, and got no closer than 63-56 with 2:08 left.

West Virginia hit all 10 free-throw attempts in the final two minutes to seal the victory. No. 1 Connecticut 59 UMass 54 AMHERST, Mass. Massachusetts forced top-ranked Connecticut into slow tempo, but clutch shooting by Richard Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin in the last minute salvaged a victory for the Huskies. Massachusetts pulled within 55-52 on Ajmal Basit's dunk with 2:05 left, but a driving basket by Hamilton and two foul shots by El-Amin with 36 seconds left kept Connecticut on top.

Albert Mouring led UConn (7-0) with 13 points. Lari Ketner scored 15 points for UMass (1-4), which has lost four in a row since winning its opener over Niagara. Hamilton, a preseason All-American, was held to 11 points, and Connecticut, which likes an up-tempo style, was forced to play mostly half-court basketball. But the Huskies still found a way to win. The Minutemen trailed 37-29 at halftime, but opened the second half with a 17-10 run to pull within one point.

Ketner scored nine points during the spurt, and Monty Mack made two consecutive 3-pointers. No. 3 Duke 116 Florida 86 DURHAM, N.C. Third-ranked Duke scorched previously unbeaten Florida for 63 first-half points en route to a victory over the Gators behind William Avery's school-record eight 3-pointers. The Blue Devils' point total matched the most ever against Florida (5-1).

Tennessee also had 116 against the Gators on Jan. 11, 1979. Avery, who finished with 26 points and nine assists, broke the Duke record of seven 3-pointers in a game set by Chris Collins in 1996 and tied by Trajan Langdon in 1997. The Blue Devils (8-1) made a season-high 16 of 23 shots beyond the arc, including 8-for-10 by Avery. Langdon added 20 points for Duke, while Corey Maggette and Elton Brand had 16 each.

Udonis Haslem led the Gators with 19 points despite battling foul trouble. Mike Miller, Florida's leading scorer, added 15 points. Miller returned after missing two games with an ankle injury. Viewing Pleasure: Sooners, Cowboys So far this season, the University of Okla-ri homa and Oklahoma State University men's basketball teams have appeared 3 just once on television. 2 But local fans will have several other oppor-s tunities to catch them on the tube.

OU will make 13 more appearances, OSU will be on 11 more times and the University of Tulsa will have seven more telecasts in the Oklahoma) City area. The bulk of OU's and OSU's telecasts will be on ESPN Plus, carried by KFOR-4 on weekend afternoons. jr AP Photo (center) arid Brent Wright Duke's Elton Brand drives past Florida defenders Udonis Haslem on Wednesday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke won 116-86. Florence Scores 2 1 as Cornhuskers Beat Creighton KOCB-34 also will carry three ESPN Plus weeknight games, including a Bedlam battle, that KFOR won't pick up because of its contractual obligation to carry NBC.

prime-time programming. KOCB will air the OU at OSU game at 8 p.m. Jan. 12, Iowa State at OSU at 8 p.m. Feb.

2 and OU. at Texas at 8 p.m. Feb. 10. The station also may carry some prime- HMEL BRACHT Media time Big 12 Tournament games, said Joe Muller, general manager KOCB and KOKH-25.

Sports Animal Doesn't Bid off. 31 The University of Oklahoma is expected toZ Missouri 89, Bluff 33 COLUMBIA, Mo. Albert White was one assist away from becoming the first Missouri player to record a triple-double in 14 years, as Missouri defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff. White scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out nine assists. John Woods had 16 points, while Keyori Doolihg and Pat Schumaker each scored 15 for the Tigers.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-7) was led by Terrance Duncan and Michael Vickers with 10 points apiece. The Golden Lions suffered through four scoring droughts Of greater than four minutes. Arkansas-Pine Bluff didn't score until 4:20 had elapsed in the game. The Golden Lions closed the deficit to 13-8 with 11:30 to play in the first half. When Arkansas-Pine Bluff scored again four minutes later, Missouri (6-1) led 23-10.

0-0 4, Winston 0-2 0-1 0, Jones 1-5 0-0 2, Walls 3-11 5-8 13, Williams 1 -1 0-0 2, Carter 3-5 0-16, Renfroe 3-7 3-4 9, Mohr 2-6 2-2 6. Totals 21-65 21-31 66. Wyoming (4-2) Blakes 0-6 1-2 1, McMillian 1-7 4-6 6, Udezue 15-21 6-10 36, Jones 4-13 3-4 12, Davis 4-10 1-1 10, McFall 0-0 0-0 0, Pettersson 0-0 0-0 0, Lostetter 0-1 0-0 0, French 1-2 0-0 2, Mann 0-2 0-0 0. Total 2562 1 5-23 67. Three-Point goals Colorado 3-15 (Price 1-6, Jones 0-4, Walls 2-4, Mohr 0-1), Wyomlno 2-14 (Jones 1-5, Davis 1-2, Udezue 0-1, Blakes 0-1, McMillian 0-2, French 0-1, Mann 0-2).

Fouled out- Thomas, Carter, Davis, Blakes. Rebounds-Colorado 40 (Smith 9). Wyoming 48 (Davis, Udezue 11). Assists Colorado 13 (Smith, Jones, Walls 3). Wyoming 21 (McMillian 7).

Total fouls Colorado Wyoming 26. A 5,676. Texas 69, Tulane 63 STATION, Texas Clifton Cook scored 18 points, and Michael Schmidt added 14, leading cold-shooting Texas past Tulane. The Aggies (7-1), who led 41-33 at half-time, held on despite hitting just 29 percent (6-of-21) from the field in the second half. Morris Jordan led the Green Wave (3-3) with 20 points and 8 rebounds.

Sterling Davis added 13 for Tulane. Shanne Jones joined Cook and Schmidt in double figures for the Aggies with 12 points. The Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. Larry Florence scored a career-high 21 points, Venson Hamilton had 20 and Cookie Belcher got 11 of his 15 in the second half as Nebraska defeated in-state rival Creighton 76-60 on Wednesday night. Since the series between the two schools was resumed in 1977 after a 45-year break, the Cornhuskers (6-3) haven't lost in 12 home games against the Bluejays (6-1).

Creighton hasn't won in Lincoln since 1932. Florence also had a big night on defense. He held Creighton's Rodney Bu-ford, a two-time first-team performer in the Missouri Valley Conference, to 10 points nine in the second half. Creighton, seeking its best start in 18 years, led 35-32 at halftime, but Nebraska wore down the smaller Bluejays with superior speed and athleticism in the second half. Belcher's layup off a steal forced a Creighton timeout and capped a 12-3 run over the first 3:54 of the period.

It was 53-41 with 13:51 to play after Nebraska scored four straight buckets. C.Johnson 1-4 2-2 4, Platkowskl 2-5 0-O 4, Truscott 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-54 21 -30 76. Three-Point goals Creighton 8-19 (Buford 3-4, Swenson 0-1, Walker 2-3, Sears 0-5, Brandon 1 -3, Bates 0-1 Haynes 1 -1 Karlikanovas 1-1), Nebraska 1-5 (Belcher 1-3, Platkowskl 0-2). Fouled out Swenson.

Rebounds Creighton 32 (Walker 5), Nebraska 35 (Markowskl 13). Assists Creighton 14 (Buford, Walker, Sears 3), Nebraska 21 (Belcher 6), Total fouls Creighton 23, Nebraska IB. A 10,851. Wyoming 67, Colorado 66 LARAMIE, -Ugo Udezue scored a career high 36 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and tipped in the game-winning shot with 10 seconds left to lift Wyoming over Colorado. Wyoming (4-2) trailed nearly the entire game, but Udezue kept the Cowboys close and tipped in a miss by teammate Chris McMillian to complete a 10-4 Wyoming run at the end.

Ernest Renfroe's layin, two free throws and 3-point play put Colorado (7-3) up 65-59 at the 1:35 mark, but the Cowboys rallied on a basket by LeDarion Jones and two jumpers by Udezue to set up the winning possession. Jaquay Walls made one of two foul shots with 1:12 left to put Colorado up 66-63, but Udezue canned a shot from the right baseline with 58 seconds left to draw the Cowboys within 66-65. Bluff Missouri 151833 424789 Tulane Texas 33 30 63 41 2869 Creighton Nebraska 35 25 60 32 4476 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-7) Duncan 4-15 1-7 10, Eldrldge 3-7 1- 1 7, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Glpson 0-3 0-0 0, Rollins 0-0 0-0 0, Horton 0-5 0-0 0, Smith 2-4 0-0 5, Coleman 0-7 0-0 0, Moore 0-4 0-0 0, Swvgart 0-2 0-0 0, Craig 0-1 0-0 0, Calloway 0-1 1-2 1, Vickers 2- 10 6-9 10, O'Nell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-60 9-14 33. Missouri (6-1) Parker 3-5 0-0 6, White 7-16 2-6 16, Hardge 2-2 2- 3 6, Grawer 0-3 1-21, Woods 7-12 0-0 16, Stevenson 0-1 0-0 0, Gilbert 4-B 0-3 8, Doollng 4-9 7-8 15, Wampler 0-0 0-0 0, Rowan 3- 6 0-2 6, Schumacher 5-7 5-5 15.

Totals 35-69 17-26 89. Three-Point goals Arkansas-Pine Bluff 2-23 (Duncan 1-7, Glpson 0-3, Horton 0-4, Smith 1-2, Coleman 0-5, Moore 0-1, Swy-gart 0-1), Missouri 2-10 (Parker 0-1, Grawer 0-2, Woods 2-4, Gilbert 0-3). Fouled out Eldrldge, Schumacher. Rebounds Arkansas-Pine Bluff 31 (Eldrldge, Vickers 4). Missouri 60 (Rowan 13).

Assists Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7 (Coleman 3), Missouri 21 (While 9). Total fouls Arkansas-Pine Bluff 20, Missouri 16. A 13,300. Tulane (3-3) Davis 5-5 3-5 13', Harris 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan 9-13 1-2 20, Osean 3-9 2-2 9, Miles 3-6 1-2 9, Mason 0-1 0-0 0, Marsh 0- 1 1-2 1, Bllllngslev 0-4 2-4 2, Mouton 3-9 2-2 9, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-50 12-19 63.

Texas (7-1) Jones 4-5 4-5 12, Jacobs 2-3 1-2 5, Clayton 1- 12 2-2 4, Cook 4-14 7-10 18, Brown 1-6 3-5 6, Schmidt 6-9 0-0 14, Jack 1-1 2-3 4, Brown 0-1 0-0 0, White 1-5 4-6 6. Totals 20-56 23-33 69. Three-Point goals Tulane 5-16 (Jordan 1-1, Osean 1-5, Miles 2- 4, Mouton 1-5, Johnson 0-1), Texas 6-27 (Clayton 0-10, Cook 3-9, Brown 1-4, Schmidt 2-4). Fouled out Mouton. Rebounds Tulane 35 (Jordan 8), Texas 36 (Schmidt 6).

Assists Tulane 18 (Mason 6), Texas 12 (Cook 4). Total foul-s Tulane 24, Texas 16. A 3,068. Colorado Wyoming 34 3266 254267 Creighton -l Buford 3-9 1-2 10, DJohnson 0-2 1-2 1, Swen-son 8-11 2-2 18, Walker 4-8 3-5 13, Sears 0-6 1-21, West 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon 1-4 0-0 3, Bates 0-2 0-0 0, Huss 0-0 0-0 0, Haynes 2-3 0-0 5, Karlikanovas 3-5 2-2 9. Totals 21 -51 10-15 60.

Nebraska (6-3 Florence 8-13 5-6 21, Markowskl 3-8 1-3 7, Hamilton 5-8 10-11 20, Holmes 2-2 1-3 5, Cochran 0-0 0-0 0, Colorado (7-3) Price 2-13 4-7 9, Smith 4-10 7-8 15, Thomas 2-5 Sooners Hunters There Will Be a Season announce the winning bidder for its athletic broadcast rights this morning at the Board of Regents meeting in Norman. A The Sports Animal radio network won't be the winner because the network didn't make a bid, said Larry Bastida, general manager of Caribou Communications, which owns the Sports Animal. OU athletic director Joe Castiglione added the broadcast rights to a multimedia package that also includes television, the internet, permanent signs, game-day sponsorships and coaches shows. "We weren't set up to handle that," Bastida said. "If it's just OU play-by-play, we'd be very 3 interested in that." College Football Award Shows I ESPN and ESPN2 will televise several college football awards shows this week.

ESPN2 will air the "The 1998 Home Depot College Football Awards Show" 7 to 9 tonight, which will name the winners of most of the ma- jor awards other than the Heisman. Included 0 will be the Jim Thorpe Award for the top defen-; 1 sive back, which is presented by the Jim 1 Thorpe Association of Oklahoma City. ESPN will preview the Heisman Trophy; awards show at 8 p.m. Friday and show the pre-' -sentation at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

1 NFL TGa6C3Sts KOKH-25 has the Sunday doubleheader with Chicago-Green Bay at noon and Dallas-Kansas :) City at 3:15 p.m. KWTV-9 will air Denver-New York Giants at noon. Former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, 4 who will be the analyst on the broadcast, pre-; diets the Broncos will finish the regular season 16-0 with victories over the Giants, Dolphins and Seahawks. "Monday night (Dec. 21) against Miami is a 0 pretty good matchup for both sides," he said.

"But the Broncos, because they score so many points, make it hard on anybody they play." Other NFL telecasts this weekend are the -l New York Jets-Miami at 7:20 p.m. Sunday and Detroit-San Francisco at 7:20 p.m. Monday. Sports Animal Adds Shows Two shows will debut Saturday morning on the Sports Animal radio networks. "Small College Hoops Magazine," hosted by Sooner Athletic Conference sports information director Toby Rowland, will air 9:30 a.m.

to 10 a.m. The show will include interviews with lo-cal small-college basketball players and coaches and will take calls. "Recruiting Wars," 10 to 11 a.m., will exam- ine football recruiting. Mark Rodgers, Myron Patton and Al Eschbach will alternate as hosts. The Sports Animal will begin its Friday night high school basketball coverage this week with two games from the Western Heights tournament at 7:10 p.m.

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5. date when it would be too late to save the season, saying it will expire of its own accord in the not too distant future. That has left everyone wondering when the expiration date is. Hunter has said it's Jan. 1, and others have said it could be as late as Jan.

10. About five weeks would be needed from the time a deal was reached in principle until the date the season could start. It would take about two weeks to put the agreement in writing and another three weeks to sign free agents, make trades and hold training camps. On Tuesday, after he canceled the All-Star game, Stern left the door open just the slightest bit when he was asked if the season could begin at the All-Star break in mid-February. "No, I don't think so, but I am going to leave that to the Board of Governors," Stern said.

"But my personal view is no, not at all. I don't think we would ever do that." If the season did start Feb. 12 and went until the end of April, each team could play about A. games. Stern and Grorvis.

rv-peAttxivY tey jcv tryirf to wwsr c.c risers' xvscCw. fs? i-s From Page 23 Do these upsets give Sampson hope his team can experience success on the road during Big 12 Conference play? "I don't sit and analyze it," Sampson said. "Everybody's got something these days, but nobody has everything. There aren't very many complete teams. People assume Kansas will always be good, but there's always going to be dips in programs.

"I have no idea how good this (OU) team can be. That's why I don't sit and compare us to Kansas in the month of December. I'm anxious to see how this team will be a month from now, and in February. I know we're going to be a lot better. Why? Because this team's not afraid to work." The Sooners play at OSU on Jan.

12. OU gets Kansas in Norman on Feb. 20. Sampson shrugged when asked where his team should be ranked. "The thing I like about our team is slowly, but surely, people are buying in that we can be a good team," Sampson said.

"Are we going to live up to everybody's expectations? No. My father (Ned) taught me a long time ago, 'You start listening to those people sitting (in the stands) behind you, soon you'll be sitting with Boot Camp, Part II? The Sooners healed their wounds from the Murray State loss with an 87-57 romp over No. 19 Arkansas last Saturday. This came after Sampson's most demanding week of practice to date. OU players are enduring final exams this week before their Saturday game against 1-6 Nicholls State in Lloyd Noble.

Under the circumstances, will Sampson lighten up a bit or will he be just as challenging? "You never know how a team's going to reactr" Sampson said. "You pick and choose your spots. Our challenge to our kids is to prove we're as good as we were in the Arkansas game. That is how good we can be. This is a mental week of practice, both on the court and off the court." Happy With His Decision OU early signee Jarrett Hart, a guard out of Little Rock (Ark.) Central High School, attended the Arkansas game with his mother and aunt.

His reaction to the 30-point victory? "He was ecstatic," Sampson said of Hart, who chose OU over Arkansas, Texas and OSU. Hart's teammate, forward Joe Johnson, chose Arkansas. "I'm sure this was a proud week of practice for Jarrett back at school," Sampson said. "I'm excited about him as a player. But the impression I came away with is, 'Gosh, what a tremendous We're fortunate to get a kid with such high character.

Jarrett Hart is a big-time. big-time kid." NEW YORK (AP) Don't worry, there will be an NBA season. At least that's what Billy Hunter was saying Wednesday. With his constituents growing increasingly nervous that the lockout may indeed force the cancellation of the entire season, Hunter tried to soothe the mood on a conference call with about 80 agents, some of whom were skeptical. "The union's negotiating team thinks there's another deal that will come rolling in, and I don't see it.

There's no reason for confidence," said agent Harold McDonald, who represents Derrick Coleman and Terry Mills. "The union should not sacrifice the earnings of the present players for the sake of future players," said Norman Blass, who represents Mookie Blay-lock, Keith Askins and Derrick McKey. The conference call lasted about VA hours, and about 20 questions were posed to Hunter and union attorney Ron Klempner, according to several people who participated in the call. Among the topics discussed were the details of each side's proposal on how to divide a projected $2 billion in revenue, the owners' rejection of a mediator, the lack of svmrwthv die players have gotten from the public, the exhibition game next weekend in Atlantic City, and the prospects for forming a new league. As for the biggest question of alj.

Will there be a season? Hunter was confident that the answer will be yes. "Billy's message was that as long as the players hold together there will be a season," said agent Don Cronson, who represents Anthony Mason, Jamal Mashburn and Mark Jackson. "The sides are not as far apart as people think, and management will have to come in and really start negotiating talking about some of the things that are important to us." "What's going on here is that there are people afraid of losing the season, but there's not much you can do. This is a David Stern production with the goal of getting into December, making players miss multiple paychecks and having them sweat." Cronson said. For another day.

there was no contact between Hunter and Stern. It has boon one week since the last negotiating session, and no new talks Are planned. C'1.